Kill the Metro Vancouver Commute: Live longer, live healthier with more money in your pocket.
As a business owner, professional draftsperson and building designer Plamen Apostalov had a big problem. A time sucking problem that had plagued him for years, the Metro Vancouver Commute.
He lived in the Metro Vancouver suburb of Aldergrove BC, but the office for his company Advanced Design & Drafting was on Annacis Island in Delta BC.
On a good day Aldergrove to Delta this was a 2.5 hour 102 Km return trip. On a bad day (and bad days happened frequently) this could be a 4-hour return trip.
The Math: Plamens Yearly Metro Vancouver Commute
2.5 HR Commute x 250 Working Days = 625 Commute Hours
102 KM Commute x 250 Working Days = 25,500 KM
Over the course of one year, Plamen would drive over 25,000 KM and spend 26 Days commuting to work and back. Understandably the commute was really starting to grind on him.
Plamen was not alone; an April 2012 report from the Toronto Board of Trade found that Metro Vancouverites commute for an average of 67 minutes each way to and from work. Although we’re not the highest Canadian city on the list (Toronto clocks in at 80 minutes, Montreal 76 minutes, respectively), that’s a whole lot of Kilometers and hundreds of wasted hours of productivity.
But the issue at hand is not just about inefficiency and time wasted. A region with a high average commute time generates a high level of congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, countless studies show the long-term ill effects people with long commute times. As outlined in Slate’s Your Commute is Killing You, long commutes are linked to obesity, neck pain, divorce, stress and insomnia.
Then there is the time vs. reward calculation. In a now famous 2004 paper entitled “Stress That Doesn’t Pay: The Commuting Paradox.” Shockingly they found that for an extra hour of commuting time, you would need to be compensated with a massive 40 percent increase in salary to make it worthwhile.
So what’s the best alternative to the Metro Vancouver Commute?
Once Plamen made up his mind to Kill the Metro Vancouver Commute he turned to Google and searched “Vancouver Backyard Office” and found Westcoast Outbuildings the Canadian dealer for pre-fab shed manufacturer Modern-Shed.
One phone call and a site visit from Westcoast Outbuildings owner Geoff Baker and Plamen was sold.
“When I met with Plamen I immediately felt his pain. I knew we could cure his problem with an 8’x12′ Deluxe Backyard Office” said Geoff Baker of Westcoast Outbuildings. “Many people don’t know that most Metro Vancouver municipalities allow homeowners to build a shed in their backyard without a building permit so long as it is less than 107 Sq/Ft in size.”
And about 45 days later the Pre-Fabricated Backyard office was complete!
The Metro Vancouver Commute Killer includes:
- Electricity
- Heat
- High-speed Internet
- Phone
- Security System
- 2 Work Stations