When Randy and Joyce Kron built their farm shop, Joyce had a couple of other objectives in mind. Before the complex was finished, she wanted to make sure it included a farm office and a place where family members and employees could eat lunch and rest during the day, if necessary.

“It’s nice to keep business related strictly to the farm out of your home and in the farm office when you can,” she says. “Adding a small area to relax and cook and eat also means whoever is working can do lunches in the office and not have to come home. It’s more convenient, and yes, it helps keep dirt out of the house.”

Related: Build comfort, convenience into your farm shop

One decision the Krons, Evansville, Ind., faced when designing the office was whether to include walls and divide off individual offices or leave the area more open. Their operation includes Randy and Joyce, their son, Ben, and Steve Glazer, a longtime employee. Randy is also president of Indiana Farm Bureau.

They visited farms where the office included walls to create individual offices, or to at least separate the conference room from work areas.

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“In our operation, we are all crops and don’t have livestock,” Randy notes. “That’s one reason why fewer people are involved.

“We simply didn’t see the need to put up walls. Typically, there are two people at most working in there at once. If we have a meeting with someone from the outside, everyone is involved in the operation, so we don’t have a reason to put up walls to exclude someone or have more privacy.”

The contractor pointed out that they could always add walls later if they discovered having an open office wasn’t working, Randy adds.

“So far, it’s working well for us,” he says. “That boils down to a personal choice and what will work best in your operation.”

To see photos, click through the slideshow.