The Home Business

The Home Business By Theresa Grant Real Estate Columnist For the last few weeks, I have been writing about the redecorating and updating underway in my eighty-year-old house. At the moment, we are waiting on materials to be able to carry on, so I decided to take a break from that and talk about a question that was posed to me by an acquaintance a few weeks ago regarding running her small business from her home. My friend, Marsha, was hoping to open a home-based bakery type of business in Oshawa. She wondered if it would matter what type of home she lived in and if she could operate her home business form any area of the city. Although I am a realtor, I focus on residential real estate therefore my knowledge of commercial real estate is limited. I did have some experience of a personal nature though. The experience as it turned out was completely irrelevant in her case because it was too old. I recalled back in the early 80’s when I was living in Scarborough, I had just had my daughter, and I was home everyday with her while my husband was at work. I had always loved to bake, so I had thought to myself that I might like to operate a small baked goods business where I would make things throughout the day, and they could be picked up or delivered in the evenings. The first order of business was to call the health board to get a home inspection. The fellow came about a week after I made the appointment to have a look around. Although the house was impeccable, I was told that I could not get a license to operate because the was no separation from the rest of the house as far as the kitchen went. The business at that time had to be in a commercial space, a residential space was not permissible. Fast forward forty years. Now with the Dine Safe program and relaxed licensing criteria, many people are safely operating wonderful home-based bakeries. There definitely are rules and regulations to be followed. Licenses must be obtained, and premises are monitored and inspected on a regular basis to keep your green operating status. It seems much of how we operate today has changed to suit the need as is always the case. So, If you’re thinking about opening a home-based business of any kind, I would suggest calling the city. There are several different types of licenses you can apply for. The inspectors still come out to deem your space appropriate or not for whatever you intend to do. There are applications to fill out and fees to pay but for many, it’s a wonderful opportunity to work for themselves, and make a great contribution to the community by providing a service that many may want. If you have any questions that you would like answered please drop me a line here at the paper and I’ll be happy to address them.