Standing Desk Co. started the way a lot of small businesses do: I wanted something for myself, and every option on the market left me frustrated. Here is how the three choices stacked up, and how one desk for my own office turned into a business.
Option one: the budget desk
Like most people, I started at the big office supply stores. The prices looked great and you could take one home the same day. Then I tried them at standing height.
The desks I tested wobbled as soon as I started typing, and the wobble got worse the higher they went. The tops were laminate over particleboard, which looks fine in the showroom but chips at the edges and swells if it ever gets wet. They felt like something I would be replacing in a couple of years.
For a desk you lean on, type on and raise and lower every day, stability is the whole point. Saving a few hundred dollars on something that shakes under your coffee is a false economy.
Option two: the premium online desk
So I went looking for the good stuff. Solid timber tops on proper electric frames exist online, and some of them are beautiful. They are also priced like designer furniture, and once freight to Brisbane was added, the desks I liked came to well over a thousand dollars.
On top of that, most arrive flat packed. You pay a premium price and still spend your Saturday assembling it, with no one local to call if something is not right.
Option three: build it myself
I have always liked working with my hands, so I decided to build my own. I sourced a sturdy electric frame with a wide height range and topped it with a slab of solid timber, then hand sanded it to bring out the grain and sealed it in a hard wearing polyurethane finish.
The difference was obvious from day one. It was rock solid at standing height, it looked like a real piece of furniture, and it cost a fraction of the premium desks I had been pricing.
How they compare
| Budget store desk | Premium online desk | Standing Desk Co. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desk top | Laminate on particleboard | Solid timber | Solid Merbau or pine |
| Feel at standing height | Wobbly in my testing | Usually solid | Solid |
| Price | Low | Often over $1,000 delivered | $599, delivery from $80 |
| Assembly | Flat pack | Usually flat pack | Arrives fully assembled |
| Who you deal with | A store | An online retailer | The person who built it |
Based on my own experience shopping for a desk. Products and prices vary, so compare the specific desks you are considering.
From one desk to whole offices
People who saw my desk wanted one. Before long I was building desks for local businesses, including real estate agencies and trade companies setting up healthier, more comfortable workspaces for their teams. Office work is hard on the body, and a desk that lets people move between sitting and standing makes a real difference across a working week.
Those fit outs taught me a lot. Desks in a busy office get leaned on, knocked and adjusted all day, so every detail of the build had to hold up.
Now built for your home
With so many people working from home at least part of the week, the next step was obvious. The same desk I build for offices is now available to anyone in Brisbane: a solid Merbau or pine top on a quiet electric frame, made to order in about a week and delivered fully assembled.
If you have been stuck choosing between a desk that wobbles and a desk that costs a fortune, there is a third option. I would love to build yours.
Matt, founder of Standing Desk Co.