If you're looking for a new semi-detached home near Saint-Lambert and you work from home, the floor plan matters as much as the address. A home with an office near Saint-Lambert starts with a room whose door you can close at the end of the day, or, if you prefer, a bright open corner, depending on how you like to work.

This article starts from something particular to Saint-Lambert, on the South Shore, looks at what BÉAcité's homes in Sainte-Julie actually show, and helps you figure out where an office could go in each model. It also says what it doesn't know: the exact square footage of each address is something to confirm with the sales director.

Working from home, a big part of life in Saint-Lambert

At the 2021 Census, 42.5% of Saint-Lambert workers had worked from home, compared with 23.6% in Sainte-Julie and 21.9% across Quebec. That's the highest rate of all the South Shore cities we've looked at, ahead of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville (35.2%) and Boucherville (33.6%).

One caveat: those figures were collected in May 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. They don't describe today's situation, but they do show that many residents know what working from home involves. Among seniors, Montérégie public health also notes that 48.3% of those with a job are self-employed, a figure to read with the same caution.

The real question: space

Working from home takes room, and that's where Saint-Lambert's housing stock stands out. According to the 2021 Census, 42.2% of the city's dwellings have one to four rooms, compared with 21.4% in Sainte-Julie, and the average number of rooms is 5.9, against 7.1. If your office today is a corner of the dining room, you already know what a dedicated room would change.

A room set aside for work mainly brings three things: a clear line between the workday and the evening, a place to take calls without disturbing anyone, and storage for files and equipment.

A home with an office near Saint-Lambert: what BÉAcité's homes show

The four ready homes on Geoffrion Street illustrate several ways to set up a workspace:

at 423, a three-bedroom Duo, there's an open office for working from home;
at 408, the photos show an office closed off by a glass door, with built-in bookshelves;
at 435, they show a bright office with an olive-green wall and, upstairs, an office nook next to the residential elevator;
at 405, which has a mezzanine, the photos show it set up as an office beneath a high ceiling.

For 408 and 435, we only have photos: the number of rooms and the square footage are things to check in person. Still, taken together, they show that an office can take many forms, from a closed room to a corner open onto the living area.

Open or closed? An open office borrows light from the living area and keeps you connected to the rest of the house; a closed room shuts out noise better and keeps your calls private. It all depends on the work you do, how often you're on video calls and who else is home during the day.

Where the office could go, model by model

The three model plans offer different answers if you're after a home with an office near Saint-Lambert:

the Duo cottage: 2,018 sq ft of living space, 1,160 sq ft of it upstairs, plus an 858 sq ft basement. An optional 338 sq ft mezzanine can be added; for a workspace set apart from the rest of the house, it's a possibility to explore with the sales director;
the Urbain model: 1,622 sq ft of living space on two levels, including 970 sq ft upstairs, and a 652 sq ft basement;
the semi-detached bungalow: a 1,006 sq ft main floor and a basement of the same size, where an office could fit if you'd rather keep the main floor for daily life.

When choosing, think about light first: the inclusions call for large windows in every room and 9-foot ceilings on the main floor; for a basement office, check the natural light on the plan. Think about noise, too, about distance from the kitchen and about welcoming clients, if you see any at home. And if you'd rather keep everything on one level, our article on finding a single-storey home near Saint-Lambert covers the bungalow in detail.

One last, less obvious advantage: when you work from home, you see the yard every day. At BÉAcité, it's delivered with its grading and full landscaping done, and an all-inclusive maintenance program then looks after it; the sales director will give you the details.

The days you need to head out

Working from home doesn't mean never leaving. From Geoffrion Street, downtown Montreal is about 33 minutes away without traffic, compared with about 17.5 minutes from Saint-Lambert city hall: it's farther, and it's better to know that going in. On weekdays, the exo 13 train line stops at McMasterville station, about a 12-minute drive from Geoffrion Street. For the full picture, our article on the trip from Saint-Lambert to Sainte-Julie goes over the road, the train and the buses.

The fewer days you travel, the less that drive weighs in the balance: it's a calculation to make based on your own week.

What about multigenerational living?

Some people are also looking for room for a parent or an adult child. In Saint-Lambert, that's still uncommon: the 2021 Census counted only 50 multigenerational households, or 0.5% of all households. For its part, Maisons Pépin describes BÉAcité Duo as a fine alternative to the two-generation home. If that's your plan, ask the sales director what the arrangement allows in practice.

Conclusion

A home with an office near Saint-Lambert starts with a floor plan that leaves real room for work: an open office like the one at 423, a closed room like the one in the photos of 408, or an optional mezzanine in the Duo cottage. Allow about 24 minutes without traffic on Highway 20 to come and see these layouts, and bring your list of needs: screens, storage, calls, light. It's on site, plans in hand, that your office will find its place.