---
title: 'Meeting pods are a ripoff, so I built my own.  Buy or DIY?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=kBApcOdpiKc'
video_id: 'kBApcOdpiKc'
date: 2026-06-15
duration_sec: 0
---

# Meeting pods are a ripoff, so I built my own.  Buy or DIY?

> Source: [Meeting pods are a ripoff, so I built my own.  Buy or DIY?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kBApcOdpiKc)

## Summary

The video documents the process of building a two-person call pod from scratch to compare its cost and time investment against a commercial solution. The host aims to prove that commercial pods are overpriced by constructing a DIY version.

### Key Points

- **Commercial Pod Cost** [01:52] — The Tuesday Plus pod from Bureau retails for about $14,000 US plus $1,000 installation.
- **DIY Plan** [02:04] — The DIY pod will have similar dimensions, built with a plywood base, 2x2 frame, 1x4 posts, hardboard, and fabric.
- **Base Construction** [03:00] — The base is simple floor framing with 2x2s and plywood, using the plywood as a template for cutting.
- **Stability Issues** [05:42] — Crossmembers are added for stability, but dovetail joints prove problematic, leading to a switch to stick framing.
- **Alignment Problem** [09:02] — A quarter-inch discrepancy in wall dimensions causes uprights to angle, requiring adjustment.
- **Design Change** [10:18] — Dovetail joints fail near the top, so the team switches to 2x2 stick framing for rigidity.
- **Window Construction** [12:40] — Acrylic windows are cut with a plastic-specific blade and double-paned with an air gap for soundproofing.
- **Fabric Application** [14:53] — Fabric is applied to hardboard panels using spray glue and an iron to remove wrinkles.
- **Door Assembly** [16:20] — A door is built from 2x4s with pocket holes, soundproofing, and double-pane glass.
- **Final Review** [17:50] — The pod features double-pane glass, soundproofing (30 dB reduction), a USB-C screen, and a fan/light unit.
- **Cost Breakdown** [21:18] — Materials cost $4,400 CAD ($3,100 USD), but labor was 176 hours, making total cost $8,380 USD at $30/hr.
- **Economic Verdict** [22:26] — While materials are cheaper, the time investment makes it impractical for most businesses unless they have in-house labor.

### Conclusion

The DIY call pod succeeded in function and material cost savings, but the extensive labor hours make it economically unviable for most organizations. The pod will be deployed after solving mobility issues.

## Transcript

We've got a ton of cool spaces here at
Linus Media Group. We've got office
spaces, testing spaces, studio spaces,
soundproof spaces, hidden spaces, even
parking spaces. But there's one kind of
space we always need more of, and that
is
meeting spaces.
>> Can I help you?
>> Actually, I think you can see this is my
office,
>> but it's also call room 104B. Did you
book it today? No, I didn't. Which is
exactly the problem that we're trying to
solve. That's where call pods like these
come in. Whether you need to jump on a
conference call or host a meeting or if
you just plain can't take Sean's chair
squeaking anymore, you just jump into
one of these and your problem goes away.
I need you to get some more call pods
right away.
>> I can tell procurement, but you know
these cost, right?
>> Seven grand for what? An upholstered
phone booth. $40,000 for this meeting
room? Come on. These things can't be
that complicated. You built an arcade.
You built a server rack. I bet you could
build one of these for cheaper.
>> I probably
>> I'll take that as a yes. So, on this
episode of Buyer DIY, Jordan is going to
be tackling the challenge of building a
twoperson call pod and seeing both in
terms of time investment and money how
that compares to a commercial solution.
>> Let's go.
And the best part is, check this out. I
got my office back and I can use it to
tell you about our sponsor,
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Today
we'll be comparing our efforts to this
Tuesday plus pod from Bureau. It's a
twoperson pod that retails for about
14,000 US plus installation, which I say
is about another grand. I'm pretty
confident we can make our own for a lot
less. So, let's go do some drawing. I
want to keep roughly the same dimensions
of the Tuesday pod. So, our base will be
a little smaller than the 4x8 sheet of
plywood built on top of a 2 by two
frame. We'll put posts around the
perimeter made up of 1x4s that will glue
together into different profiles. And
then between those posts, we'll sandwich
between some hardboard and then cover it
with some fabric that we'll figure out
later on. If you didn't follow any of
that, don't worry. We'll cover it as we
go along. Now that we've got a plan,
we're going to start trimming down our
1x4s.
Yeah, I got like a fingers gap.
>> That's fine. It'll tighten up on me.
>> Yeah. So, we'll just have to like
section it down.
>> Fine.
>> We're going to glue and then nail these
together because we really don't have
enough clamps to do it the proper way.
The base is just a simple floor framing.
It's 2 by twos and some plywood on top
and should be no problem.
>> This is exactly how the Egyptians built
the pyramids.
>> Yeah,
>> with a table saw.
>> Same technology. We've just trimmed our
plywood down to size. And now, because
we know that's the right size, we can
actually just use it as our template for
all our 2 by twos and not have to
measure them. We just put them on flush,
use our pencil to mark, and we'll just
cut on that line that we just made.
And I guess this one's times three. Oh,
no. Five. Hey, actually, can we do six
instead of five? I want to make this a
little beefier, I think.
All right.
>> Okay.
>> Now, we can
>> drop it like it's hot.
>> Yeah.
>> Floor.
>> All right. work here is done.
>> This feels bigger.
>> Yeah, maybe a little bit.
>> I definitely got more leg room cuz I
think the difference between ours and
theirs,
>> you have the walls set on the outside,
right?
>> They're kind of along the edge.
>> The outer part will be theirs are more
in more inward set.
>> Okay. How this is going to work is our
outside corners
will get screwed into the base here.
We'll layer this up with cardboard,
sonopen, more hardboard, and some kind
of fabric on the inside. And then these
guys,
we'll sandwich it all in, and they'll
staple or screw or nail or whatever in
to hold it all together. I think if we
go about 79, that gives us 3 or 4 in for
our ceiling assembly.
>> Yeah, that should be fine. Just keep in
mind, inner ones are going to have to be
shorter. Now the question is, are we
putting that internal flooring stuff
down first before that?
>> Well, this goes on the outside,
right?
>> Talk about the inner wall portion
>> and then the flooring goes down
and then the wall.
>> So, we're going to measure from the
floor.
>> Measure from the concrete.
>> This side is 8T. This side is 8t of it.
>> Okay, let's go 7' 10. It's more than
enough wiggle room.
>> Yeah. and Lucas might have to duck.
We'll see. Good enough. We'll see you
guys tomorrow. We're back on day two.
Our first task is to chop these guys
down to size and then we can start
attaching them to the base.
We're going to add crossmembers to make
this a little bit more stable. It's kind
of kind of wiggly right now. The problem
is we're going to dovetail those in to
those uprightes. And we really probably
should have done that before we glued
everything together. We made these 3D
printed templates to make it easier to
figure out our dovetails. That'll go in
the crossmember.
And we'll cut out that hole.
This will go on here. That is backwards.
>> If we mess up something.
>> Yeah, this is backwards.
>> Oh.
>> Uh, make that more different.
>> Make more different. Okay.
>> I think this one's okay. What a guy
making me print more stuff all the time.
But here is the new piece. It is more
different. Let's go see how.
>> The issue was I had this stop block on
the wrong side on the previous version.
So, it would have been impossible to
mark the wood properly.
>> This is a Milwaukee multi-tool. It is a
vibrating saw, so the saw head just kind
of goes back and forth really fast like
that. Makes it super easy to get into
tight to reach spaces like this. And fun
fact, this is very similar tool to what
they use for taking casts off. So you
could even touch this while it's moving
and it won't hurt you.
This is a Rioba or Ryoba. I'm not sure
how to pronounce it. It is a pull saw
from Japan. So instead of a western saw
where you push to cut, this pulls. And
for me at least, they're way more
accurate.
>> I feel like that makes way more sense.
And
>> it's got two kinds of teeth. I'm going
to zoom way in here.
So, it's got four rip cut, which is
going with the grain, and cross cut,
which is going against the grain.
>> So, on the upside, the length is right.
Downside is, uh, we got some, uh, some
massaging to do.
>> That's expected.
>> Yeah.
>> All right.
We need the white hardboard first.
>> Is that going on the outside?
>> This is the outside.
>> Okay. So,
>> then sauna pan.
>> Okay. Putting the hardboard on the
outside.
What else do we need to dovetail? Cuz
we're not going to be able to do that on
the inside. We need access to both.
>> Uh, just here and there.
>> We're not doing any more along the top.
>> Oh, balls.
So, those kind of have to get done first
before we can
>> Oh, that sucks. Okay.
>> do any of the exterior things.
Next, we're going to trim our hardboard
and our sauna pan. And we're definitely
want mask for that cuz it's not fun
stuff to get in your lungs.
Next, we're going to build a sandwich
out of some hardboard and some sauna
pan. Uh, this is a soundproofing
material made of like recycled fibers. I
don't think you can get it in the
states. So, we're going to do this white
hardboard on the outside cuz it's
already finished and I'm lazy. Then the
sauna pan and then the
>> more other hardboard.
>> More other hardboard, which later on is
going to get a coat of some kind of
fabric.
got a bit of a problem. Turns out our
distance here at the bottom is 40 and
3/4 of an inch, whereas up here it's 41.
So, we're quarter inch out, meaning our
uprightes are going up at angles.
This is not good. I think we're going to
have to bash this out. Do number three.
And then we'll do the same dimension up
top so we can just nail it up there to
hold it in the right spot.
>> Okay.
>> Then we can screw in the panels and call
it a day.
>> Sure.
>> Okay.
>> All right. I think we're pretty good for
day two. We've got our first sandwich
done. We had
some challenges with our dovetails, but
I think we finally figured that out. We
have good even dimensions on both sides
now.
>> Yeah.
>> And there's already some soundproofing.
Yeah. Give it a test. Justin,
>> can you hear me?
>> Nope. Not at all.
>> Perfect.
We'll see you guys tomorrow.
Ah, in the middle the dovetails seem to
work just fine because we have a lot of
material both top and bottom. So, it
doesn't really have a way to split. But,
as you can see, once we get closer to
the top, there's not really a whole lot
holding that dovetail in. So, they kind
of just pop as you saw there.
>> What do we What do we lose if we pivot
this
>> at this point? The piece that we had cut
for the wall with the sauna pan and the
hardboard, that'll work for the floor.
>> Okay. Okay, so we got nothing lost
there. I mean, at this point, it's
looking like we're just losing a couple
pieces of lumber.
>> What if we just go BC box, 2x two walls,
sonopan inside it, sandwich it with the
hardboard on the outside, so it gives
rigidity,
>> and then just get some corners,
>> pretty it up a bit.
>> The post and panel construction with the
dovetails is turning out to be just a
nightmare to deal with. So, we're going
to switch to a more traditional North
American stick framing using 2 by twos.
That should be more rigid and it'll
actually let us cram more sauna pen into
the walls. Just means we're in for a lot
more cutting.
>> All right, time to rip the wall down.
>> We're going to pre-drill our holes this
time just to avoid any possible
splitting. And uh this should go a lot
better.
Okay, now we do that three more times.
We got us a barn.
It's day four. Our next step, I think,
is to put on our sheathing on the walls
to give this a little bit more uh
rigidity. And then we'll fill her up
with Sona Pan. I should mention it's day
four, but we haven't been doing like 8
hour days on this by any means, so like
don't get too worried about us.
>> Yeah, we're doing real construction
hours.
>> Exactly.
So, we're like 46 and 38.
Oh, thank God.
>> What?
>> Exactly 8 ft.
>> Nice.
We're here on day six or seven somewhere
in there and we're ready to start
cutting acrylic to make our windows.
What we need to do is cut two of each
size and then we'll sandwich them
together with air in between and that'll
hopefully denten the sound a lot more.
We've got a plastic specific blade on
our saw. Basically just means lots more
teeth. But we're going to take it slow
and uh see how it goes here.
You can tell we weren't exactly square,
but the trim will hide it.
>> Yep, exactly.
That one's good.
>> Yeah.
>> Beautiful.
>> Yeah. I'll do
>> It's been a long time since I've done
this, but the basic idea is we'll have
our trim on both sides.
The first layer of acrylic goes here.
then some kind of spacer or goo or
something. We'll deal with that when we
come to it. Then another layer of
acrylic and then another layer of trim
to make the whole thing a sandwich. And
then in theory, that air gap between the
two layers gives us some extra
soundproofing. It's been a few days
since you've seen us. In the meantime,
we built a bench. Uh we've got two
pieces of acrylic in. And uh our next
actual step is to put the second piece
of acrylic on this side. Unfortunately,
if you want to bring the camera around
here, that means we have to build up all
the framing around it in order to fit
that, which means we're going to have to
put in this inside finished panel before
we can really go any further, which
Justin is going to have to go and put
together right about now. Before we put
the hardboard up onto the walls, what
we're going to do is cover it in some
fabric. Just kind of maybe pretty up a
bit. First things first, lay in some
spray glue. And then I will start laying
in the fabric.
All right. Now that the spray glue is
laid in, time to lay in the fabric. This
is a lot easier with two people, but
Jordan is busy right now. So,
to kind of make this in lay in a little
bit easier and kind of get rid of some
of the wrinkles, I'm just going to use a
normal clothing iron. Works great for
getting out all the tiny wrinkles and
stuff like that. And hopefully there'll
be less air bubbles trapped as well,
too.
All right, I'm going to finish up the
other half here. As you can see, it's
going down pretty much as smooth as it's
going to get, I think. Um, yeah. We'll
see you when we go to put the wall in.
Okay, one panel. Let's get her in.
Good.
Might as well
>> get the full peel on camera, you know.
We still need to fill out two pieces of
SonaPan and then another upholstered
panel up here before we can put the
glass in.
That was better.
This pseudo leather stuff, whatever, is
left over from the fire truck. We're
just going to spray adhesive it onto our
panels here and then uh staple that onto
the wall.
Keep it in there for now. So, this is I
forget the name. It is some kind of
glazing tape.
>> Chromate.
>> Basically, we're going to put it on here
just to prevent the acrylic from
rattling against the uh the trim here.
Feels like a clay.
Still got to do the top and bottom trim.
That's way easier.
It's already in place. So, we just got
to trim it.
>> Can you hear me now?
>> Hello.
>> Yes.
>> We've put together a door with some
chopped up 2x4s and using pocket holes
the wrong way.
We just got to sauna pan that put on the
second piece of glass in the sheathing.
And then we'll learn how to hang a door.
That's future Jordan's problem. And if
you come with me, we can see where we're
at on the actual pod. We've got the wall
panels fully installed. Uh Justin's just
starting on the electrical. Next time
you see this, it'll probably be be done.
We just got to do kind of floor and
ceiling after this. So, we'll see you
guys in a bit. Time to find out how they
did. I have no idea how much money they
spent, but I do know how long they've
been working on it. So, uh given that we
account for our time in our budget,
>> it's it's been a long time.
>> It looks pretty good, though. Thank you.
>> No, no, I don't mean that as like a
buttering up compliment thing. I mean,
it actually looks pretty good.
Obviously, it could use a little bit of
putty in a paint job here and there.
>> Well, we know you love painting so much,
so we figured we'd do that for you.
>> The number of times I said eggshells,
>> we don't have a swear button. But in
terms of like nailing the function,
wow,
you can fit so much privacy in this bad
boy. And I haven't even been inside yet.
Jordan, would you like to join me for a
quick meeting?
>> I suppose so.
>> I can already see a few things that are
going to help a lot with the privacy of
this call pod. We obviously used double
paneed glass here.
We uh
>> it was a real pain, let me tell you. Hi,
I get it. Now, you've got a shotgun mic
there on the camera. So, what we're
going to do is we're going to have the
editor switch to that from my lavalier
microphone and see what the difference
is once I close this door. Okay. I'm
going to speak in the same volume as a
privacy.
>> Oo.
Okay. This table is a significant
improvement in function over some of the
other tables in our call pods. There are
probably some things that would serve to
stabilize it a little bit more.
>> Little bit of bracing would help.
>> Little bit of bracing would help, but
it's a huge issue for me when I'm
sitting in those things that the table's
like way out here
>> and you only get like one laptop on it
if you're lucky. Like,
>> and if it's not way out there, it's like
you can't get in and out of it. Oh. Oh,
dude.
>> That's your fan control.
>> WHERE IS IT? NO, I see it. Wait. Oh. Oh,
it's a combo bathroom light fan unit.
Yep.
>> That's actually pretty smart.
>> And it has multiple levels of light.
>> Hey, so depending on what kind of a
meeting we're having.
>> Oh, no. I like this. Okay. My initial
thought was, wow, this table, you know,
it could be a little bit more, you know,
solid or whatever, but now it's
optional.
>> The idea was they wanted a space they
have as a little kind of mini office.
>> So, we can push that against the wall,
push the chair up against that, and they
can just work as an office.
>> I did not expect us to DIY the bench,
but it actually turned out pretty okay.
>> Justin did a pretty good job.
>> I wouldn't want to sit on it all day,
but it's definitely fine for a meeting.
>> That's a feature. You won't hog the pot.
>> This is true. And then what am I looking
at here?
>> Uh, we've got a USBC powered screen here
for sharing your video or whatever you
need to.
>> Oh, cool.
>> So then you're not hunching around
trying to share one screen.
>> Yeah, for sure.
>> We've got power and USB and everything
here.
>> Now, what did you guys do for noise
treatment in here? I already saw the
couple of these Elgato sound panels, but
what else do you
>> That's more to kind of deal with the
bounce. So, what we've got inside each
of the walls is a dual layer of sonopan,
and that cuts out. We tested it at about
30 dB overall.
>> That's actually pretty solid. That's
about on par with the commercial ones.
>> Yep. They're rated to about 28 29
somewhere there. So, margin of error,
we're probably about the same as them
realistically.
>> Now, Jordan,
>> I do have one major concern.
>> Okay.
>> Right now, this is in our workshop.
>> Yes.
>> How does it get not in our workshop?
>> Well, we have it on casters. Really?
>> So, the idea is you just activate the
casters and then you can get the
forklift under it. But, uh, if you want
to try it yourself, there's a slight
problem.
>> Okay. You just count 1 2 3 Jordan.
>> Okay. 1 2 3.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Now, what?
>> That's about as high as it goes.
>> Oh, so we got like 2 mm of clearance.
>> That feels optimistic.
Yeah. So, what I've done is I've
declared this an Alex problem.
>> I see.
>> And it's not a problem for the video
anymore.
>> What is a problem for the video
>> is the price.
>> Where did we land? The comparably
featured Tuesday Plus from Bureau costs
$14,000
>> plus install.
>> Plus install.
>> So, we're under budget.
I can tell you that much. For materials,
we spent about 4,400 Canadian. So, 3,100
US or so. Wow, that's way under.
>> But it was a lot of time.
>> Yes, it was.
>> Uh, we spent about 176 hours in here
>> at 30 bucks US an hour.
So
what that tells us is unless you're a
small business owner with functionally
unlimited time
>> to build something like this
>> workshop and tools and
>> or you're a large organization that
happens to have a team of onstaff
skilled construction laborers who could
build them for you. Probably doesn't
make any sense cuz if you're hiring
contractors to do something like this or
using
more highly paid employees.
The economics
are tough.
>> Technically, we saved about six grand
us,
>> but realistically, this was way too much
work.
>> What else could Jordan have been doing
in that time and Justin
>> like five other videos maybe? So, I
think this might be a case where we
succeeded, but we also kind of failed.
>> Purick victory. Maybe in future buyer
DIYs we have a little bit of a time
limit or something too. A couple
weekends maybe.
>> Scope control.
>> Yeah, we we preach scope control here.
>> You know what else we preach? The gospel
of Segway
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>> Even if we wouldn't do this again,
though, I think the truest measure of
the success of buyer DIY is whether we
will actually deploy it.
>> Yeah.
>> And I think we will. I see no reason why
we couldn't just use this to well in a
few days when we figure out how to move
it.
>> Yeah.
>> If you guys enjoyed this video, why not
check out the Ooh, the arcade buyer DIY.
That one was a clear success. Yes,
Jordan and Justin absolutely killed it.
>> Spoiler alert.