[ 09 — HOME LABS ]
Build your own cloud at home: storage, media, backups and self-hosted apps.
[ 01 — THE PROBLEM ]
What this usually looks like
Before
- Subscriptions for storage, photos, passwords and media add up every month, forever.
- Years of family photos exist in one place, which is not a backup.
- You want to self-host but every guide assumes you already know the vocabulary.
- A previous attempt is sitting in a cupboard, half-configured, unpatched and quietly exposed.
After
- Hardware sized to your actual needs and your electricity bill, bought once.
- Storage with redundancy, plus a genuine offsite copy, because redundancy is not a backup either.
- A setup documented in plain language, so you can look after it without memorising Linux.
- Remote access over a private network rather than ports opened to the internet.
[ 02 — WHAT YOU GET ]
Deliverables, not deliverable-sounding words
A hardware specification
What to buy and why, with the running cost in watts and shillings, at a few price points.
The built lab
Hypervisor or NAS installed, storage configured, services running, updates automated.
Backups that leave the building
Local snapshots plus an encrypted offsite copy. Tested by restoring something real.
Secure remote access
A private mesh network rather than open ports, so you reach it from anywhere without exposing it to everyone.
A plain-language handbook
How to add a service, update safely, check the disks and what to do when something complains.
[ 03 — HOW IT WORKS ]
The steps, and how long each one takes
- 01
Work out what you want
1 callPhotos, media, files, passwords, home automation, a place to run projects — and your budget.
- 02
Specify the hardware
2–3 daysSized to the job, quiet enough to live with, cheap enough to leave on.
- 03
Build and configure
1–3 daysInstall, configure storage, deploy the services, set up backups and monitoring.
- 04
Hand over
half a dayA walkthrough with you, plus the handbook. You should be able to run it alone.
- 05
Support if you want it
ongoingRemote help when something misbehaves, or a yearly check-up. Entirely optional.
[ 04 — EXAMPLES ]
What people use this for
Family photo and file server
Every phone backing up automatically to storage you own, with an offsite copy and no monthly fee.
Small-office server
File sharing, backups and a couple of internal applications, without a server room or a rack.
A lab to learn on
Virtual machines and containers to practise on properly, which is how most good infrastructure engineers started.
A home lab is a small server that does what you currently rent: file storage, media, photo backup, password management, home automation, and a place to run your own projects.
Sized for here
Specifications account for the things guides written elsewhere ignore: the price of electricity, the reality of power cuts, and what hardware you can actually buy locally without a long wait. A UPS is always in the list.
Backups, properly
A mirrored pair of disks protects you from a disk failing. It does not protect you from theft, fire, a mistaken delete or a power surge. Every build we do has a copy that leaves the building, encrypted, and we test it by restoring something real.
[ 05 — STACK ]
What we build it with
Chosen because they are boring, well supported and easy to hire for. Nothing here will be abandoned next year.
- Proxmox
- TrueNAS
- Docker
- Tailscale
- Home Assistant
- Jellyfin
- Immich
[ 08 — FAQ ]
Home Labs: questions people ask
[ 09 — ALSO IN THIS PILLAR ]
Related services
Let's talk about home labs.
Tell us the problem. We will tell you what we would build, what it costs and how long it takes — before you commit to anything.