Does a garden office add value

[Mrsrobinson247]

DH and I live in a standard 3-bed 1950’s semi. DH has worked from home 3 days a week for a couple of years and is thinking of applying for full home working after lockdown (a lot of his team fully home work and there is not reason this won’t be accepted). ATM he is working in the kitchen diner but really needs a proper space. Garden is c9mx12m, so could fit a small garden office c2.5m2 in the corner.

We are thinking of moving in a year or 2 and don’t want to spend £££ on a garden office if it won’t add any value to the property if we could put this money towards the new house.

Also if you have a garden office do you get the use of it or do you still just work in the house?

TIA

We looked at properties that had one before we bought our current house. Before we looked I thought it was fine but in reality, the idea of walking through the garden in snow and rain to be cold (even with heating) wasn't good. In the summer they also felt too hot!

If you are moving I would suggest saving the money for that. I now work in an office above our garage (which previous owners used as an office) and it's great.

That's quite a small garden.

You'd have to add power and ethernet to the garden office too, on top of the purchase and labour costs. Really not worth it if you're moving in a year or so. Suggest bringing the move forward to early 2021

I've got one and whilst I don't know if it necessarily adds value, it's a great selling point. Especially after this lockdown, as I personally think more people will end up working from home:

Plus I love mine, it takes me out of the house, no distractions, I've a kettle and take milk and tea bags in with me. I don't mind having to walk back into the house to use the loo or have lunch, as it then takes me away from work for a break. It's my own little bit of space, peace and tranquility, away from the kids and my dh

It doesn't add value imo but when we house hunted, it helped sell home quicker imo.

Just curious - do you need planning permission for a garden office?

It’s a positive selling point, but doesn’t really add value

@Mrsrobinson247

In addition to asking if you need planning permission (that costs a bit extra, so you will need to factor that in) - I think that regardless of whether or not it adds financial value, if the garden office is useful to you and DH then it sounds like it would add value to your lives for the time you're remaining in the house. That may improve quality of life, which is important too.

I think it would be a desirable add-on from a selling point of view. Whenever it comes to house buying, I'm always looking at it with the view of 'what if I need to sell at some point? Would this be attractive compared to other homes?' and look for things that make a home stand out a little (in a good way). It just makes the home more marketable IMO.

We have a garden office of about 10m2. It cost about £5000. It's fitted out as an office/hobby room but we have painted it so it looks nice in the garden. DH has been using it for occasional work from home but since lockdown it's been a godsend, I have been in here 10 hours a day 5 days a week.

We have decent insulation and a lighted path out to the office, it is truthfully a bit nippy in winter at first but the heater (timer) soon boosts it. Also wired internet.

We are also a 1950s 3 bed house, the lounge/kitchen/diner were knocked through which is nice but you do need a quiet space to work if you don't have a spare bedroom.

I would price it into your house, if you start negotiating it as an extra nobody will want to pay as a fixture and fitting and you might find yourself having to remove it.

A garden office is one of those things that you do because it adds value for you in terms of allowing you to work from home, work/life balance, less travel time, etc.

If you're doing it to add value then don't bother. There aren't many people that go house hunting with a garden office on their 'must have' list, and even when they do - your house may still have other compromises that they're not willing to accept.

If you landscape the rest of the garden at the same time, then that would definitely add value where we live.

Depends who is buying I think. Some people may really love it. It wouldn’t have influenced my decision to buy either way as I don’t have a job where I need an office. It would be a nice bonus if it was big enough to sleep occasional visitors etc but I don’t think it would be a deciding factor if I was choosing a house.

2.5x2.5m sounds a bit small tbh. And it's quite difficult to run power to it, will need a qualified electrician plus a small trench from house to office to bury the mains cable.

For internet/phone you can probably pick up your home wifi signal or put a decent data package on a mobile.

We aren’t really sure if we are going to move, the house is a little bit small, especially if DH wants a dedicated work space separate from the kitchen/diner and living room.

I think we will probably hold off the home office as pp said the garden is on the small side and we are probably best putting the money towards the next purchase.

@NotMeNoNo what a beautiful office and garden you have. We moved last year and our current house has an office in the garden. It was a massive selling point for us, particularly as it was a smaller house so we needed the space as we wouldn't have a spare room. We wouldn't have bought the house without it and as previous poster says, it is brilliant to be 'out of the house' but I am a full time home worker

I bought a house this year and it happened to have a garage with an office. I work from home a lot but I was happy with setting up in the spare room. It didn't encourage me to buy the house and I didn't really factor it into the price as I didn't need it but I absolutely love it now.

Husband adopted it as his project and turned it into an amazing space. I adore it and love having my own spot away from the house to work. I used to find it so hard to not pop my head in when all hell was breaking loose (toddlers..) and now it's so nice to step completely away when I go to work.

3 of our neighbours have built them over the last 3 years or so.....to replace their garages. Maybe spent £5-10k each. Probably adds slight value as with permissive extensions you could do it too but with less hassle if they have already done it. So a marginal uplift.

I have worked full time in my garden office for 6 years and it works really well for me. It was £6000 for building, concrete base, electrics and kitting out.
It's rarely too hot, and quick to heat when it's cold (certainly cheaper than keeping house warm enough for sedentary desk work all day) and importantly allows me to "go to work", which for me is very important when WFH and creating boundaries between work and home life.
The WiFi reaches from the router in the house.
Whether it adds value depends on who's buying it. It has eaten 1/2 the garden (small terrace house) which can be an issue but we live rurally so kids have lots of green space.
It has laminate floor and double glazing. I did need planning permission due to being in conservation area not due to size or proximity to others.

We've just been quoted a tad under £16k for a 2.5x3.5 garden room, not a prefab kit. Includes everything, ground prep, connection to house electric, plastering, 5 double sockets, WiFi router, window, bi-fold or French doors and laminate flooring. Cedar cladding to 2 visible sides. This is in the north; crazy high?

That sounds quite high specification but you would get a lovely building. Mine is just one of the wooden plank kits albeit quite chunky planks. Although we did the painting and wiring ourselves. Depends what you need really. If you are having 5 sockets make sure there is a good capacity supply as you may be plugging in heaters or an iron or coffee machine.

I can’t see it adding much value. You will need planning permission if it exceeds a certain height or footprint and if you install power or running water. I used to work for the council and we dealt with a lot of planning enforcement issues because people built garden rooms. We also got a lot of complaints from neighbours if the building cast a huge shadow into their garden.

This is my home, I don't really care about adding value, I care about it being a functional space for long enough to feel I've gotten sufficient value out of it. No planning permission is needed as it falls within permitted development.

Hi All,

I'm in the midst of moving and looking at tiny houses vs bigger flats. A garden office would help the house a lot. Can anyone give me a sense of prices and recommend companies?

I've not seen anything online that is less than 10k (with power) but I see a couple of people mentioned 5-6k, which sounds much more viable.

Thank you!

I’m house hunting at the moment. We saw a house with a summerhouse in the garden (with lighting and heating, used as a gym) and we had to take into consideration the cost of knocking that down if we were to offer on the house. I don’t want one and would prefer the space.

I think it depends on the size of the garden, and the size of the house. If the garden is still big enough with the office in it then fine. And if the house is huge but the garden isn't, then you've got a problem...

It's a balance thing for me I think...