Garden Room/office recommendationsDunster House??

[Flippingestateagents]

Has anyone used them? The only thing is that I'd rather have more door opening space at the front, so it can be a sort of summerhouse too?
Unfortunately I've left this for a bit, but so worried about getting it wrong. Budget is around £20k for 5.5x3.5M

Or am I better getting someone local to do from scratch?? I was thinking of something like this...

dunsterhouse.co.uk/helena-garden-office-right-w5-4m-x-d3-3m

I need to keep the height just below 2.5 mitres I think

We bought our log cabin from Dunster House in mid-2019. And we're very, very happy with it. So pleased we did it.

They have some premises where there are built units so you can see them 'in the flesh'. That's how we chose ours as it's a different shape to the one we were planning on getting. Agreed delivery date and they delivered spot on the times. I went for the two man delivery as it meant they would move it up to 50m (from memory) from the vehicle rather than drop kerbside. It took the two of them an hour to transfer the lot. It was a lot of timber

One word of caution though. Their installation is quite(well, very) pricey. They outsource installation and for ours they wanted £1995 for installation (including needing a clear metre space around the building for health and safety!!) Cabin with extras cost just under £3k.

I'm quite handy at DIY and it took me less than a weekend to erect and paint. Very easy to erect with very clear instructions.

I'd happily use them again.

We went for the thicker walled cabin as it meant double glazed doors and windows. We also selected underfloor and roof insulation.

I've put power and heating out there so can pretty well use it all year round.

@billyt
Thank you so much for taking the time with so much information!
I'm just looking at Green retreats etc, and the prices are a bit mad (though I know there's been a big demand)

Did you go for normal timber framed doors, or get bi-folds - think I need to reign my budget in, it's so easy to get carried away

We bought ours from Green Retreats a couple of years ago. I agree that they’re on the pricier end, but it was the extras that made it pricier for us. If we had gone for a more basic spec, the price was similar to everywhere else.

We went for the Edge design, 3.3m x 4.5m with sliding doors, air con/heating system, cedar cladding, extra windows, extra lights and sockets, laminate floor and blinds.

Couldn’t be happier with it.

The qualify of the Green Retreats one does look excellent. Just that I don't know whether I can justify paying almost £30k on a garden room/office as I have a lot of other things to spend money on! One thing I really wanted though was either sliding or bifold doors, and I'm not sure these are an option with all suppliers.
Decisions!

Quality!

Absolutely, it’s always a balancing act, isn’t it. And it depends how much use you think you’ll get out of it too.

We looked online, but weren’t entirely comfortable with buying a building that we could not physically see. In the end we purchased ours from a bespoke local firm. They did a fantastic job, they charge by the square meter. Inc. base & electrics it was around £14k. We are delighted with ours and would highly recommend the firm we used.

I also just found a local firm, got a fabulous office all built for the same price as a Dunster , which is great as I have zero practical skills....

Getting that way meant I could specify things such as the insulation, and also I got the firm to come back later and bills the veranda as I couldn't afford it initially!

We've just put a dunster house cabin in our garden. It's 3m x 5m as you need planning permission if you go above 15m2 on the edge of your boundary.

As PP said it was pretty easy to erect - DH and a friend did it over a weekend including treating the wood with preservative paint.

We're very happy so far.

Green Retreats currently have a lead time I believe of 2-3 years...order one now to receive in 2024 due to timber shortage.

Absolutely brilliant company, can’t rate them
highly enough and if I wasn’t in a hurry I’d certainly wait for one from them. A truly bespoke service where you’re treated as a person and not a statistic. All bespoke.

No planning permission needed for theirs.

Maybe no planning permission needed but do think about the impact on your neighbours in terms of your use, the impact on others & privacy. Our neighbours wanted an ‘office’ turned out to be a one bed flat and has caused all sorts of upset. Totally out of character to the houses and gardens (terraced country setting). They did request planning permission though so maybe very different to what you’re going for. Everyone feels so much more appreciative of their outdoor space since covid. We don’t have anything special but it means a lot to us. What they were proposing really made us feel claustrophobic & they totally belittled our view. And we thought we were good neighbours to each other.

Think outhouses are fab and great use of space in the right setting.

I wanted to use Green retreat for my garden room but the lead time was 1 year as of last year.

I ended up using www.amcgardenrooms.co.uk to build my garden gym/office 5m X 4m, 3m high including electricity, internet, 7 indoor lights, 2 outdoor lights, bifold doors etc for £24,800.

It was built 2m from all boundaries which means I didn't apply for planning permission.

I guess their prices may have increased by now