Converting shed to office - advice pls?

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Hi there
Has anyone here converted their shed into a year-round garden office? How did it go? Do you have any tips or things you wish you'd been told before you did it?
Cheers!

It will be more practical and cost efficient to rebuild from scratch for purpose. Unless what you have is a really high quality summerhouse style shed built on a proper base it won’t convert well. A year-round office will need building grade timber framework, double skin walls with good quality insulation between, damp proofing, a solid base ideally with air circulation beneath, proper electrical wiring and connections, external cladding, and enough structural integrity to fit doors and windows.

If you were thinking of doing it yourself, it isn’t difficult if you’re reasonably practical and handy. DP built ours (progress photo attached, still not quite finished the trimmings) from scratch himself. Cost about £3k in total against the quotes of £15k we got for getting a small professional one installed and does the job.

On this topic I've been searching old MN threads for info, as I'd like an office in our garden, perhsps with a sofa bed to double up as occassional/guest use extra sleeping space. What I've understood quickly, is there is a world of difference between a 5k shed type office, and a correctly insulated, soundproofed, wood free and maintenance free proper structure, that will last and be fit for purpose. Neither myself or OH are handy enough to construct one, and this company got repeatedly name checked by MN users as tried and tested, great quality and built to last. www.boothsgardenstudios.co.uk/

Always worth checking with local authority for planning permission, probably won't need it.

Very interesting indeed! It'll be lovely when it's all finished.

Did you buy a kit? Or was it a summer house flat pack which you've upgraded by buying insulation, waterproofing materials, etc?

I've been looking at quotes of around £15k too which is way out of my budget. So rebuilding from scratch feels like the best way to go. I'm single (no one to help me build), so I'd need to pay someone to construct it.

My current shed is a large beach hut actually (yes, I do live near the sea!). I inherited it when I bought my house in 2018. Think it's on paving slabs.

Very interesting indeed! It'll be lovely when it's all finished.

Did you buy a kit? Or was it a summer house flat pack which you've upgraded by buying insulation, waterproofing materials, etc?

I've been looking at quotes of around £15k too which is way out of my budget. So rebuilding from scratch feels like the best way to go. I'm single (no one to help me build), so I'd need to pay someone to construct it.

My current shed is a large beach hut actually (yes, I do live near the sea!). I inherited it when I bought my house in 2018. Think it's on paving slabs.

No, not a kit - the frame is made up of timber batons, boarded on both sides, with the highest grade rock wool insulation panels sandwiched in between the boards and in the roof space. The cabling for the electricity and broadband runs underneath the path and into our house. Booths are a good company - but we weren’t looking to spend £20k for what ultimately only needs to be a warm, comfortable office space just for the two of us. A lot of professional garden studios are aimed at e.g. people who want to use them as the base for a business like a yoga studio or therapy room or otherwise with visiting clients, so they need to be plush.

A beach hut will at least be decent quality timber, weather treated and solidly constructed, but they aren’t designed for year round occupation so you’d need to frame the inside and panel insulate, which would lose you a lot of space. No harm in getting a carpenter to advise about whether it would be possible, though. A good carpenter (or even a labourer or builder from a country where timber framed construction is common for houses - DP is American so is familiar with the method) should be able to knock something like ours up relatively quickly and cheaply (although materials have rocketed in price in recent months.)