Getting a garden office. What do I need to know?

[GrabbyGabby]

Hiya

Being priced out of a major renovation, going to get a garden office put in. Prices seem to vary wildly. Looking for about 4.5 by 3.5 m, definitely with full installation and wired up with wifi access.

Any recommendations / watchouts would be very welcome.

Ta

Bumpity bump

My DP is an electrician and has just wired a few summer houses / garden offices. We had considered doing one if we can't sell our place and his only comment was, that there's no point messing around and trying to cut corners - allow enough money to do it properly. He said £20k at least. That would obviously include electricity / insulation / heating.

This is London btw.

This. No point going for cheaper options if they will be too cold in winter and too hot in summer. You will spend a lot of time there it’s worth getting it right. And it’s really worth having a loo if there’s room.

Also worth getting quotes from local builders for the same specs.

I've run our family business from home for over 20 years (from a small desk in the dining room). I've recently taken the plunge and put in a garden office but I rent it! (£165 + VAT per month, plus about £1000 for them to install it plus electrics, air con etc). Because it's our business I can claim the rent through the business but if you work for a company you wouldn't be able to do that and obviously it wouldn't add value to your home.

It's a company that was on Dragon's Den. It's brill. For the rentals, they do offices only. Mine is 16' by 8' but they do 8x8, 12x8 and 20x8. It's insulated so needs very little heating during the winter but we've had to add solar film to the inside of the windows to reduce the heat from the sun (last summer's heat was unbearable) and we've added air con.

I already had electric down the garden (about 100 metres from the house) so that was easy and I bought an external internet cable and ran that from my house router down to a box in the office. We have internet VOIP phones, computers, 2 desks and enough space for sundries like printers, paperwork etc

It is honestly the best thing we've done business-wise. I can now separate work and home, or even disappear down there for a bit of peace and quiet.

The company does sell units as garden rooms etc well and can add any number of things to it like bathrooms and kitchens. And it's all modular so they can fit them in the smallest of spaces.

I love mine!

Although it doesn’t technically add value, it’s desirable for anyone looking for somewhere with office space and it adds to the square footage. Some agents count garden offices in the main square footage and some don’t.

Thanks all. I think we are going along the right lines. Getting two quotes from on line companies which are in the £20k bracket. Getting one company that seems to provide all the specs but coming on about £5k less. Getting a recommended local builder to come and give a quote as well.

Never thought of renting one, your set up sounds ace, but as we wint get the tax breaks i will eant to buy one.

I had my garden office / summerhouse built by my landscaper and then insulated and electrics sorted by builders who were renovating the main house and had a slight lull in jobs. Wish I'd had the space for a toilet too but we do have a toilet downstairs at the back of the house so it's not too bad.
I have lighting outside also.
Like a pp, having the space provides good work and home separation plus I use to exercise, chill with children, watch movies, read etc.
Ample plug sockets. I have a microwave, mini fridge, games console, laptops, phone chargers etc.

We've thought thought idly about this, but not done anything. Aren't people worried about stuff getting nicked? PCs and games consoles in a glorified shed seems like an invitation to burglars. Is it covered by your insurance?

We have had ours for two years now, best money we have ever spent. Ours is 4mtr x 3mtr, we had a concrete base poured, electrical and cable installed from our property, outdoor plug sockets, all double glazed with solar glass that stops heat in summer and retain heat in winter, UPVC french doors also solar glass. Double skinned. Insulation. Rubber roof guarantee for 20years. Spotlights in ceiling. Carpet tiled. Painted in high quality paint inside and out. All in it cost £15k. The company we used charges buy the sq mtr, and offers 3 levels of spec. I know the price has increased since we purchased. Having a good quality garden office can add value to your home. So worth investing. Ours was also within PD, so no planning hassles either, worth checking as not all home offices do. Good luck choosing.

We got a garden room and we have a WiFi extender set up but we also got a Cat5 ethernet cable from our router in our hallway brought out to the garden room that I'm using as an office. Much more stable than WiFi (even with the best of intentions) so if you can extend a Cat5 cable to yours, do.

How are you planning on heating it in the colder months? I have a small portable electric radiator that I have plugged in to a timer switch in mine. Means that even on the cold winter months, I have a comfortable warm place to work from.

Storage would be next as would other furniture you plan on having in your space.

Most of all - enjoy the space!

Now i am getting excited. @Roselilly36 would you be OK to PM me the name of the company you used.

I think the idea is to avoid having a glorified shed and more of an actual building. But yeah, I'd be worried about leaving anything valuable in it. Especially if there are glass doors.

Make sure you get one with insulated walls. Otherwise it will be like a fridge in the winter, and an oven in the summer.

Make sure you get mains power installed into it too.

Pm you

I worry they in 20 years they will be seen as a liability due to the cost to remove them when they start to rot. I'd rather have a brick structure that'll last.

Wooden structures well maintained can last for years. Look at Scandinavian and Russian and Swiss wooden houses.

If you want to build with brick you will need planning permission and building approval. A brick building will cost a lot more to remove than a wooden one.

Definitely get a concrete base.

Look at having a window installed you can open instead of just all doors as it can get very hot inside but you don’t always want a door fully open for weather/ noise reasons.

We had decking around ours and have had electric external heaters put in at time of build so we can use it as a heated patio area in the evening a just now when it’s cooler. Make sure you have thought of any little thing you would want need as easy to do while being built.

Check if you need planning, we are a conservation area so we did .

I have one, insulated floor and roof, double glazing and thick wood. It still is freezing at the worse in Winter and too hot to work in once it gets more than 25 degrees. It does face South though.

An electric heater will heat it up nicely but with a 2kw rating the costs can mount up.

That said I get full use out of mine, it's 4mx4m with a 2x4m part used as a shed.

The DCs also use for sleep overs. We have electric, WiFi, sky and a fridge

You really don’t need to extend internet cabling separately from electrical cabling. You can use electric cabling for internet use. “Powerlink” cable adaptors are plugged into electrics for a stable, hard wired connection, with additional local WiFi. One adaptor plugs into internet router in house and socket, other adaptor plugs into another socket….wherever on property that has same electrical cabling supply.

Particularly useful if, like us, you convert an outbuilding that already has electrics. No need for any digging of cables. It’s also good for using as hard wired connections within house where WiFi not stable.

Could you share the name on the thread please

Superior Gardens Buildings based in Norfolk.

That won't work if you have a fuse board in the garden office. When ours was built the electrician insisted that it needed its own fuse board to comply with regulations.

Powerlink won't work across different fuse boxes or we'd all be able to connect to our neighbours.

Well, we have a fuse board in the office and ours is fine….Our electrician had never heard of them before. He now recommends them to everyone

We got ours from Green Retreats in 2019. £20k and the best thing we’ve done on the house or end of the garden.