Garden room / games room - any experience??

[FusionChefGeoff]

Thinking of investing some inheritance in a teenage dream hangout at the bottom of the garden via a pre-built garden room - fully insulated and with electric. Hoping it could double up as a room for DH to have a static bike. Thinking projector for TV / movies and a pool table plus fridge / kettle. No water / waste though as im guessing that’s a whole other level!!

Really love to hear from anyone who’s done it and what they learnt / how much it cost.

I think we’d look at appointing a builder to mange the whole thing rather than doing any of it ourselves but also interested in other people’s experience either way

Do it. Ours has been a great success. Agree with leaving water/waste out of the equation. Good internet - we had a hard wired Ethernet taken down there to make sure it was a strong connection. Good TV, comfy sofas (maybe a sofa bed although ours rarely got used). Bar fridge for drinks.
Desk for either adult WFH or exam prep for kids to get away and concentrate. Best thing we ever did to our house

Yes, I have some experience of these.
MIL bought a kit for her garden, had it installed by a handyman and all good for about 6yrs until a massive storm blew the roof off. Apparently the roof was supposed to have been tethered down- and it hadn't been! I have no idea if they were in the kit and not installed, or needed to be purchased separately? The 2nd one wasn't a kit, but built by a carpenter/builder with better insulation and has a kitchen and bathroom.

How far from the house is it? For the sake of digging a sewer pipe and installing a water supply, personally, I'd do that at the same time. It might be dependant on the council, but our neighbours have one. They have a kitchenette and en-suite type bathroom with toilet/shower/sink. They have a pool and their garden room has bifold doors which open onto the pool/bbq area. They have large, sofa chairs in there and told us that as long as people didn't sleep there overnight- its not a living space and is fine.

We are still building ours but have the pipework for a toilet, sink and potentially a shower. At this stage though, we might just have toilet/sink. I can't imagine having/needing a shower in the back of the garden, but a sink and toilet would be handy. Get more plug sockets that you think you'll need (assuming the circuit can support them) and ensure the WIFI is good.

I wouldn’t bother with a projector they’re a pain, just get 100”+ TV 🙂

If I was doing this I 100% would bother with water/sewer connection so I could have a small bathroom. But you will need building control sign off.

Do you mind sharing how much yours was all in? Also I’m worried about ‘losing’ the teens to the garden room and we’ll never see them!

How old were yours when you got it?

Early teens - all in it was about 35k
i think

Teens tend to disappear …. Our rationale was that we’d rather have them at the end of our garden with friends than hanging around at someone else’s house.

And yes - agree with the previous recommendation to have loads of plugs spread all round - it’s very difficult to envisage exactly how you’ll use the space until you start doing so