Garden Office

monquixote

Anyone done this?

I really like my house and the location and I haven't been in it long, but we really need more space. 

It's a three bed, but one of the rooms is a general office come shit tip and we really need to free it up and make it into a bedroom at some point if we want to have more kids. 

I've hit upon the idea of maybe building a garden office. Scanning the internet it looks like  al lot of these are essentially just sheds, but I'd need one that had some decent insulation so I could use it all year. 

Would be interested in anyone who's done it and how much it cost.

I'm guessing it would be about £10-15K?

Phil_aka_Pip

The Council will sting you for more poll tax unless you can prove it's just a shed. If it has insulation and a permanent power supply you might have more difficulty in arguing about why you shouldn't pay more poll tax for it.

monquixote

I hadn't even thought about that. 

It's not going to be a shed so I won't be able to get away with it if that's what is required.

TTony

I can't see that adding a glorified shed in the garden will (a) come to the notice of the council or (b) cause them to amend the rateable value (or whatever it's called nowadays) of the property such that it falls into a higher band.

 

Planning restrictions have been relaxed substantially, so I *doubt* that you'd need any permissions, but worth double checking.  Things to watch for are how much extra floorspace you'd be creating (as a % of the original building floorspace) and the height of the building within so many metres of a boundary.

There are others on here with more detailed knowledge of those matters.

We've got two wooden buildings in the garden.  One is my workshop (aka glorified shed).  That's 12*10 (I think) in old money.  It was a simple timber shed, which I then insulated (polystyrene sheets), lined (plywood sheets) and "double glazed".  It stays warm enough with an oil-filled rad on anti-freeze setting during the winter.  We also have a 4*3 (metres) summerhouse, which is a lot more solid construction, much thicker walls, and warmer.  That doesn't need lining - in fact it needs blinds on the windows to keep the temperature down!

Take a look here;

http://dunsterhouse.co.uk/log-cabins

 

Specifically;

http://dunsterhouse.co.uk/log-cabins/premiumplus-coronet-w3-0m-x-d3-0m

(dual therm, double glazed, £2200).

 

You'll need a solid (concrete) base.  You can pay to have the cabin erected, or diy.  It's worth investing in decent paint to give it weather protection - it's expensive, but its worth it.  Ditto decent security for your kit out there (wireless alarm).  Site it where it'll get a decent amount of sun (if poss), to cut down on the heating bills - though with all the insulation, you'll not need much heating (oil filled rad again, perhaps).  Get a sparky to run power out there.  I think you'd get something pretty reasonable for £5k (all-in) rather than £10k-£15k.

Ossyrocks

We did this three years ago, got it from Dunster House, as in the link above.

We bought one 4m x3m, so it's pretty big. There are loads of options, but we went for the double skin, fully insulated and double glazed version with tiles on the roof. Once we'd laid the concrete (2 1/2 tons), it went up in about 3 days. The instructions are ok, but you still need to figure some things out for yourself. It's very cosy, having 75mm Kingspan inside all the walls and 25mm kingspan under the floor and in the roof. I think the kit cost us £4800, but then the base and landscaping around will cost on top of that. We also ran electric into it and it has plenty of power sockets and lighting too. 

Make sure you use wood preservative on it as it's going up, so that all the pieces are treated inside and out. Then it's just a matter of giving it a coat every summer. Ours still looks as good as it did when it went up and is in daily use.

Rob.

Ossyrocks

We didn't need planning permission for ours, something about it not being high enough to require it.

Fretwired

I know loads of people that have done this - one of my client's had a large office built in her back garden with electricity, a loo, air con, heating a small kitchen and enough space for three people. It cost £15K and was made by a Swedish company. It is really nice. The company makes soundproof buildings for recording studios. I fancy one as 'boys' room for beer and jamming.

As far as I am aware the dreaded Poll Tax was abolished. Council Tax is based on the value of the house - I can't see it adding much to be honest.

http://www.thegardenoffice.co.uk/index.html

http://www.extrarooms.co.uk/

http://www.greenretreats.co.uk/

markslade07

Has anyone done it to use as a music room by any chance?

Phil_aka_Pip

Council tax = Poll tax by a different name.

I know a couple who had some portakabins in the rather large garden of their cute country cottage. The council insisted they pay the tax appropriate for a house twice the size of the cottage they were living in.

That's why I brought it up.

@ossyrocks and @TTony are right about there being rules concerning the height of the building and its distance not only from your house but also your boundaries.

Jalapeno

http://www.menssheds.org.uk/

And read this book !

monquixote

There is a height over which you can't have it closer than 2m to your boundaries without planning permission. 

Most of the companies are wise to this and do buildings that are under this size.

chrispy108

If the portakabins doubled the size of the cottage (which it easily could), then you're talking about something very different to someone putting up a small office.

Council Tax is based on value of the house, not size anyway.

If it's soley a business premises then you can get into issues with business rates I believe, but easy enough to put a set of golf clubs or a guitar in there...

Moltisanti

a guy in my office just bought one of these which he is having converted into a home office that will sit in the garden, pricey but cool as f*ck

Jalapeno

A pet day-dream of mine ! B-)

JohnPerry

I am going through this right now - have had three quotes for a nice big double-glazed modern-looking rectangular building with power, aircon etc measuring 28ft by 12ft. A big building, but astronomical quotes. The cheapest £40k, dearest £65k. 

One outfit had a "base price" of £28k on their website for that size building. By the time he'd added in various things and measured up it had doubled. 

Would welcome any recommendations. 

Fretwired

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Council tax = Poll tax by a different name.

No it isn't. The Poll Tax was a flat charge levied on every adult [hence the name]. It was replaced by the Community Charge/Council Tax system which reverted back to people paying a local tax based on the value of their properties [as with the Rates system] which were categorised in bands. So you may find that adding a small £15K building doesn't move the value of your property into another band.

TTony

Here's ours ...

Low enough in height to be allowed right up against a boundary.

Plenty of space inside for an office, the odd guitar, and other junk.

We built it and finished it ourselves over the course of a few weekends.  All-in cost, including the concrete base, paint and electrics would be <£5k.  It's only single skin / single glazing, but opting for the extra-insulation options would only add c£1k.

Quite satisfying to build too.

Fretwired

@TTony .. that is impressive. Just the sort of thing I'd like ... :-)

Phil_aka_Pip

Fretwired said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Council tax = Poll tax by a different name.

No it isn't. The Poll Tax was a flat charge levied on every adult [hence the name]. It was replaced by the Community Charge/Council Tax system which reverted back to people paying a local tax based on the value of their properties [as with the Rates system] which were categorised in bands. So you may find that adding a small £15K building doesn't move the value of your property into another band.

yes yes I know, but it's still an arbitrary regressive tax levied on the pre-taxed income of people who can ill-afford to pay it. since everybody has to live somewhere it's still a tax levied on every adult (who has a fixed address) same as poll tax was.

ToneControl

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Council tax = Poll tax by a different name.

I know a couple who had some portakabins in the rather large garden of their cute country cottage. The council insisted they pay the tax appropriate for a house twice the size of the cottage they were living in.

That's why I brought it up.

@ossyrocks and @TTony are right about there being rules concerning the height of the building and its distance not only from your house but also your boundaries.

when you extend your home, the new banding comes in for the NEXT owner

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/CouncilTax/increasesFollowingImprovements.html

ToneControl

monquixote said:

Anyone done this?

I really like my house and the location and I haven't been in it long, but we really need more space. 

It's a three bed, but one of the rooms is a general office come shit tip and we really need to free it up and make it into a bedroom at some point if we want to have more kids. 

I've hit upon the idea of maybe building a garden office. Scanning the internet it looks like  al lot of these are essentially just sheds, but I'd need one that had some decent insulation so I could use it all year. 

Would be interested in anyone who's done it and how much it cost.

I'm guessing it would be about £10-15K?

the best ones I have found for the money are:

http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk

My conclusion was that if you are paying beyond £8k you should first consider garage conversions and one storey extensions: many "garden offices" cost more than a similar sized conservatory