Future proofing your garden office
It is a good idea when buying a garden office, to not only think about how you will use your office today, but how the building could be used in the future. A room that can morph from home office today into another use tomorrow, will hold its value. So, it's worth giving the future some thought at the planning stage.
Allow room for growth
Will you need more room to work in the future? Might your business grow and you need to add another desk for a co-worker? Our experience tells us that garden office workers benefit from having space to spread out and room to grow, so consider buying a garden office that is slightly bigger than you think you need.
Consider data cabling
If you are buying a garden office, you are probably already thinking of all the communication systems you will need to include so that you can start work quickly. Luckily most of the dedicated garden office designs include data systems as standard. Other suppliers offer these systems as an optional extra. These systems allow you to connect telephones, broadband, and audiovisual equipment with ease.
But will the cabling you choose today still work for you in five years time? Who knows, but we guess that we will need more capacity as more and more elements of our lives become automated.
To provide for the future, you could ensure that your garden office has a data cabling channel. This is where all your data cables, i.e. telephone, ethernet and coaxial cable are kept together in the tubing as they run from the garden office to the house. It would be a good idea for this conduit to have enough space for more cabling to be added in the future, a draw wire could be inserted so that new cables can be pulled down the tube without having to dig up the cables.
Order more electrical sockets than you need
You can never have too many electrical sockets in a garden office, and while it is relatively cheap to specify extra sockets at the design stage, it is an expensive and messy job to do at a later date.
Add up how many electrical sockets you need today and then add a couple of extra double sockets ready for all the gadgets you are bound to buy!
You may also want to include a couple of power sockets that also have USB charging points. Most garden office specialists offer these, some as the standard option.
Create a self-contained unit
A growing trend in garden office design is the inclusion of toilet, shower rooms or kitchen areas. Creating self-contained units, entirely separate from the main house. Having a self-contained building opens up multiple possibilities for the future of the building.
We have featured lots of garden office builds which include toilets and kitchens on our sister site The Garden Room Guide. The customers have opted to include these facilities so that employees or clients visiting the building don't have to use the facilities of the main house. Drawing a defined line between home and work space.
Create a building that will appeal to future owners
While it's important that you design your building for your needs, it is worth thinking about the versatility of the space in the future. Will, you always need a designated workspace, what if you move will a garden office appeal to the next owner?
If you choose a good size building, it opens up multiple uses in the future, from teenage den or games room to home gym. The addition of the facilities mentioned above open up the possibilities of the space being used as a guest bedroom or even a granny annexe.
By creating a garden office that would appeal to future owners of the house could add considerable value to your home, experts suggest that a quality garden office could add between 5 and 15% to the value of your property.