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Can I have input into my garden offices design

Can I have input into my garden offices design? The answer is YES, and in fact, garden office designers actively encourage it. While they may have created a basic form for you to choose from, they see this as just the starting point for working with you to create your ideal layout and combination of features and finishes.

How much input depends on the design service you choose

All bar a handful of garden office designs which offer a just standard layout and set of features can be customised to your tastes. Modular garden office designs offer a combination of design flexibility and cost effectiveness. You start by choosing a building from a garden office range and then personalise it by mixing and matching different modules, such as doors, windows, solid walls and screens. You will also find that you have a selection of options to choose from when it comes to the external and internal finishes. Also, you will also be able to choose from a list of optional extras like air conditioning to personalise your design further.

If you want even more input into your garden offices design, then you’ll want to take the bespoke design route. Some modular garden office firms will offer a bespoke design service, and then there are a group of firms that work solely on a bespoke basis, meaning every building they create is unique.

With bespoke garden office design, each element of the design is tailored to the intended use and your tastes – designers essentially start with a blank sheet of paper. Bespoke garden office design comes into its own when you have an unusual site or use in mind. For example, we have seen bespoke designs that have been designed to make the most of a tapering site, and designs that incorporate office space as well as a home gym under the one roof.

Like with a modular design you will be invited to have input into the layout of the doors and windows, and you will get to choose the finishes for the interior and exterior. With bespoke design you can also have input into the core structure whether this is a particular shape roof or a specific type of insulation, of course, your designer will guide you through these choices to ensure you end up with the building you envisage, that will last a lifetime.

Can I have input into my garden office design

Create the layout that suits you

You will be invited to choose the layout of your garden office building. You can decide where the doors are positioned and the type and number of windows in the room. It is a good idea to think about how you will position your furniture inside the office and then decide on the layout of the doors and windows to maximise the natural light and views you have in different areas. Some garden office designers have scale furniture plans that you can use to get an idea of your layout and the space it will offer.

Choose the finishes you like

Most garden office firms will offer you a choice of different finishes for the external cladding. With some firms, this will mean that you can choose the colour the building is painted in, while other firms will offer you two or three different types of wood cladding, such as Thermowood, Western Red Cedar or Siberian Larch. You can decide which options appeal to you aesthetically or work out best for your budget.

You will also have some choices when it comes to the interior from the colour of the floor to the materials and colours used on the walls and ceiling, for instance, you can choose from a standard wall board or opt for a fully plastered and decorated interior.

Lots of optional extras to choose from

Garden offices are well specified as standard, but garden office suppliers offer a number of optional extras for you to choose from. Some of these options are upgrading standard specification options such as the heating to more sophisticated systems like air conditioning. Other options allow you to tailor the building around how you plan to use it such as CAT6 cabling for reliable broadband connection or remote control lights so you can illuminate your commute to work.

Give thought to your electrical layout

While most buyers know that they want to have input into the positioning of the doors and windows and choice when it comes to the key material finishes. Some buyers forget that they can have input into the electrical layout. This is another area where it is a good idea as to know where you plan to position your furniture, particularly your desk, as you will want to position your sockets so that they are just where you need them for plugging in computers, etc. There is nothing worse in having a building created around a specific use, and then having to make compromises like trailing cables.

As well as thinking about the positioning of sockets, do give thought to the number of sockets you will need. Most firms will offer a standard number, but will normally allow you to order extra sockets

Cost of connecting a garden office electrics to the mains

As well as budgeting for your garden office building, you also need to put some money aside for the connection of the garden offices electrics to the mains supply in your house.

The majority of garden office suppliers we have contact with ask the customer to organise this aspect separately to the package they offer. The reason is that while garden offices are pre-wired in the supplier’s workshops with all its electrics, the actual connection to the mains and the testing of the circuit needs to be undertaken by a certified electrician. Most garden office suppliers don’t send a qualified electrician to site, so ask you to engage someone locally.

Garden office electrics

What’s involved in the electrical hook-up?

The process of connecting a garden offices electrics to the mains supply involves running an SWA sub-main cable rated at 45Amps buried in a trench from the site of the office to the house. This connects the consumer unit in the office to the unit in your house.

The digging of this trench involves a lot of work, and you then have to backfill with a layer of stone and warning tapes so that anyone excavating in the future hits this layer, well before hitting the electric cable!

Now we have heard that some garden office suppliers/electricians will run this cable along a fence or wall. This is obviously a much easier option than digging the trench, but we don’t advocate you take this route.

How much will I have to pay to connect my garden office to the mains?

We’ve been talking with our local electrician RGV Engineering about the costs involved in undertaking this hook-up. We asked them for a guide price to run an SWA sub-main cable rated at 45Amps buried in a trench, 25 meters from a garden office to the house.

They said they would expect the trench to be dug by others, before they arrive on site and that you would be looking at paying £1,000 plus VAT for a 25-meter run. This cost would include testing & certification.

So, you can see its not an insignificant cost! Your budget will be affected by the distance your garden office is located from the house. You will also need to budget for the digging of the trench.

If you are based in Wiltshire or Hampshire and looking for an electrician to connect the electrics in your garden office to the mains, we can recommend our friends at RGV Engineering.

How much would it cost to run underfloor heating in a garden office?

Underfloor heating is a popular option to heat a garden office. It is an easy to control way of heating a room, as systems come fitted with programmable timers and thermostats, so you can time it to come on before you arrive at work and to go off once you have finished for the day.

Underfloor heating is also popular as you have no visible form of heating, with the system being tucked away under the flooring. This free’s up wall space in the office for furniture and storage.

man installing laminate floor over infrared carbon heating system
man installing laminate floor over infrared carbon heating system

Underfloor heating is one of the more expensive garden office options

Underfloor heating tends to be offered as an optional upgrade on garden office designs. This is because it is one of the more expensive heating systems to install, compared with the heating options commonly offered as standard, such as wall mounted convector heaters or free standing oil filled radiators.

We have done some research and found that suppliers are charging prices of £60 per sqm + VAT to £90 per sqm + VAT for supply and fitting of underfloor heating. So, in a garden office with an internal footprint of 10 square meters, you could be paying anything between £720 and £1,080 inc VAT.

This is obviously not an insignificant sum when added to your base garden office price. It is, however, worth considering carefully at the design stage, as underfloor heating is a difficult and disruptive option to add once you have built your garden office.

How much would it cost to run underfloor heating in a garden office?

The team at Varme who supply electric underfloor heating systems suitable for use in a garden office have worked out the typical running costs for us. We asked them how much it would cost to heat a 3.6m x 3.6m garden office using a underfloor heating system.

Varme worked out that we would need a system with a total load of 1.9Kw. Based on the factory settings of the Varme fully programmable FH-01 thermostat (9 hours per day@22°C) you will be looking at about 0.81p per day to run the heating system. So, if

So, if you ran the heating Monday to Friday for say 18 weeks of the year you would be paying £72.90 – this doesn’t seem bad to us!

If you would like to learn more about underfloor heating systems suitable for use in a garden office you can obviously talk to your garden office supplier, or try the experts at Varme on 01159 834 259

How long will it take to build an office in my garden

Garden office construction is one of the most streamlined building systems around. This means that your new room can be built in just a few days.

We recently wrote about the timescales involved in buying a garden office. We found that you typically have to wait for around 4 to 8 weeks between ordering your office and work starting to build it on-site.

Once the installation team starts work on site your garden office will start to take shape in a matter of hours
Once the installation team starts work on site your garden office will start to take shape in a matter of hours

During those weeks between order and delivery, most garden office suppliers will be organising the manufacture of your office. A garden office is typically made up of a series of manageable size modules designed for easy on-site installation.

Some garden office companies have large workshops with cutting-edge machinery, in which they create your office building. Other companies buy in all the components they need from different sources and project manage the process so that everything is delivered to site for assembly at the same time.

Once on-site things move very quickly

Once the construction team arrives on site progress on your office will start very quickly. On-site construction teams are normally made up of 2 to 4 workers. The number is often dependent on the size and complexity of the building. You may well find that other team members turn up during the build as different skill sets are required, for example, electricians and plasterers.

The first big task is to get the foundations in and levelled. Some companies will send along their specialist groundworks team to undertake this step, others have trained their main installation team to undertake this stage as well as the carpentry aspect of the build.

Once the foundation has been prepared the frame of the building will go up in a matter of hours. It is not unrealistic to expect the core structure to be in place at the end of day one.

The key aim of the installation team will be to get the building weathertight as soon as possible. This means they will want to get the room wrapped in a breathable membrane which is a vital part of the build-up and acts as a temporary weathertight layer before the final cladding layer is installed.

Depending on the number of workers sent to the site you may well find that once the core structure is in place work progresses simultaneously on both the exterior and interior of the building.

So, how many days might this all take?

Some suppliers have their systems so honed and do so much work in their workshops prior to arriving on site that they can construct their buildings on-site in as little as a day. Two days is quite common build time for a small to medium size modular garden office design. The majority of garden office builds we see take around 7 to ten days to complete on-site.

There are not many other building systems which allow you to create a high spec new room so quickly.

Some garden offices are built from scratch on-site

The vast majority of the garden office industry uses off-site construction methods as we have described above. There are however a few suppliers who build their offices from scratch on site.

They typically use a traditional timber frame building system which means they have all the materials delivered to the site and then use them to make the various frames.

By virtue of all the work taking place on-site, you will need to expect the installation team to be with you for longer than we have shown above. We recently wrote about a 3 meter x 3 meter garden office that had taken a team of two workers ten days to build on-site, which is about probably double the time the same building would take to build using an off-site system.

Your installation team will be with you until the room is complete

We have all heard stories of builders who are working on more than one job at a time, who don’t pitch up for days on end to your job. You can be assured that this isn’t a practice you’ll find in the garden office industry.

Garden office suppliers tend to have several teams of installers, and they send a team to each job they are working on. This team will only be working on your job and will often stay overnight nearby so that they can be on-site bright and early each day. They will then be with you until the building is complete.

As you can see the actual building of your garden office will be a very quick process, you will then be able to move your stuff in and start work!

How long does it take to buy a garden office

Buying a garden office is one of the quickest ways of adding an extra room to your house, in fact, you could have your new office installed and ready to use in a month from now.

You could be using your garden office in just over a month from now.
You could be using your garden office in just over a month from now.

While lead times on garden offices depend on the complexity of the design, whether you need to apply for Planning Permission and the time of year. Our research has found that the majority of garden office suppliers can start installing a building on-site within 4 to 6 weeks of the order being placed.

Bespoke garden offices tend to take longer

If you go down the bespoke design route for your garden office, you would need to allow a little longer between order and work starting on-site. Our research found that you are looking at lead times of 6 to 10 weeks when buying a bespoke garden office.

With bespoke design, you have input into each element, so you’ll have lots of design choices to make. These choices all take time and mean that there can be a few weeks between your initial contact with your chosen supplier and actually being in a position to place your firm order for your office. At the end of the day, the more decisive you are, the quicker this part of the project will be. On the flipside, though, designing a bespoke garden office is an enjoyable process so you don’t want to rush it!

The time between the placement of the order and starting work on-site tends to be longer with bespoke office designs because often key elements like the core structure and glazing need to be made to order.

If you require Planning Permission things will take longer

If you find that your garden office needs a Planning Permission application, you will need to add eight weeks to your lead time. Your garden office supplier will be able to advise you about your Planning Permission situation. In many cases they will process any application on your behalf; otherwise, they will provide you with drawings and specification details to submit it yourself – it’s really not a difficult process.

Normally you will place your order and pay a small deposit to secure a slot in the supplier’s order book, while the Planning process goes through. Once the Planning application has been approved work will start on manufacturing your office.

The time of year plays it’s part too

When you see lead time estimates such as 4 to 6 weeks, you will normally see them appended with the message ‘depending on the time of year’. As you might expect the garden office industry has a ‘peak season’ during the summer months.

Most people start thinking about buying a garden office in the Spring, and by the time they have decided on a supplier, finalised their choices and placed their order they end up having their office installed during the Summer months.

The bigger garden office suppliers have multiple installation teams, installing buildings across the country simultaneously, which means they can stick closely to their 4 to 6-week estimates during peak months.

The Summer might well be the most popular time for garden office installations; it’s not necessarily the best or only time of year to build. Because garden office buildings are largely manufactured off-site in factory conditions, they can be assembled on-site in just a few days. In addition, because of the modern foundation systems used, building a garden office is not overly affected by weather conditions. Of course, there is the odd exception to this rule, but your supplier will work to avoid any such issue.

So, explore this site further to learn more about buying a garden office, with the knowledge that you could be working in your new office in a month or so.

Do I need to organise the base for my garden office?

Over the last few weeks we have had a flurry of emails from garden office buyers asking “do I need to organise the base for my garden office?”.

The quick answer to the question is sometimes, it depends on the supplier you choose to work with.

There are several different foundation systems used by the garden office industry. Each supplier will have a preferred system and will make the final decision on the foundation type during a site visit.

Some of the garden office suppliers we feature have a groundworks team who will travel to you a week or so before your garden office is due to be installed, and prepare the foundation. Other suppliers use a foundation system that can be installed by the main installation team without any delay waiting for it to set.

Then there is another group of garden office suppliers who ask you to prepare a concrete slab before they arrive on site. These suppliers normally leave this task to the customer because of the travelling distance from their workshops. Adding in travelling expenses would make the price for the foundation much more expensive than asking a local contractor to undertake the task for you.

When you are asked to install the foundation yourself, you will be sent some drawings with the dimensions that the slab needs to be and the recommended build-up of aggregate and concrete. It will be important that these plans are followed and that the foundation is ‘square’ so there aren’t any problems once the installation team arrives on site.

Dalle bton

Suppliers who ask you to arrange the foundation will make this clear in their specification. If when comparing one garden office with another, one seems significantly cheaper it could well be that the foundation is not included in the cheaper version.

So, how much should you allow for preparing the foundation yourself? Your garden office supplier will be able to give you a guide price based on their experience. We have seen prices around £1,200 for a 2.4m x 2.4m base and £1,500 for a 3.6m x 3.6m base, so its a substantial part of the overall project cost.

What types of heating can a garden office have

We recently wrote about how a garden office is a comfortable space to spend time all year round. A key component of this is the inclusion of a heating source in the design. Like any room in your house, a garden office needs heating for the coldest days of the year.

In this article we will answer a frequently asked question “What types of heating can a garden office have?”. You’ll be surprised by the number of options you have.

Is heating included with all garden offices

Before we delve into the types of heating available in a garden office, we want to make you aware that heating is not a standard feature of all garden office designs. In the course of our work we read a lot of specification lists and are surprised to see that quite a few suppliers don’t offer heating in their standard specification and price.

There are often two reasons for this. It might be that they offer several different heating types and leave it to you the customer to decide which one will work best for you. They then add the cost of your heating choice to the quote they give you. The other reason they don’t include heating as standard is because they say their rooms are so well insulated its not required. We have worked from a highly insulated garden office for many years now, but have always been pleased to have a heater we can flick on on the coldest days of the year.

Standard garden office heating

There are three types of heating that are commonly offered as standard when buying a garden office, they are electric convector heaters, oil filled radiators and slimline electric panels.

Electric convector heaters are normally wall mounted and convect warm air around the room. They need to be left uncovered and have space around them. This type of heater can warm a room vey quickly, so is great when you need an instant boost of heat. Electric convector heaters normally have both a thermostat and timer fitted so you can control when the heating comes on and goes off and at what temperature.

Electric convector heaters are normally fixed to the wall
Electric convector heaters are normally fixed to the wall

Oil filled radiators are another common option when buying a garden office. These free standing units are on casters so you can move them about with ease. They have the look of an old fashioned radiator. Again these heaters are normally fitted with a timer so you can control when they come on and switch off and have a thermostat so you can control the temperature level.

Free standing oil radiators are a popular option for a garden office
Free standing oil radiators are a popular option for a garden office

There are some slimline electric panels which can be mounted on the wall. They heat up to a pre defined temperature and then radiate the heat around the room. These panels come in different sizes dependent on their output and the size of your garden office.

As we say these heating forms are commonly included in a garden office package as standard. If you find that your garden office doesn’t come with a heater they are also quite an easy and cost effective retro fit option.

Underfloor heating

Available as a standard feature in some higher spec garden office designs, underfloor heating is a desirable option. People like it because it offers maximum flexibility when positioning furniture and there is nothing breaking up the clean lines of the walls.

A mat underfloor heating system is used in a garden office rather than the hot water pipes you will often find used in a house. Like with other heating types underfloor heating is fitted with a timer and thermostat so you have maximum control over the temperature etc.

Air conditioning

Many garden office buyers like the idea of incorporating air conditioning into their new workspace. It offers you a year round solution as it can be used to warm the office in winter and cool it in summer.

With air conditioning you have one unit outside the building and another inside the office. All pipework is incorporated into the structure of your office, so its all quite neat.

Air conditioning is a popular option for year round temprature control. There is one unit inside...
Air conditioning is a popular option for year round temprature control. There is one unit inside…
...and one unit outside
…and one unit outside

Specifying air conditioning for a garden office is the most expensive of all the options we have looked at but will offer you year round control of the temperature which is an important consideration if you are working from the office full time.

Central heating is an option on bespoke designs

Its not common but we have seen examples where central heating has been incorporated into a garden office design. We have seen situations where a garden office has been sited relatively near to the main house and the plumbing run to the office from the main boiler system.

Recently we saw an example where a boiler had been installed in the garden room and radiators run off it. This system runs off LPG gas cylinders so is a good idea if you want the performance of central heating and your building is a long way down the garden. You are only going to get this type of heating with a bespoke garden office design.

What about a wood burner

We know many garden office buyers like the idea of incorporating a wood burner into their new room. Its not a feature you will see offered as standard by garden office suppliers as it needs to be fitted by a specialist supplier to Building Regulation standards.

If you work with a bespoke garden office designer they may well incorporate a wood burner into your design, but they will probably ask you to organise the installation with a local registered installer.

Can a garden office double up as a bedroom

We are often asked by prospective buyers whether a garden office can double up as a bedroom. Our answer to this question is yes and no. That’s not very helpful you may think, but as we shall explain some garden office designs can be used as bedrooms and others can’t.

To use a garden office as a bedroom it must comply with Building Regulations

If you plan to use your garden office building for sleeping in – even only occasionally it must comply with Building Regulations. Not all garden offices built in the UK are fully Building Regulation compliant and in many cases they don’t need to be.

In general garden offices only need to comply with Building Regulations if they are sited within 1 meter of the boundaries of your garden or if they are bigger than 30 square meters. Because of this many garden office designs are not fully Building Regulation compliant and therefore not suitable for sleeping in.

Garden office bedroom 800 x 400 3pm 11
If you want to use a garden office as a spare bedroom it must comply with Building Regulations

However there are several garden office suppliers who have designed their buildings to be Building Regulation compliant as standard and will get your building signed off by Building Control. With these designs you will be able to use your garden office as a spare bedroom.

Why are there these rules

These rules are in place for your safety, they focus on aspects of design such as fire spread. With garden offices being a timber structure this is a particular concern. When designing a garden office that is Building Regulation compliant designers pay particular attention to the materials that are used, so they have low fire ratings.

A bespoke garden office designer will help you

Some modular garden office suppliers will be able to adapt their designs to make them Building Regulation compliant. Your best bet though if you are wanting to create a garden office that can double up as a bedroom is to work with a bespoke designer.

When working with a bespoke garden office designer they will tailor the design and specification to meet the current Building Regulations. They will advise you on the materials that can be combined to comply with the rules. For example they may advise you to swap timber cladding on the exterior of the building for a cement fibre board like Cedral which has a low fire rating. Simple design and material choices can open up the possibility of using your office building for sleeping in.

Using a garden office as a bedroom
To comply with Building Regulations your designer may suggest alternatives to timber cladding

Will this cost more

Working with a bespoke garden office supplier will cost you slightly more than choosing a modular garden office design, but if you are looking for a Building Regulation compliant building it’s probably your best bet.

There are fees for getting a building approved by Building Control, these will normally be passed on to you the customer. You may however find that your supplier includes them in the overall project quote they give you.

By buying a Building Regulation compliant garden office you are opening up the possible uses for the building in the future
By buying a Building Regulation compliant garden office you are opening up the possible uses for the building in the future

At the end of the project you will have certificates to show that the work has been signed off by Building Control. This means you can let people sleep in your garden office. They are also useful when you come to sell your house, as the new owner will have flexibility in how they use the building.

So, yes a garden office can double up as a bedroom as long as it complies with Building Regulations.

Can you have broadband & telephone in a garden office

Modern telecommunication systems have made working from home so much easier than it used to be. Broadband has opened up the types of work you can do with home and this is reflected in the growing number of garden offices sold each year. We love the idea that you can connect with anywhere in the world from the bottom of your garden.

We are often asked “can you have broadband & telephone in a garden office” and the answer is yes! The option of piping broadband and telephone to a garden office is available to all buyers, although it should be said that its not often a feature you see ‘as standard’ in specifications. Most suppliers offer hard wired solutions (which are the best) as an optional extra or there are a variety of methods you can use to tap into your home wifi.

Router modem internet cable. Home broadband router with cable.

There are several ways to get broadband & telephone to a garden office

If you are looking for reliable connections your best bet is to spend at the start and buy a communications package from your office supplier. They will incorporate CAT 6 data cabling and telephone line into the office structure with wall outlets for you to plug into. These cables are then channelled back to your house and connected to the main telephone point and your broadband router.

Garden Office 800 x 400 4
The most successful option for channelling broadband & telephone to a garden office is for your supplier to incorporate the cables into your office and then connect them to the mains supply. Its then just a case of plugging in and starting work.

Another quite successful route for getting broadband & telephone to a garden office is to use a power line adapter often called Home Plugs. You can get these for broadband or telephone connections.

These Home Plug systems work by transferring the signals through the electrical system in your house. You plug one plug in near your broadband router or telephone point and connect a ethernet or phone cable to it from the mains point. You then plug the other plug in in your office. Some adapters offer wireless connections, but in both instances you have one unit in your house and another in your office.

We use this system here at Garden Office HQ to enable us to have a good broadband signal in an extension of the house, and its always been very successful – just remember not to switch the Home Plug off!

If this is a system you opt for check the details on the adapters about its range – we have seen systems with 300 meter range and the speed of data transfer. You’ll also want to make yourself aware of things that can interrupt the data transfer. We have heard that plugging in a mobile phone charger nearby can effect the quality of the signal.

Can I not just use my home wifi & telephone

Because garden offices are situated some way away from your house and the fact that they are so highly insulated you may find that simply tapping into your home wifi and cordless phone system is not a option. The distance and levels of insulation in the walls will weaken the signals from the house. This would result in a very patchy connection.

If this is an option you want to try you can buy boosters for your router which can extend its range, but you would probably be better spending your money on a Home Plug system.

As you can see its quite easy to run broadband and telephone into a garden office. Talk to your supplier about their packages. Its then just a case of moving into your new office, plunging in and starting work.

Can you really use a garden office all year round

With this question it is important to remember that garden offices are not just posh sheds. They are actually designed more like a one room house. They are made up from several layers like a house which combine to create a building which is a comfortable place to work all year round.

But are they warm all year

When asking if a garden office is usable all year round, most people are really asking are they warm to use in winter. We have all had experiences of buildings like conservatories which are difficult to keep warm in the winter months. A garden office is nothing like this, and will be as warm as working in an office within your house.

Garden offices are highly insulated structures. They use the same insulation systems as used in modern timber frame house building. In fact may garden office designers see it as a challenge for the insulation levels in their offices to outperform the levels of insulation in a new house.

Garden offices are highly insulated so comfortable to use all year round. A heater is required but this can be very discreet like an electric wall panel
Garden offices are highly insulated so comfortable to use all year round. A heater is required but this can be very discreet like an electric wall panel

Going hand in hand with these high levels of insulation are house quality doors and windows which feature double glazing as standard. Some suppliers go one step further than double glazing offering triple glazing or glass filled with special gases and coatings that increases its thermal performance further.

So by design a garden office is a highly insulated structure, but you will still need the option of heating for the coldest days of the year. Most garden office designs come with heating as standard. Commonly this takes the form of electric wall panels or free standing oil radiators. With higher spec designs you will get the option of underfloor heating or air conditioning. Some bespoke garden office designers will incorporate central heating systems into a larger office, this is often powered by LPG gas.

Some buyers opt for air conditioning to give them control over their office temperature all year round
Some buyers opt for air conditioning to give them control over their office temperature all year round

A garden offices heating is fitted with a thermostat and normally with a timer so you can control when your heating is on and at what temperature. Some suppliers offer remote control systems so that you can control the heating in your garden office from the main house.

It’s not only winter you need to think about

Whilst the winter months are people’s primary concern when thinking about how comfortable a garden office is to work in, you should also ask how comfortable will a garden office be in summer. After all being too hot can be just as uncomfortable as being too cold.

Thankfully because of the high levels of insulation we talked about earlier a garden office is cool enough to work in on the hottest days of the year. Like we said you would need a heater in winter, in summer you will need some ventilation to cool the building further.

It’s important to think about how you will ventilate your garden office at the design stage. Obviously you can open the door, but some door configurations offer a bigger opening than others. Also think about your windows. It has become very popular to have fixed panels of floor to ceiling glazing and whilst this looks great it does limit your ventilation options. If this is a design feature you fancy, consider mixing it with at least one opening window.

Control over summer temperatures is one of the reasons many garden office buyers install an air conditioning unit. Whilst an expensive choice it allows them to have their office set to an even temperature all year round.

Also think about natural light

The amount and quality of natural light will also play its part on the usability of a garden office. Focusing glazing on the south, east and west elevations will mean you will have good levels of natural light all day.

When choosing and positioning your doors and windows think about the amount of light they will offer and control they will give you over the ventilation of the room.
When choosing and positioning your doors and windows think about the amount of light they will offer and control they will give you over the ventilation of the room.

You would also want to consider where you site your office in relation to any trees, particularly evergreen ones. A deciduous tree is a friend of a garden office worker – in summer the leaves help diffuse light when the sun is at its highest. In winter when the sun is low the tree will have lost its leaves so not block the valuable light.

Does it cost a fortune to run a garden office all year

Many people ask us how much it costs to run a garden office all year round. It’s difficult to give a precise answer as it really depends on the size of the building and its levels of insulation and the heating used. Here at Garden Office HQ we think it costs us about £1 a day to run our office, this figure is for all our electricity use ie heating, lighting and power.

We, like thousands of others work very comfortably in our garden office all year round – join us in the revolution!

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