The UK is at the forefront of garden office design, leading the way in both the design of the buildings and the materials used.
What are garden offices?
Garden offices in the UK are small units, normally situated at the end of the garden designed to be used for work. Built like a timber frame house, garden offices UK are deigned to be comfortable to use all year round.
Join the homeworking revolution
The concept of working from the garden has really taken off over the last decade, our sister site The Garden Room Guide has seen nearly 50% growth year on year for the last few years, as more and more homeowners realize there is a different way of working.
All sorts of people work from garden offices, from writers working alone, to teams of people working in a small business, though to beauty therapists and medical practitioners using a garden office as a clinic.
Buying Garden Offices in the UK
When buying a garden office you generally deal directly with the manufacturer, this gives you control over the finish, it also keeps the price low because there are no middle men taking a cut.
You need to research your options thoroughly before you buy a garden office, after all they’re a big expense and it will change the way you work! We have put together this guide to help make your research easier, our experts will walk you through the planning and building stages, we also have some tips for successfully using a garden office.
Once you know all your options, and there are a lot, you can then extend your research by visiting suppliers websites, these vary in how much information they offer, but are a good starting point for narrowing down your choice of supplier.
Once you have a shortlist of suppliers, its time to request site visits, these are very valuable as they allow you to talk through your plans with the different companies, from the suppliers point of view, they get to survey the site, which is very important to avoid problems later in the build. Site visits are normally free, and there’s no obligation when requesting one.
After the site visit the supplier will send you a quote for the work, along with drawings and visualizations for the garden office, these should all help you decide which supplier to go with.
If you need Planning Permission, your chosen supplier will normally help you with this, they will probably ask you for a deposit to secure your position in their order book whilst this goes through.
Garden offices UK are normally built offsite in factory conditions, this ensures a high quality framework, and a quick onsite build time as all components have been cut to size and tested before they arrive on site.
Build times vary from supplier to supplier, and obviously the size of the building, some firms quote as little as a day whilst others may be with you for a couple of weeks.
Once the construction team have finished work, your garden office will be ready for you to start work in!