The other day I was sat working in our garden office when my partner brought a new friend in to have a look at where we work.
The following exchange took place:
Friend: It’s lovely, but where do you work in the winter when its too cold to be in here?
Me: We work in here all year round.
Friend: Oh. I don’t know how you do it. My summerhouse is much too cold to use at this time of year. Your heating bills must be horrific!
Me: But this isn’t a summerhouse! A garden office is actually built like a timber frame house, so it costs no more than any other room to heat.
Friend: Mmm….
I get the feeling she wasn’t convinced!
Whilst some people affectionately call their garden office ‘the shed’, ‘my cabin’, ‘the sun house’ a dedicated garden office building is nothing like a traditional summerhouse building – its like comparing chalk and cheese.
A lot of thought has been given to the design and construction to ensure that a garden office is a comfortable place to work from all year round.
Garden offices are highly insulated structures, and combined with double glazing and a heater will be comfortable on the coldest days of the year. We have never had a day when its been too cold to work in our garden office.
Our friend’s worry that our heating bill must be horrific is quite unfounded. Our workings tally with the estimates that many garden office suppliers offer on running costs. We don’t think that our garden office costs us more than £225 per year to heat, cool and power.
As well as heating and lighting the room we are quite power heavy with computers, printers etc.
Please don’t think of a garden office as just a shed or summerhouse
We are telling you this story because we want you to be clear in your mind that there is a difference between a quality garden office and designs which are just glorified sheds and summerhouses.
By buying a dedicated garden office building you will be creating a room which is comfortable to use all year round. A room which won’t cost you more than any room in your house to run.