garden room (for office)

happypie

What's your view on garden room?
Do they increase property value by at least as much as they cost?

I am thinking to do garden room office because currently i am occupying one small/box room of our 3 bed house.
however i don't want to spend money on something if it can decrease property value or discourage people (though no plan of selling soon but still...).

Is a proper outbuilding (built from cement and bricks) better investment?

also what about heating? I am guessing in both cases (garden room and outbuilding) i will have to use electric heater.

please let me know your opinions.

thanks.

TELLIT01

I would be surprised if adding a building to the garden would increase the value by more than the cost of construction. It could easily have a detrimental effect on the value, or at least on saleability, if potential buyers actually wanted the garden space.
Our neighbours are actually in the process of having a timber lodge constructed in their garden and, although they have no plans to sell any time soon, I'm sure that will not have a positive effect on value if they docome to sell.
As you aren't planning to sell, you probably need to think more about the 'value added' for yourself and your family, than the longer term future.
Heating etc will need to be electric, and if you are considering any form of plumbing, make sure there is a main drain available to connect into. That is a massive problem our neighbours have just realised. The garden slopes down slightly to where their lodge has been build, and when the required fall for the drain has been added, the new drain will be far too low to connect to the existing. Their only option seems to be to install a sump and then pump that up to the main drain.

tacpot12

Electric heating and cooling via a split air-con system would be a good option for heating if you go down the properly built outbuilding route.

You definitely won't add value proportionate to the cost, but I don't think you will alter the saleability of the property by a measurable amount either.

markin

You need planning for a cooling air-con unit, if you don't get it and anyone complains...


Its far cheaper and quicker to remove for the next owner if its wood.

Davesnave

You haven't indicated the size of your garden, so no one knows if a garden extension or building would detract from the overall desirability of the property or not.

In my current house and the last one, such a building would make no difference, but in my first garden it wouldn't even be allowed under planning law, unless it was the smallest of the type.

Outbuildings are handy, but they don't add much value. A garden room, as a proper extension to the house, built to building regs standards, might. It's use is more flexible.



However, you have to consider if you have somewhere to put an extension which won't impact negatively on the existing space. My friends have a garden room which has great views, but their living room is now dark and has a gloomy atmosphere, so they have cancelled out most of the gain from the garden extension.

Tucker

It depends how much you spend on it, as to whether it adds the value you have spent.

If you buy one off the shelf, I doubt it, but if you build it yourself you should.

-taff

You can heat it with a pot bellied wood burner [which is my intention] after probably building one out of cob. Because it's of mostly not flammable material, I can build it closer to the fence than regulations allow for a wooden or mostly flammable building.

vansboy

If you Google the question - I did a couple of months back - and the points already mentioned, will be repeated, but as for actual value added, the supposed amount, was in the region of £6000.



So if you can do it for less, it may be worthwhile as a means to re-coup your investment. The best I could find, which made a reasonable, useable project, without getting too involved with building regs etc...
https://www.sheds.co.uk/adley-5m-x-4m-insulated-garden-room.html


I haven't bought one as yet.


VB

Tucker

Wow, that's a fair few quid to buy one in.

I am building my own timber construction, fully insulated with a bit of wheeling and dealing with some of the materials such as the double glazed doors and insulation from private sellers off gumtree etc a 3m by 3m is going to cost me somewhere close to 2k.

For someone DIY savvy I think it's a definite bonus. Pay to have it all done, definitely not.

Hillbilly1

As others have said it’s hard to say as we don’t know the size of your garden but we did a garden office last year and it’s amazing!

A lot cheaper than the other link posted and fully insulated
https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/rhine-warmalog-cabin-w3-8m-x-d3-0m

Cost about £300 to get electric in (8 sockets and 4 usb points)
Heat it in winter with a fake log burner and don’t need it on for long

As it’s got no foundations it’s a temporary structure and below th regulation height so no planning permission

I’d go for it if you’ll use it and around here garden offices are included in floor plans and made a feature of so I’m sure it will at least add what you’ve spent on it

happypie

i just checked all the replies. thanks so much.

my garden is approx. 75 ft long.
and i plan to do it at the very end of garden.
i also plan to do an extension (which obviously will reduce light in living room) but that extension will become kitchen.

i think i would go for 3m (length) by 5m (width). one quotation i got is 20000 pounds (material and labor). i think its lot of money though pictures look beautiful - https://view.publitas.com/p222-4462/cabin-master-digital-brochure/page/1?utm_campaign=Cabin%20Master%20Pricing%20Guide&utm_source=hs_automation&utm_medium=email&utm_content=65180126&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_iiL0KO4TkTxZGJKxcb_Dg5f3jvjWgSLOs6gZiZs5Yzcz96Ps_QMYxsHFsqtm-UtXLn4jO5yebIxP6lx9ihI7cczNTJh-z3OPmj0xcHD8_4GFAqA8&_hsmi=65180126