Garden rooms are more popular than ever.

Blame the lockdown, but increasingly homeowners are looking for cost-effective ways to extend the usable living space within their current homes.

More space and a lifestyle change without having to move house, and still adding on value. Who would not want that in their garden?

A well-planned garden house provides a unique alternative to traditional home extension methods, creating more space. However, you choose to use it.

Depending on your budget, a garden house can be anything that best suits your lifestyle, from a garden home office or fitness or yoga studio to a place to entertain your friends.

Whilst it should be noted that a garden house will not have as much numerical value as a lot conversion or conservatory, it costs considerably less in both time and expenditure, making a garden room excellent value for money.

How much will a garden room cost?

So, how much do garden rooms cost?

Naturally, we all wish to know this before handing in our details for a quote. Luckily many garden room suppliers, including ours, offer a pricing guide and transparent fees should you select one of our products so you can get a solid estimate of the price it will cost.

When buying a garden room, the price depends on several factors:

  • The size of the garden house
  • Whether you choose a standard or need bespoke additions
  • The building system you choose - house quality or timber frames
  • The finishes you choose - interior cladding, for instance, doors
  • Delivery and installation costs

Garden room costs can vary depending on the features and materials used, with the range being vast. Gardenhouse24 garden room prices start at £1,625 to £24,360 for a complete and installed solution.

So what does that price include?

Well, it depends on the style, design, size and extras.

Choosing the right supplier and contractor is critical because a poor quality building will cost you more in the long run.

Some garden rooms must have concrete foundations. These may or may not be included in the price. Ensure you understand all the costs associated. Fees can really rack up if you are not absolutely clear on what you might like as an optional extra.

The smallest Gardenhouse24 garden room unit starts at £1,625 + VAT, fully fitted out and ready to go. Our unit with a bar starts at £24,360 + VAT. Anything over and above is on a POA due to its bespoke nature.

Garden room cost extras

Bespoke garden room designs are generally priced by square floor metres, so if you are looking to build a 4m x 2m garden room, you would be looking at 8sqm.

Prices vary widely for bespoke garden room designs.

This usually is due to the core structure and materials used. Some bespoke designs use the same materials and techniques as used in modern housebuilding.

Others use more cost-effective in-house designed timber frames. The designer features you can choose with a bespoke design also impact the price you pay.

You don't often find bespoke prices quoted on suppliers websites, but we do add the costs of our extras, including:

  • concrete base construction
  • probase foundation
  • roof covering
  • installation service
  • internal rooms
  • roof insulation
  • FSC materials used

Planning costs

If you have to apply for Planning Permission to build your garden room, pay an application fee. You can use the fee calculator here to determine how much it will cost. Typically, your supplier will supply you with drawings as part of the project cost.

Still, we have heard of a small fee being made for the illustrations & specifications. There can also be extra fees to pay if Building Control approval is sought.

Delivery costs

Several garden room companies offer their garden houses for sale nationwide. Thankfully, because of this, most will provide delivery to ensure that it arrives in a timely and orderly fashion. Typically this is charged by the mile; £6 per mile is not unusual.

Ensure that you calculate your delivery costs and factor them in your garden room costs when purchasing a garden house.

Levelling

A garden house can be installed on the ground that is level to within 200mm. If it is not levelled correctly, this can cause significant structural issues after the building has been assembled and installed.

Should you need to conduct groundworks to level or strengthen the foundations, you will also need to factor in the cost. For example, concrete base construction can cost from £1,856, whilst self-assembly probase foundations cost £800.

Make sure you consider any design consultation too. This will depend on how many hours are involved and require a consultation.

Landscaping

Suppose you are considering buying a garden house. In that case, it is only natural that you may be thinking of a landscaping design to complement the entire aesthetic of your garden. Some companies offer landscaping services as extras; others do not. Once again, make sure you consider this during your cost calculations.

Connecting electricity

When buying a garden room, the most common extra expense is engaging a local electrician to connect the garden room's electrics to the mains supply and then test the circuit. This cost of connecting electrical cables depends on how far your garden room is from the house as an armoured cable needs to be buried underground.

Can you build a garden room on a budget?

The cheapest option is likely to be a garden office shed that can be adapted to your own requirements.

Suppose you do not connect any heating or electricity to the shed. In that case, it will reduce cost but will be colder and very cold during winter months - not very suitable to work or socialise in. The garden room will require regular maintenance to stop it from rotting if there is little heating within the office shed. Furthermore, there is no guarantee you won't get mice or rats living in a cold, damp garden house.

So you will need to pay a qualified electrician who is capable of digging power cables underground and other utilities. The same for good-quality foundations - you can do it yourself, but if done incorrectly can cause a lot of costs later on, should the building begin to have structural issues.

So yes, you can build a garden room on a budget, but be mindful of where you make cuts to your costs.

Will a garden room add value to my home?

The short answer to this question is yes, doing anything to your home typically adds value and garden rooms are no different because they increase the property's living space.

Property experts estimate that adding a garden room can add 1.5 times their value to a home if correctly installed and the building does not overrun with costs.

Also, depending on your location, a Garden Shed or Room in the USA can add even more.

Increase floor space

Extensions, conservatories and lost conversions are massive buildings that can become expensive, especially if they run over budget. However, garden rooms are much more cost-effective yet still provide additional space for the home.

Furthermore, removing a room or bedroom at home to create an office, gym or studio can put off buyers, as most judge a house's value by how many bedrooms it has. However, a garden house demonstrates to potential buyers that there is extra home space without sacrificing a bedroom, so keeping more space within a home's brick walls.

Impressive to look at

Modern garden houses are aesthetically pleasing, unique and stylish additions to homes and their gardens. Thus, they will also be an additional attraction to potential buyers.

By catching attention with a contemporary outdoor living space, you will likely gather a higher volume of viewings, leading to a quicker sale and more likely the asking price as customarily potential buyers won't want to miss out if there are lots of viewings.

Attracting fitness fans

Having an area at home that is dedicated to wellness and fitness, like a gym or spa, is not only an excellent investment in your health but for your home investment too, attracting fitness-conscious buyers should you decide to sell.

And it is not only fitness rooms that attract buyers. The versatility of garden houses is enormous, from game rooms to garden bars, to garden gyms. With the right concept – and budget, of course, the potential is endless.

So, a separate area away from the main house as a garden gym is ideal for total privacy to meet your fitness goals. No mess, no noise, no interruptions.

Attracting remote workers and business owners

Potential buyers love viewing properties with dedicated office spaces. And one way to entice them is to have a separate garden office area away from the main house, enabling a separate work-life balance.

People are not commuting as much every day and are working more from home. However, they still prefer the structure of separating home from work. A garden office provides both the physical and mental distance needed to separate home and work. Plus, it offers complete privacy away from the rest of the household (invaluable for video business calls). 

Is a garden room worth the cost?

Ultimately, if you don't look at the garden, you can't use the garden apart from on a really sunny day. In the UK, we don't have that many sunny days in this country, so there's a whole load of square metres we're paying our mortgage or our rent on, but we never use.

So, to maximise the use of our gardens, an excellent way is to build a garden room.

If you consider offsetting some of your garden space for a garden room, then the garden room costs will be worth it as you'll be getting so much more now and in the future should you decide to sell your property.

If you want to add extra space at home, a garden room building is excellent. As a home extension and home improvement product, a garden building is a substantial investment and offers superb value for money.

At Gardenhouse24, we have a garden room for every households' budget.