In 90% of cases garden rooms are sold by the people who design and build them, there are no middle men, this means from day one you are working with people who are passionate about their product, people who have vast experience in creating a building that is the right fit for both the garden and the user.
Garden rooms are sold in three ways standard design, bespoke design and on a self build basis.
Standard Design Garden Rooms
With standard designs, the supplier offers a single fixed design or a range of fixed designs, available in several sizes. Some suppliers offer a degree of flexibility on their designs and allow you to choose the location of doors and windows, types of roof covering, heating options etc but generally you don’t have a lot of scope for customisation.
Standard designs are your most cost effective way of buying a garden room as the supplier has economies of scale, they are quick to install with some models ready for use in just a couple of days.
Many standard design garden rooms are flat roofed with an overall height of less than 2.5m meaning they fall in with planning rules i.e. unless you live in a listed building, a national park or area of outstanding natural beauty you won’t need planning permission to install one.
Bespoke Garden Rooms
If you are looking for something a bit different, have an awkward site, or want to include certain features, then bespoke design is right for you. Peoples first thought is that bespoke design = expensive, this isn’t the case, yes; you’ll pay a bit more than a standard design, but not much!
With bespoke design you meet with the designer who works with you to create the right building for your needs, you get to specify what you do and don’t like, and have real input in the design process which can be a very enjoyable process, this design process is included in the price of your building.
Bespoke garden rooms take a little longer from initial meeting to building completion so you should allow around 12 weeks for the project, this can be a little longer if your garden room requires planning permission, but your supplier will advise you of this early on.
Self Build Garden Rooms
If you’re up for a challenge a few companies offer self build garden rooms, these are normally standard design and size garden rooms supplied to the client in kit form. Self build garden rooms are often based on SIP’s construction i.e. the main framework is made up of panels of structural board filled with rigid insulation, the window and door openings are cut in the factory, this type of frame goes together very quickly, two people could have the floor and all the walls installed in just a day! All the other materials you need are supplied such as cladding cut to length, doors, windows, roof membrane, flooring etc – it’s basically a big jigsaw!
Building a garden room is certainly in the realm of a competent DIY’er, but particularly at the early frame building stage you will need another pair of hands.
If you fancy a self build design give it a go it can be a very rewarding experience!
