Maximising Productivity in Your Garden Office
Published: 23 October 2024
Reading Time: 5 minutes 10 seconds
Guest Post By: Garden Buildings Direct
If you work from home, or you are thinking of running a business from your house, you might have looked at using a garden office. Whether you are a writer, a lawyer, a video editor, an accountant, or even a hair stylist, a garden office can suit all kinds of professionals.
Experts from Garden Buildings Direct have provided this guide to making the most of your garden room, so you can make it the ideal working environment.
Benefits of a Garden Office
Working in the garden reduces the distractions that can come from elsewhere in the home. If you’re working on a day when the kids are at home - or anyone else who lives with you - they can feel free to make as much noise as they want without disturbing you, because you will be in a separate building. You can also choose whether to have the company of your pets, and shape your working environment to exactly how you want it. And if there are any guilty pleasures at home which could be a distraction, the garden office helps move you away from those as well. You’re still at home, but the extra step of separation away from the main house can make a huge difference to keeping you focused and working at your best..
If you’re welcoming clients into your office, putting this in the garden also helps to create a measure of privacy. We’ve seen people run their own hair salons from their back gardens and not need to worry about customers inside the house. This also works for professionals running a consultancy office, a photography studio, or a pet grooming service.
Choosing the Right Garden Office
There are a few key points to consider when you go about buying or building your garden office:
Size - it needs to be large enough to accommodate everything you’ll need to do your work, and room enough for customers if they will be coming in. Additionally, you don’t want to go too big. If more than 50% of your outdoor space is taken up, you will need to acquire planning permission.
Warmth - you don’t want to be sitting in a freezing cold room in the winter. Wooden buildings have an advantage here due to their naturally insulating qualities, especially those of a thicker timber such as log cabins. However, to get true year-round functionality out of your building, you will probably need an insulated garden room. There are a range of insulation technologies on the market. Some buildings will have you placing insulation material between the wall boards, while others use structural insulated panels (SIP) in which the insulating material is already built in. Common materials include multifoil and expanded polystyrene foam.
Doors and windows - these are connected to the insulation, of course, as double glazing makes a huge difference to the thermals of the building. Most buildings that are promoted as garden offices will offer double glazed doors and windows at least as an option. However, you might want to consider ensuring these are uPVC fixtures as opposed to simple wooden frames. If the seals on the glass were ever to blow, you would soon have condensation trapped within the double glazing, and this is much more difficult to resolve with wooden window frames. UPVC frames not only make this maintenance easier, but they can make your building look much more professional.
Of course, there’s also the matter of security. If your garden office is going to contain a lot of valuable business assets (not to mention confidential files), you’ll want doors and windows which take more than a screwdriver to crack open. Multi-point locking systems are the ones to look out for here.
Floor - a building can have extremely heavy duty walls and a leak-proof roof, but don’t let that distract you from the importance of a solid floor. Some garden buildings are sold with floors as thin as 11mm. This is acceptable for light usage, but if you’re going to be placing a lot of weight on the floor, or be moving around a lot, it will require some reinforcement underneath. Your safest bet is to opt for an upgraded floor thickness if possible. However, pre-insulated floors should already be up to scratch for everything you can throw at them.
Position - it matters where exactly you build the office. Too far from your house and it will take more work to connect the electricity, and the internet signal might not reach. Too close and it might intrude on the family patio area. Choose a building which will fit well in your chosen zone.
Setting Up Your Garden Office
Unless you’re just working with pen and paper, chances are you will need electricity in your garden office. Most buildings will enable you to install electricity points on the walls without too much difficulty. However, providing the electric supply from your house requires quite a bit of extra work, and you will need to hire an electrician. It is made easier if you do this before constructing the building, as electric cables will need to be run under the ground.
Remote working also requires internet access. Some homes are lucky enough to have a strong Wi-Fi connection reaching into the back garden, but others might need a boost. A signal booster can help with this, but alternatively you might need to extend internet cables out to the garden office.
The next thing you will need to worry about is lighting. A desk lamp can do the trick when you’re working in the darker hours, but you might want to install powerful lights on the walls or ceiling to really illuminate the room and save space. White lights, rather than yellow, can also help to keep you awake and focused, although this may be a matter of personal taste.
Then decide on whether you will need heating. Electric heaters should do the trick as they heat up very quickly. However, an oil-based heater could be more cost effective if you’re in a larger office. Or you could go all-out and fit an air conditioning system to completely control the temperature in your office.
With all the fundamentals of the room finished, it’s time to set up the office equipment itself. For a traditional office, a desk, chair and computer are the basics to bring in with you. To save yourself trips back to the house, you might also want a coffee machine or a kettle to one side. However, unless you’re willing to go through the work to install plumbing, you’ll still have to go back to fill it up with water.
How to Work in an Outdoor Office
We won’t tell you how to do your job, but here are a few tips to stay focused and make the most of your new garden office’s neat features:
- Let in the fresh air by opening the windows. The smells of the plants in your garden could help your mind stay healthy and productive.
- Remember to take breaks. Just because you’re not in the house anymore doesn’t mean you should become completely switched off from your home life.
- Clean and decorate it. This not only makes the room more comfortable to be in, but it looks more presentable for clients and colleagues when you have a webcam meeting. Wooden garden offices are perfect for painting and hanging pictures!
- Maybe add a doorbell extension. Because you want to hear when a delivery turns up. Or use one of those fancy smart doorbells that connects to your phone.
Learn More
Explore Garden Buildings Direct range of garden offices on their website.
