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Garden Studios | Garden Offices | Our Building Advice

Your essential garden office building checklist       We called it "theBothay"

What you should consider when building an Office or Studio in your garden. Your essential checklist:  

Planning issues see more on this subject in detail (the current legislation with expert analysis)

Running a business at home  see more on this subject in detail (expert analysis of the issues)

  • Will planning permission be required? 

  • Will any building regulation compliance be required? (it is a different subject from planning)

  • Will electrics be required? (if so it will need to comply with building regulations Part P)

Your Building and your site

  • What is the purpose and use for the building now and in the future? 

  • Considering the proposed site how extensive is the work required to prepare a base and install, required services, any landscaping and access pathways etc.?

  • Consider access to the site for movement of required materials from a delivery point to the site.

  • Will project work be carried out by one contractor or DIY and various contractors?

  • How will the building look? Find an example, make a sketch or get a design idea drawn up.

  • What materials and specifications are applicable?  Make sure that these will meet the purpose to which the building will be used.

  • What disruption will be encountered during the installation extent and timescale?

  • Finally – What budget is available for the project and can all the above questions be answered and requirements be fulfilled within this budget? 

Common mistakes - "try to avoid these"

  • Getting a base installed without full consultation

  • Accepting a standard base when the site has not been surveyed

  • Leaving plumbing or electrics as jobs to be done after the building is complete

  • Building too close to your boundary, hedges or other structures

  • Not keeping your direct neighbours informed

  • Painting or staining a wooden building too dark

Good ideas! - Always consider these things

  • Go to see a previous client of your chosen supplier

  • Show your neighbours a drawing and inform them where the building is to be sited

  • Heat rises so consider roof insulation a top priority if you plan to use the building in winter

  • Sun on a dark roof makes a building hot in summer insulation is needed to improve comfort all year round

  • Get a site visit done by an experienced garden builder

Following a site visit we will prepare a project plan with drawings, specifications and answers to all of these questions.

Added value! ?

Often - we are asked if the project will add value to your property - well the answer is "sometimes  if you get all of the above correct" 

This page "Garden Building Advice" written by Richard (our project director since 2002)

call 01244 679502 to discuss a site-visit

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We have built Garden Buildings, Garden Offices, Garden Studios, Garden, Rooms and Garden Accommodation Buildings all over the UK. Here is a list so-far by nearest large town where we have built at least one:

 Bedfordshire, Luton Berkshire Reading, Bracknel, Maidenhead, Newbury, Wokingham, Buckinghamshire Aylesbury, High Wycombe Cambridgeshire  Cambridge, Wisbech, Cheshire Chester x 9, Stockport, Sale, Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead, Wallasey, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Crewe Cornwall None yet Cumberland Penrith, Keswick Derbyshire Derby, Chesterfield,  Buxton, Ashbourne Devon Barnstaple Dorset  not yet   Durham  not yet Essex  Chelmsford, Basildon, and 5 times in Buckurst Hill Gloucestershire Gloucester, Bristol, Cheltenham Hampshire  Winchester Hertfordshire Watford, St. Albans x3, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Huntingdonshire St. Ives, St. Neots, Kent  Maidstone, Canterbury, Bromley, Greenwich   Merseyside Liverpool, Lancashire Southport X 3 Manchester, Preston X 3, Bolton, Warrington Leicestershire Leicester, Lincolnshire  Lincoln, Grimsby, Louth Middlesex, London, x 11, Enfield x3, Staines, Ealing Norfolk  Norwich, Cromer, Hunstanton   Northamptonshire  Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough   Northumberland None yet Nottinghamshire Mansfield, Worksop, Newark, Oxfordshire  Oxford, Banbury, Witney,  Henley-on-Thames, Thame   Rutland one in the sticks Shropshire  Shrewsbury, Somerset Bath, Staffordshire  Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Suffolk  Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds Surrey  Guildford x 6 Croydon, Woking, Sutton, Kingston-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wimbledon x4 Sussex Crawley, Warwickshire  Warwick, Birmingham, Coventry,Rugby, Stratford-upon-Avon   Westmorland  Windermere, Wiltshire Devizes Worcestershire Evesham Yorkshire Beverley, Halifax, Harrogate,York North Wales x 8,  Wrexham Scotland x 1, South Wales x 4, Cardif. Pembroke

You can email enquiries to admin@aarco.co.uk Address: Garden Structures Ltd, Garden Building Specialists Bracken House, Woodlands Road, Chester, Cheshire CH4 8LB or telephone anytime on 01244 679502

Aarco Exclusive Timber Buildings - Garden Building Advice - Your specialist supplier for Garden Offices, Garden Studios,  Garden Rooms, Sleepover Buildings, Outdoor Kitchens and Shade Structures

Aarco Exclusive Timber Buildings - Your specialist supplier for Insulated Garden Offices and Garden Studios, Outdoor Kitchens and Shade Structures