Garden Office Advice

Our advice on Garden Offices                                       

What you should be considering when building an office in your garden. The essential checklist:  

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

• Will planning permission be required? 

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

• Electrics will be required (the installation will need to comply with building regulations Part P)

• Communications will be required (telephone and internet can be supplied using the electrical connection from the main property with adaptors)

Your Building and your site 

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

• Windows should be desk height and correctly positioned for the site

• A double entry door is a good idea for moving in furniture.

• 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

• Not providing for a good access pathway

• 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 who works at home

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

• Consider insulation a top priority in the whole design

• Sun on dark roofs makes the building hot in summer insulation is needed to stop this for Garden offices

• Get a site visit done by an experienced garden office builder

Following a site visit we will prepare a written project plan with drawings and specifications and answer all of these questions.

Added value! ?

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

This page "Garden Office 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, 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: Aarco 120 Ltd, Garden Building Specialists Bracken House, Woodlands Road, Chester, Cheshire CH4 8LB or telephone anytime on 01244 679502

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