1. Find the right supplier:
Over the past year there has been a huge increase in the need for garden rooms - with many people now working from home they have become a must feature in the garden.
What's wrong with that? Well, there have also been A LOT of start-up companies who have joined 'the band waggon' and are offering 'cheap' garden rooms with little or no experience in the industry.
Do your research and establish how long they've been trading for. Are the website images purely computer drawings? Can they invite you to see previous clients work? Are they giving you advice on planning regulations? Can they tell you exactly how their rooms are built? Who does the actual building work? Is it contracted out to another company?
2. Ask LOTS of questions:
We often find that clients have a huge wish list and a not so huge budget. Decide what's important and what you actually need. Where is the sun in your garden? Will that hinder your work or will you need more windows to let in natural light? Do you need to put expensive Canadian Western Red Cedar on the rear of your building if it's never going to be seen? Some clients remove an existing shed to make way for the new garden room. Will you need integrated storage? If the building is far away from your internet source will you need an ethernet cable installing? These are all questions we'll get to the bottom of WITH you.
3. Assess the lay of the land:
If you have a sloped garden you'll probably need a ground screw foundation rather than a solid concrete base. This allows water to pass under the garden room yes accommodated the slope in the land. Don't worry though, they are less intrusive to the building process and just as effective in carrying the weight. Do you have access issues? Some companies can struggle to install where there is minimal access and will simply refuse. We build all our garden room on site using raw timber so access is never an issue.
4. Are there any hidden costs?
Most companies will charge a premium for three essential things - garden room base, mains electrical connection and plastered internal finish. We include all these things subject to survey - this means that they are built into your quotation but if for example you don't have space on your existing fuse box, then we'll add the cost of this to the quote before any work commences. Therefore you KNOW exactly how much you'll pay!
5. Do you need planning permission?
Many companies either won't mention planning permission or will simply lie. Yes you read that right - LIE! The amount of times I've told people they'll require planning and they tell me that 'the other company never told me this' is staggering!
In 90% of cases people can build under permitted development rights. However there are those times when you just have to have planning. For example, if the garden room has a height of over 2.5m (some of our gyms go up to 3m to accommodate machines), If the garden room is over 30m sq and right up to your boundary, if you're using the space for commercial reasons, if you're in a conservation of area of outstanding natural beauty, etc.
Don't worry, it's actually not that difficult to get. We provide our drawings with dimensions free of charge for you to submit your own planning application, or we have experts who can help you with this process.
Give us a call and find out what we can do for YOU!
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