Are you fed up with combing through search results trying to find a garden room that’s well-built and doesn’t cost a fortune? You’re in the right place.
Since COVID-19, garden room companies have been popping up all over Scotland. You might think that would work in your favour — plenty of options to choose from. That’s until you’re three hours deep into browser tabs, no one displays their prices, and every garden room is starting to look the same.
At Gillies & Mackay we’ve been manufacturing timber garden buildings since 1989, and in that time we’ve built up a wealth of knowledge about what makes a solid, long-lasting garden room. And we want to share that knowledge with you, to help you out on your garden room journey.
In this post I do a deep dive into Garden Rooms by Creative, assessing their price, specifications, and service, so you have everything you need to make an informed decision.
How were Garden Rooms by Creative selected?
To keep things as objective as possible, I don’t hand-pick the garden room companies featured in these posts. Instead, I review the top organic results on Google for the search term “Garden Rooms Scotland”. This is a search you’ve probably made yourself and been presented with hundreds of results to wade through.
Then I leave out any company that doesn’t publish prices on their website. Without a price it’s impossible to assess value and helping you understand your options is the whole point.
How do we keep things fair?
I don’t include Gillies & Mackay in these posts to keep things as fair and unbiased as possible. So don’t worry, we won’t be talking up our own work. I only use information that’s publicly available on each company’s website. I try to review a similar sized room from each (around 3m x 4m). This varies slightly depending on what’s on offer.
Everything here is my honest opinion, informed by my experience as a content writer here at Gillies & Mackay — a business that’s been making timber buildings in Scotland for 37 years.
How much does a garden room cost from Garden Rooms by Creative?
Garden Rooms by Creative offer three standard garden rooms in a range of sizes. For this review we’re looking at their 4m x 3m garden room with an overhang, priced at £21,994 including VAT.
What is a garden room from Garden Rooms by Creative made from?
Garden Rooms by Creative make timber clad garden rooms. Each garden room comes with ThermoWood cladding as standard. ThermoWood is timber that has been treated using the ThermoWood process. This is a treatment that uses pressure, heat and steam to modify the timber. This process protects the timber from insect damage, mould and decay and makes it resistant to weather and shape changes.
For this reason ThermoWood is an ideal choice for external cladding that’s going to be exposed to the elements. It’s worth noting that ThermoWood refers to the treatment process rather than the type of timber itself. Garden Rooms by Creative don’t specify what type of timber they use. Knowing the species would give a better picture of how the cladding performs over time – especially in Scotland’s wet weather.
How is the wall constructed?
Garden Rooms by Creative state that their walls use ThermoWood cladding, rigid insulation and vapour protection. Beyond this though, they don’t provide much detail about the wall construction. It’s unclear whether the garden room uses a timber or metal frame, how thick the framing is, and how thick the insulation is. These are key parts of the specification that tell you how solid the structure is and how well-insulated it will be.
If you’re considering buying from Garden Rooms by Creative, I’d strongly recommend asking them about their full wall construction before you commit. If you’re not sure what a solid garden room wall specification looks like, check out this blog post from Amy:
How do you build an all-year-round garden room?
How is the roof constructed?
Garden Rooms by Creative use EPDM roofing on their garden rooms. EPDM is a rubber roofing membrane commonly used on flat roofs — it’s waterproof and comes with a 50-year life expectancy, so is a solid choice as a garden room roofing.
However, Garden Rooms by Creative don’t specify how the roof is constructed underneath the EPDM. This is just as important. EPDM relies on being carefully installed onto a compatible, solid roof deck to perform well. Even though EPDM is waterproof, it can still tear or lift at edges, and if that happens, what’s underneath matters massively.
It would also be good to know whether the roof is insulated. Insulating the walls alone isn’t enough. A lot of heat is lost through the roof if it isn’t properly insulated. And you don’t want that on a cold winter day — you may as well be sitting outside!
A solid roof construction beneath EPDM should include framing that’s at least 40mm x 50mm, insulation, and timber roof deck like plywood or tongue and groove weatherboard. Avoid a roof deck made from OSB. OSB is a strong structural board and perfectly fine to use where it won’t get wet. But it’s a risky choice for a roof deck. If the EPDM were to fail and water got in, OSB absorbs moisture quickly causing it to swell. With prolonged exposure to moisture OSB can separate and break down completely. For this reason I’d urge you to clarify what the roof deck is made from before buying.
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What features does the garden room come with?
The garden room comes with French doors and two side screen windows as standard. Garden Rooms by Creative don’t specify what material the windows and doors are made from, but based on the photos on their website, it appears to be uPVC.
The interior of the garden room is lined with plasterboard, which is painted. This is a nice touch as it means your garden room is fully finished and ready to use straight away. It would be good to know how thick the plasterboard is, given that the wall construction is still a bit of an unknown as this contributes to the overall thermal performance of the wall.
Laminate flooring and guttering are both included as standard, which is good to see because these are often additional extras.
Garden Rooms by Creative do offer customisations on their garden rooms such as extra windows or a decking area, but they don’t give any indication of price for this on their website. Any customisations require a bespoke price, which could be any number. It would be good to see Garden Rooms by Creative giving some indication of prices for specific customisations, as they do state specifically that they’re upfront about pricing.
What level of service do Garden Rooms by Creative offer?
Let’s look at how Garden Rooms by Creative perform in terms of service – covering electrical installation, groundworks, delivery and guarantee.
Do Garden Rooms by Creative offer electrical installation?
Each garden room comes with a light point, switch, three double sockets, a consumer unit and powerline internet repeater as standard. Having this included in the price means your interior electrical setup is already taken care of.
What isn’t included is the armoured cable installation — the cable that runs electricity from your home to your garden room. This often needs to be buried in the ground, which involves digging a trench. You’ll need to hire a qualified electrician to fit the cable, which is an additional cost to budget for. I’d recommend asking Garden Rooms by Creative if they would include the trench in the groundworks they provide, as it’s usually cheaper to pay a groundworker to dig the trench than to get your electrician to do it.
Do Garden Rooms by Creative offer groundworks?
This is where Garden Rooms by Creative really stand out. The concrete foundations for the garden room are included in the price, which is pretty rare in the garden room industry. Concrete bases can vary significantly in cost depending on your site access, the amount of excavation needed and the existing level of your site. Having the foundations included in the garden room price removes a significant additional cost from your project.
The only thing I would like to see is a standard concrete base plan published on Garden Rooms by Creative. Since the base is included with the garden room, knowing exactly what you’re getting will help you weigh up your options.
Do Garden Rooms by Creative offer delivery?
Garden Rooms by Creative don’t mention delivery or assembly on their website, so it’s unclear whether this is included in the price. This is something to double check with them before you buy, to avoid any surprise costs. Garden Rooms by Creative do state that they operate throughout Scotland and cover all major towns and cities.
Do Garden Rooms by Creative offer a guarantee?
Garden Rooms by Creative offer a 10-Year Guarantee on their workmanship of the garden room. This is pretty standard across the garden room market. I would like to see Garden Rooms by Creative publish the terms and conditions for their guarantee on their website, and give an indication of how long they expect their building to last. If you’re paying over £20,000 for a garden room you’ll probably expect it to last longer than a decade.
Should I buy a garden room from Garden Rooms by Creative?
Garden Rooms by Creative offer a pretty comprehensive service — covering internal electrical work, a concrete base and internal finishings. This is a big selling point for anyone who wants everything to be taken care of for them.
While Garden Rooms by Creative do specify that they use ThermoWood cladding, rigid board insulation and plasterboard lining, there are some key details missing from their specifications in terms of the walls and roof construction.
Anyone who is considering buying from Garden Rooms by Creative should make sure to have more information on the garden room construction before buying, so you know that it’s well-built and properly insulated — no one wants to end up with a flimsy and freezing cold garden room.
