Looking to buy a Garden Room?
Well, our sheddie friend, you want to take a look at our Buyers' Prep Guide – from planning permission, to site access, base work, aftercare and more, in this guide you'll find everything you need to know about ordering your very own G&M Blackstone Garden Room ❤️
By Cara Mackay on 11 Sep 2019
You need more space. A nice quiet space. Somewhere away from all the noise, the never-ending laundry pile and the constant bickering over who gets control of the remote.
Maybe you need somewhere to channel your inner J.K Rowling. Or a place to run your business empire that isn’t overrun with dirty dishes.
Maybe it’s not even for you, but a ‘child’ that just won’t leave, no matter how many hints you drop.
Whatever the reason, you need a space that will keep you and your family warm and dry. Somewhere with lights, electric and heating – all the cosy feelings of a house, but, well, separate.
You need something a cut above your standard shed or summerhouse (even one of our really, ridiculously good-looking sheds from G&M!).
Enter the Garden Room.
Whether it’s work, play or a place for guests to stay, the Garden Rooms range offers a practical and usable solution to give you that extra room that you are craving.
And I know just what you’re after… so let’s cut to the chase, shall we?
You want to know how much it will cost you to buy the very best Garden Room from Gillies & Mackay, hey?
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How much does it cost to install a Garden Room?
Like most of our buildings, the cost depends on a range of factors. Our full range of Garden Rooms run somewhere between £13,000 and £40,000 on average.
The size plays an important part in helping to cost your Garden Room. As do utilities (plumbing and electrics).
If you are planning on tapping into the mains for running water and plumbing, or if the room is bigger than 30m2, then you will need a building warrant and an engineer’s certificate, which can add to the cost.
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How much does it cost to install a Small Garden Room?
If you are looking for a single-purpose space, something small and cosy, suitable for a garden office, or maybe just a space to escape from the family, then just ‘a wee one’ will do. This is anything up to 15 m2.
Something like Isabella.
Isabella is out there, living her best life. She is built to the Gillies and MacKay Garden Room standard. Built for use as a library, she comprises of French doors, 4 sidelights, a custom pitch of 30 degrees, shingled roof and guttering. The walls are lined with books to create the best book club we’ve ever seen.
We can’t give you an exact cost of what your Garden Room will cost, as everyone is different and will want different things. But here are some example prices to help you figure out how much a Small Garden Room will cost you from Gillies and MacKay:
| Ext. building size (APEX): 3.6m x 3.6m Full body = £12,191.00 Shingles = £845.00 Fitting and finishing = £1,284.00 French doors = £2,000.00 Sidelights (x2) = £1,600.00 Laminate flooring = £1,308.00 Guttering = £310.00 TOTAL = £19,538.00 | Ext. building size (PENT): 4m x 3.6m Full body = £13,351.00 Shingles = £1,008.00 Fitting and finishing = £1,926.00 French doors = £2,000.00 Sidelights (x4) = £3,200.00 Laminate flooring = £1,454.00 Guttering = £240.00 TOTAL = £23,179.00 |
You might want something a little different though, which will change the price. But this gives you the basics of how much it will cost.
There are some other factors below to consider, that will affect the total cost of your Garden Room:
- Planning permission/building control
- Groundworks preparation
- Electrical installation
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How much will planning permission or building control for a Garden Room cost?
If you are going for just ‘a wee one’ then you probably won’t need a building warrant, unless you are planning to tap into the water mains.
Keeping your Garden Room within permitted developments should be pretty easy for this small size and will save you money in architects, engineers and application fees. #Winning
You might, however, still need planning permission depending on your circumstances.
You won’t need planning provided you comply with the following:
- your Garden Room is located at the back of the house,
- it is not used as a separate home to live in,
- the Garden Room and any other development, does not take up half or more of the ‘curtilage’ (this means half or more of the grounds behind your home),
- it is not higher than 4 metres at the highest point,
- any part of the Garden Room that’s a metre or less from the boundary is no higher than 2.5 metres,
- the eaves (the part where the wall meets the roof) are no higher than 3 metres,
- if the land is in a conservation area or in the grounds of a listed building, the Garden Room has a footprint of less than 4 square metres.
Read more about it here: Garden Rooms: Do I need Planning Permission and/or Building Control.
If you comply with ALL of the above, then you don’t need to apply for planning permission. And, assuming you don’t need a building warrant, you are good to go.
What if I need planning permission for a garden room?
If you don’t comply with all of the above then don’t worry, obtaining planning permission is fairly straightforward and doesn’t have to be too expensive.
You’ll need scale drawings of your building and a site plan to show where it’s going, in relation to your house and the rest of your garden.
How much will this cost?
If you want us to take the hassle out of the planning and submit the applications, as well as elevation drawings, then we can do all of this for £650.
Otherwise, you can get standard elevation drawings for around £240 and submit your own planning application for £300.
How much does ground preparation for a Garden Room cost?
Our rooms are fairly hefty, to say the least. Big, well-built, and heavy.
Typically Garden Rooms weigh over 2 tonnes. And the weight has a massive influence over what type of base we should construct. So this means we need to make sure enough consideration is given to the foundations for the building of a Garden Room.
We don’t deal with the Garden Room groundworks. It’s not our game. We can’t do it nearly as well as the skilled professionals, which is why we leave it to them. We can recommend some pretty great companies to help you prepare the ground for your brand new Garden Room though!
The groundworks costs aren’t included in the above, so you will need to factor this cost in as an additional item.
So how much do they cost on average?
What factors influence the cost of groundworks?
The most important thing to consider with the groundworks is that they are completely dependent on existing ground level and access. Both factors affect the level of labour that will be required to prepare the site.
Every site is different, so it’s difficult to give a ‘ballpark’ figure until the site has been assessed. So, it’s worth keeping this in mind when pricing up your Garden Room.
There are two options for preparing the ground for a Garden Room. A concrete plinth or ground screws.
A concrete plinth is the traditional base for a Garden Room. This will typically cost you around £2,000 – £4,000 for a small to medium-sized Garden Room, depending on the access and current condition of the ground level.
Then there are ground screws. Ground screws are much less damaging to the environment than a concrete base and are usually around £1,000 – £2,000 for a small to medium-sized Garden Room. Again, this is dependent on access and level conditions.
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How much will electrics for my Blackstone Garden Room cost me?
We can easily hook you up with an electrician without any added complexity. We recommend Robert Clark Electrical Contractor, who are used to working with G&M buildings.
Electricity will transform your Garden Room into a cosy space to live, work and relax in with heating, power and lighting.
The cost of the electrical installation will depend on the distance of the Garden Room from the main electrical box, and what kind of electrical specification you are after. A standard cost for electrics within a small to medium-sized Garden Room will be around £1,500 – £2,000.
In conclusion
If you’re looking for a little place to hide out, or a sanctuary to call your own then ‘a wee one’ might be just the ticket. It will likely help you to avoid building warrants and potentially planning permissions, which will keep the costs down.
That’s it. Ready to buy?
The only way to find out exactly how much your little slice of heaven in the form of a Garden Room is going to cost is to get in touch.
You know where I am.
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