Category: Garden Structures

Garden structures are a more significant commitment than plant beds and garden boundaries. A fence would be somewhere in the region of a few thousand pounds and would take a weekend to build. A garden room is a five-figure structure and will need foundations built. And if the brief for the build is missed, you’ll have to endure that mistake for at least the next ten years. This is compared to your garden structure that you could potentially change the following spring by a simple coat of paint.

Garden rooms have the potential to be more than a summer house. When investing in garden rooms, you must keep in mind that proper insulation and double glazing, as well as the necessary electric work, cost around £1200 to £2500 per square meter. Foundations and VAT will also add costs to the final total, bringing a garden room of 15 square meters between £25 to £38 thousand. DIY and kit-based garden rooms would be cheaper per square meter at £800 to £1600, but that would be the cost of the materials only and would not compensate the loss of the work that would be don by a professional. The price people truly underestimate is the cost of foundation, which can range from £1500 to £5000. A fully constructed garden room does not require planning permission unless the property in question is in a conservation area or on listed land.

Cost is one of several factors many people consider when deciding between garden rooms and conservatories. Surprisingly to most, at £2,400 to £3,600 plus VAT for a build that adheres to current building regulations, conservatories and orangeries sit above garden rooms on price. Fully compliant conservatories start around £48,000. Many attribute these prices to the construction costs, but most of the price difference is due to the materials. From a modern construction standpoint, a conservatory and a garden room are similar in cost. However, from an aesthetic standpoint, as a conservatory extends the house, and a garden room creates a separate space, choosing the option that encapsulates how your family lives is more important than the cost difference.

While not as cost effective as garden rooms or conservatories, decking is arguably one of the easier builds people can do without lengthy permitting processes. Softwood decking is among the most economical building materials, costing approximately £100 to £170 per square metre of decking, and a 20-metre decking area is priced at around £2,500 to £3,800. As with most construction materials, composite decking systems are costlier, at £180 to £320 per square metre or around £4,500 to £6,500 for a 20-metre section. However, most people make the investment because treated softwood decking has an estimated lifespan of 10 to 15 years, while composite decking systems last at least 25 years, making the cost efficient over time.

We detail here the structures which affect how a garden can be used (room, deck, or hybrid) and how trade-offs and costs influence where a structure deservedly resides in the budget, as opposed to which structure looks best in the supplier’s product photographs.