I was chatting to a friend recently who has just had a garden room built, which she was very excited about. Not only is it providing her with a home office space, meaning she can move out of her spare bedroom and have a properly organised base to work from, but it also provides a space for her two teenaged children to hang out with their friends. So she can also reclaim her sitting room.
What fascinated me, though, was the cost of the garden room. Not only did my friend gain a lot of valuable space and solve all of the issues she was experiencing in her home, but the cost of this a Tardis-like structure was a fraction of the cost of extending and reconfiguring her home to try achieve the same result.
Here are some of the key advantages of this kind of addition to your home.
More cost effective than building
A garden room starts at around €27,000 for a fully-finished 20 square meter addition. Building costs have gone up considerably in the last 12 months and the average cost of adding extra floor space to your home is now between €2,000 – €2,500 per square metre, depending on your choice of finishes. So a 20 square meter extension will start at €40,000 for the new build element alone before any additional cost of reconfiguring the existing house to work with the new addition.
No disruption to your home
Another advantage of opting for a garden room over an extension is that is there is no impact on your home whilst the works are ongoing. Anyone who has had any kind of building work done in their home appreciates the amount of upheaval that even the smallest of jobs causes – so this is not to be underestimated.
Hobby room or studio space
A garden room is ideal for a hobby or workout space too. We had another client who rather than converting this attic space opted for one of these additions for use as a studio and music room. The cost of the attic conversion was €45K and on weighing up cost and practicalities, the option of having a space separate to the house was the better and more cost effective option.
Utility Room
Another popular use for these spaces is for use as a utility room – they provide plenty of space for storage and valuable space for hanging out and drying clothes all year round.
The perfect solution
This option won’t suit everyone but if a separation from the main house is an advantage – like working from home, space to exercise or additional space for older children – then this could be the perfect solution.
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