With interest rates and property pricing at an eye-watering high, it’s no surprise that many homeowners are looking at making more of their existing space, rather than moving.

The popularity of long-term remote working or hybrid working has also continued, with employees searching for a suitable space to work. Many find themselves confined to spare bedrooms or dining room tables, unable to shut out everyday distractions, and, unless you live in a city, it is hard to find flexible shared workspace or hot desks.

Garden rooms and home extensions both offer more household space, but you may be thinking about which is best for your needs. To help you make this important decision, we’ve compiled a list of the most important considerations to think over.

Garden studio vs home extension considerations

Here’s what you should consider when deciding between a garden office building or extending your home to make space for a home office.

What do you want to use the space for?

Firstly, you should think about what is the reason for needing the extra space. Suppose you want to extend existing living or entertaining spaces, such as creating a bigger kitchen or larger dining room space or adding extra bedrooms. In that case, you may find that an extension with planning permission may be more suited.

However, if you are looking for a quiet space away from everyday distractions to work from home or practise yoga, then you may find that a garden room is more suited. Having a separate insulated space also means you make noise or listen to music without worrying about other family members or neighbours.

Do they both add value to your home?

Extending your property’s living space can significantly increase the value of your home. However, the amount of value that an extension will add to a property’s value will vary considerably, depending on a number of factors such as size, style, location and complexity of the extension.

According to Checkatrade, an average 3-bedroom house with an extension that creates a double bedroom with an en-suite bathroom can add up to 10-12% to the value of the property.

Garden rooms can also add a large amount of value to your home, especially with the popularity of garden buildings significantly increasing since the pandemic. Depending on the design, build and installation quality, garden rooms can add 1.5x their value to a property, making garden offices a cost-effective investment. So if you maintain your garden studio, you can recoup the cost of the garden room installation and then some.

Garden building cost considerations

Extensions require significant outlay as the cost of materials and labour tends to be higher. You also need to factor in planning and architectural design work, which can add to the costs. Although they can significantly transform the appearance of your home, increase living space and add value.

With large building projects such as extensions, there are inevitability surprises, perhaps from damage caused to the house itself or supply issues of extra building materials, which often means that extensions work out to be more expensive than you initially expected.

However, with garden rooms, you agree to a fixed, transparent & itemised quote which includes all of the materials and labour required, so there are no hidden fees. This makes garden offices less stressful, as well as a more cost-effective build option.

Planning permissions for garden office pod vs home office space

Most ranges of garden rooms fall within permitted development and therefore don’t require planning permission. Our Urban Escape Studios are built within 2.5m high and have a maximum internal floor space of 30 square metres, so most of the time, they don’t need planning, which shortens the construction time.

However, traditional home extensions will most likely require planning permission which may add weeks or months even to the project completion time, and permission is not always necessarily guaranteed.

How long will I wait for a garden building vs extension?

As extensions are incorporated into your existing property, a solid foundation will need to be

installed, and also multiple service work is often involved, from plumbing, electrics, and plastering. All of these can lead to delays, depending on different tradesmen’s availability. The average extension build time is between 7 and 15 months.

However, when ordering a garden room, from the point of ordering to installation, you can expect just a 6 to 8-week lead time while your studio is built and then, on average, 1 to 2 weeks for the garden building to be installed at your property. This means you’ll be able to enjoy your garden studio so much sooner.