Garden rooms have become a popular addition to the UK home, surging in popularity thanks to the working from home trend which was necessitated by the pandemic.
A high quality garden room not only provides additional space to your home but adds value to your property for a relatively low investment. Better yet, they provide an opportunity to extend your living space without the need for planning permission and can be built in as little as a week.
So, how much does a garden room really cost?
Garden room prices vary enormously from one supplier to the next and the cost is largely dependent on the quality of materials used and any features you wish to add. As a rule of thumb, you can expect to spend in the region of £18,000-£20,000 for the most popular Vivid Pod garden rooms, with smaller rooms such as the EcoPod starting at £11,999.
So, what’s included in the price?
When researching suppliers, it’s important to discuss exactly what’s included in your build, and get it in writing so you don’t have a nasty surprise when it comes to the final bill. When you buy a Vivid Pod, the price includes concrete pier foundations, electrical connection to the mains, full installation and VAT as well as other features, depending on which room you choose.
There are many build choices which will affect the price, for example your choice of cladding. Vivid Pods offer thermowood, larch and cedar cladding, all of which are sustainably sourced and FSC certified. And, Vivid Pods are a member of the Ecologi movement which funds climate action projects.
Choosing your supplier is crucial to getting the most value out of your garden room. A poor quality build will lead to problems in the long run and will add less value to your property than a room which is built to a high standard. Vivid Pods come with a 10 year structural guarantee, 20 year EPDM roofing guarantee along with a 10 year guarantee on all windows and doors.
Will a garden room add value to my home?
Yes! Adding a garden room provides more living space to your home and regardless of how you choose to use it, the next owner of the home can use it however they wish. So if you’re a yoga fanatic and want a home studio but the next person needs a home office, it’s easy to repurpose the space.
It’s estimated that a good quality garden room can add as much as 1.5 times their value to your home. So if you spend £20,000 on your room, you can expect it to add about £30,000 to the value of your home.
Exactly how will a garden room add value to my home?
While the obvious answer is that it simply adds more living space to your home, there is also the convenience value. And, adding a garden room is much less expensive than other types of home extension, such as a loft conversion or side extension. Although here’s a spoiler alert, Vivid Pods now have a home extension product! Check out the Mod Pod here.
We know that garden rooms are a cost-effective way to add space to your home, but part of the value they offer comes from the fact that you don’t have to sacrifice other living space to add one. For example, one way to create a home office is to give up another room in the house, such as the spare bedroom. But in doing that, you’re not actually adding any value as the square footage of the home remains the same. Adding a garden room achieves both – adding space to your home while providing a place that can be used however you wish.
Home offices are now a great selling point too as ‘hybrid’ working has become the norm. A home office is now a much sought after feature in the home market and as we mentioned earlier, they’re easy to repurpose into other spaces such as home gyms, play rooms, gaming rooms or somewhere to chill out in your downtime.
So is it really worth the cost?
Absolutely! And TV property expert Sarah Beeny agrees: “I think a garden room is a really fabulous thing to do. We don’t have that many sunny days in this country, so there’s a whole load of square footage you’re paying your mortgage or your rent on, but you never use. So you need to enjoy looking at it or use it in some way – a garden room is a really good way of doing that.”
Ultimately, a garden room is not only an investment in your home, it’s an investment in your lifestyle. It’s a space that you can use to enhance your life, whether that’s to drop your daily commute, to entertain your friends and family, to use as a wellness space or even to practice that guitar you haven’t picked up for years. What better way is there to enhance your home and your life at the same time?
