Garden Office Electrics and Broadband

A garden office is powered by an armoured cable from the house's fuse board, on its own circuit, buried in a trench, with a small fuse board in the office. The cable costs from €15 a metre and the electrics inside the office cost €600 to €1,200. For broadband, lay a data cable in the same trench: it carries the full speed of the house line, which wifi across a garden will not.

Where the power comes from, what goes in the trench, and how the internet gets there.

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from €15a metre for the cable
€600 to €1,200electrics inside the office
450 to 600 mmhow deep the cable goes

How the power gets there

A circuit of its own from the fuse board in the house. Not a spur off a socket, and not an extension lead through a window.
Armoured cable (SWA) from there to the office. It is made to be buried.
A trench 450 to 600 mm deep along the route, with warning tape over the cable.
A small fuse board in the office with its own protection, so a fault in the garden does not put out the house.
A certificate. The work is done and certified by a Safe Electric registered electrician. Ask for the completion certificate.

What to put inside

Item	How many	Why
Double sockets at desk height	Three per desk	Two screens, a laptop, a phone, a printer and a lamp fill them
A socket for the heater	One, on its own	A heater on the same strip as the computer trips it
Lights	Ceiling lights and a desk lamp point	Winter afternoons are dark by half four
An outside light	One by the door	For the walk back to the house
A data point	One per desk	Wired beats wifi for calls

Broadband: wired first

The office can only be as fast as the line into the house. Getting that speed down the garden is the job.

A data cable (Cat6) in the trench. It costs little while the trench is open and gives the office the same speed as the router. Lay it in its own duct beside the power cable.
A mesh wifi kit, €80 to €150. It works across a short garden with a clear line. Foil-backed insulation in the office walls blocks wifi, so put one unit inside the office.
Mobile broadband in the office itself, where the house line is poor and the signal outside is good.

86% of Irish households have broadband (Census 2022). The share runs from 93% in Dublin to 78% in Leitrim.

What moves the price

The distance from the fuse board to the office. The fuse board is often at the front of the house, so the run is longer than the garden.
What the trench crosses. Lawn is easy. A patio or a drive has to be lifted and relaid.
The house fuse board. An old one with no spare way may need work before a new circuit can be added.
The load. A heat pump, a kiln or a car charger off the same cable needs a heavier one.

Power and data, priced

What	Typical cost	What moves the price
Electrics inside the office	€600 to €1,200	Sockets, lights and a small fuse board
The power cable from the house	from €15 a metre	Distance to the fuse board, and what the trench crosses
A mesh wifi kit	€80 to €150	Only if no data cable goes in the trench
An electric radiator	from €350	Size of the room
An air-to-air heat pump	€800 to €1,500	Heats in winter and cools in summer

Our price guide for Ireland. Ask whether VAT is in the price. Many list prices leave it out. Ask what the price includes: the base, the cable from the house and the inside finish.