Garden Rooms and Offices: Is There a Difference?
A garden office and a garden room are the same building. The planning rules are the same and so is the price for a given size and finish. What makes a garden room an office is the fit-out: more sockets, a wired data point, light you can read by, a wall for the desk in place of a wall of glass, and insulation fit for eight hours a day in January.
If you are buying a garden room to work in, here is what to change.
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- Same buildingsame price, same planning rules
- 3 doublessockets per desk
- 70 to 100 mminsulation for all-day use
What changes when a garden room is an office
| Garden room | Garden office | |
|---|---|---|
| Used | Evenings and weekends | Eight hours a day, all year |
| Glass | As much as possible | Enough for light, with a solid wall for the desk |
| Sockets | A few | Three doubles per desk |
| Internet | Wifi from the house | A data cable in the trench |
| Insulation | 50 mm does | 70 to 100 mm |
| Heat | A heater when it's used | A heater on a timer, every working day |
| Sound | Not a concern | Matters for calls |
One room, two jobs
Plenty of people want both: a desk by day and a room for the family at the weekend. It works if the desk can be closed away. A worktop along a side wall with a sliding door or a curtain across it, and seating by the glass, gives an office on Monday and a garden room on Saturday. From 16 m², the two ends of the room can be the two uses.
Buying a garden room to work in: five changes to ask for
- Swap one glass wall for a solid one and put the desk there.
- Add sockets at desk height and a data point.
- Go up one step in insulation.
- Put a window that opens on a second wall.
- Ask for a duct in the trench for the data cable.
Garden rooms and offices, priced
| What | Typical cost | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| A one-desk office pod, 6 to 9 m² | €6,700 to €10,500 | 3 × 2 m up to 3 × 3 m. Insulated timber, put up. Base and power extra |
| An office for two desks, 12 to 16 m² | €13,390 to €16,720 | 4 × 3 m to 4 × 4 m. The insulation, the doors and the glass |
| A 20 m² office, 5 × 4 m | €15,200 to €22,000 | Triple glazing and thicker insulation sit at the top |
| Fully fitted, 12 to 16 m² | €25,250 to €27,500 | Insulated, wired, lined and floored, ready to work in |
| 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 |
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.
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Price & Specification Guides
- Garden office cost
- Garden office pods
- Insulated garden offices
- Garden office sizes
- Planning permission
- Garden studios
- Office and shed combined
- Garden office with a toilet
- Electrics and broadband
- Heating a garden office
- Bases and foundations
- Shed office conversions
- Office kits and flat packs
- Log cabin offices
- Garden office ideas
- Office or garden room
- Office or extension
- Tax and working from home
- Is it worth it
- How long it takes
- All guides
- FAQ
- Glossary
Calculator, FAQ & Glossary
More on garden offices
Costs, sizes, pods, insulation, planning and studios.
What a garden office costsEvery size, priced. A one-desk pod is €6,700 to €10,500.
Office podsOne desk, 6 to 9 m². The smallest building that works all year.
Insulated officesWalls, floor, roof and glass. What to ask for in millimetres.
Planning permission30 m² for all garden buildings together, 3 m high, behind the house.
What size to getOne desk, two desks, or a desk and a meeting table.
Garden studiosMusic, art and treatment rooms. What changes from an office.Garden offices in every county
- Carlow6,300 people work from home
- Cavan7,791 people work from home
- Clare16,185 people work from home
- Cork84,857 people work from home
- Donegal14,900 people work from home
- Dublin280,195 people work from home
- Galway37,155 people work from home
- Kerry16,416 people work from home
- Kildare40,433 people work from home
- Kilkenny12,696 people work from home
- Laois9,985 people work from home
- Leitrim4,011 people work from home
- Limerick24,552 people work from home
- Longford4,043 people work from home
- Louth15,614 people work from home
- Mayo13,522 people work from home
- Meath32,232 people work from home
- Monaghan5,788 people work from home
- Offaly8,256 people work from home
- Roscommon7,742 people work from home
- Sligo8,070 people work from home
- Tipperary17,460 people work from home
- Waterford13,705 people work from home
- Westmeath10,976 people work from home
- Wexford17,724 people work from home
- Wicklow25,502 people work from home
Size your garden office
Four taps: what it's for, the garden, the finish and what's there already. You see the size that fits, our price for it and whether it needs planning permission. Your number is only asked for at the end, if you want one garden office company that covers your county to ring you.
Questions people ask
Is a garden office cheaper than a garden room?
No. For the same size and finish it is the same building at the same price. The office fit-out adds a little for sockets and data.
Can a garden room be used as an office?
Yes, if it is insulated for all-day use and has enough sockets and a good connection.
Are the planning rules different?
No. Both come under the same exemption for garden buildings.
Can an office double as a guest room?
Not for sleeping. The planning exemption rules out living in it.
Which adds more to the house?
Neither should be counted on to raise the sale price. Buy it for the use you get from it.
Get a price for your garden office
One garden office company that covers your county. Free, no obligation. Nothing is ordered until you say yes.