Shed Office: Convert the Shed, or Build an Office

A shed can be turned into an office if it is dry, square, big enough to stand and sit in, and worth insulating. Most garden sheds are not: the walls are thin, there is nothing in the floor, and the door lets the wind through. Lining and wiring one properly often costs more than the shed did. A built one-desk garden office is €6,700 to €10,500, insulated and put up.

How to tell which shed you have, and what a conversion involves.

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Free, no obligation. One local company prices it, not five.

3 × 2 mthe least that works
€6,700 to €10,500a built one-desk office instead
€600 to €1,200electrics, either way

Is the shed worth converting?

Check	Good sign	Walk away if
Size	At least 3 × 2 m inside, and you can stand up	You duck at the eaves
The frame	Solid framing you can fix a lining to	Thin boards on light battens
Dry	No stains, no smell, a sound roof	Damp at the base of the walls or daylight at the eaves
The base	Level, off the ground, with air under the floor	Sitting on earth, floor soft underfoot
Steel shed	Insulated panels already	Single-skin steel, which runs with condensation once heated

What a conversion takes

A membrane and insulation in the walls and roof, then a lining. It takes room: a narrow shed gets narrower.
Insulation under or over the floor. Over it costs headroom.
A proper door and a double-glazed window in place of the shed's own.
Power: the same armoured cable and fuse board as any garden office, €600 to €1,200 inside plus from €15 a metre for the cable.
A heater, and a vent so it stays dry.

When a built office is the better buy

Add up the lining, the floor, the door, the window and the electrics. If the total is heading for the price of a one-desk pod, €6,700 to €10,500, buy the pod. It is designed to be warm, it comes with a guarantee, and the shed goes back to holding the lawnmower. If you need the storage as well, look at an office and shed combined.

Planning does not change

A shed and an office are the same kind of building in the planning rules. Converting a shed that was within the rules keeps it within them, as long as nobody lives in it. Replacing it with something bigger means doing the 30 m² sum again.

A built office instead, 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
A high-spec pod, installed	€11,000 to €13,420	Better glazing and insulation, or delivered finished
A two-room building, office plus store	€13,390 to €17,950	5 × 3 m to 6 × 4 m, with a dividing wall and a second door
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
An electric radiator	from €350	Size of the room

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.