Garden rooms have become an incredibly popular way to extend the space of your property. There has always been the need to increase the amount of space we have within our homes, especially since a study from Cambridge University revealed that the UK could run out of land by 2030.
Families are getting more creative in trying to figure out how to maximise a small space. The first two options people usually consider are garden rooms or home extensions, so we're here to help you find out what the difference is, and which one is best for you and your property.
1. Definitions
Let's start with the basics!
Garden Room: A garden room is a structure that can either be attached to your original building, or it can be built as a stand-alone structure. Garden rooms are an enclosed space which can be used to extend the storage and usage of your home. You can use your garden room as a gym, a home office, a kids playroom, and more. There are so many garden room ideas out there!
Home Extension: A home extension is an extension of your original home building, which is built by connecting the new structure to the existing building. To do this, an internal wall will be demolished to create the new space. You can use a home extension similarly to a garden room, but the building process is longer and arduous.
2. Cost
On average, a single-storey extension can cost anywhere from £1,500 to £2,500 per square metre. Using this information, HomeHow revealed that the average house extension costs around £15,000 to £125,000 in total.
Alternatively, our most expensive SunSpace is the Prestige, which starts at £23,775. This is still on the lower side of the price bracket for an extension, and you don't get any of the mess or stress of tidying up or waiting for planning permission. Oh, and our price includes sunroom installation which can be done in 2-5 days, too!
Also, if you're on a budget, our budget-friendly garden rooms - the Panorama and Vista - start at just £13,350 including VAT.
3. Logistics
Certain extensions require planning permission from your local council, which involves a lot of admin, surveying and planning. The whole process of surveying and approving an extension can take up to 3 months for a final decision to be made. This is before you can even start building your extension!
On the other hand, a garden room is a 'permitted development' meaning that you won't need planning permission, as long as the garden room dimensions comply with the height and positioning rules laid out by the Permitted Development guidelines.
For more information about garden rooms and planning permission, take a look at our blog: Do Garden Rooms Need Planning Permission?
4. Time
Additionally, it's important to consider how long a garden room or extension takes to install and the disruption this may cause - especially if you live in a terraced house or if you have a busy family with smaller children. With an extension, an internal wall is knocked down to create a larger space and this can create clutter and safety hazards for the family for a long period of time.
With a garden room, this isn't the case. A garden room can be built as a free-standing building separate from your home, and it can be installed without knocking any walls down!
A garden room can be installed in as little as 2-5 days, depending on which SunSpace you choose. On the other hand, an extension can take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to install.
And the winner is...
Based on the above point, the garden room is the clear winner between the two. It's easier to install, quicker to install, requires less planning admin, makes less mess, and it is a much cheaper alternative to an extension.
If you have a busy family home, it's definitely the most convenient option, too. The installation of a garden room is swift with the help of our friendly garden room installers - they'll be finished in no time. Even better, they will always leave everything nice and tidy so you can start enjoying your garden room straight away.
Buy a Garden Room Get in Touch
