The benefits of garden rooms are multiple. From adding extra living space to your home, to providing a dedicated space to relax, work or enjoy hobbies, garden rooms make a great addition to all types of homes. But, do garden rooms also add to the value of your home?
Keep reading to discover the answer…
Will a garden room add value to your property?
Let’s get straight to the point. If you invest in a garden room, will it increase the value of your property?
According to the property gurus, the answer is almost always yes.
The most important point is that a garden room adds to the square footage of a property’s living space, thus making the property bigger.
Think of a garden room as being similar to an extension.
It may not be directly attached to your home, but a garden room adds additional living space, thereby improving the value of your home in much the same way as a traditional house extension does.
So, yes, a garden room can add value to your property.
How much value will a garden room add to your property?
We know it’s all very well saying that a garden room will add value to a property. The most important question is, how much?!
Now, it’s difficult to pinpoint a definitive figure; the exact value added to your property will depend on your property itself as well as the type of garden room you choose.
However, according to Grant Letts of estate agents Churchods “ We recently marketed four comparable properties for sale, of which only one featured a garden room. This one sold before the others and added around 1.25 times the cost of the garden room to the sale price”.
Let’s break that down further.
Say you invest in one of our Contemporary Panoramic (3.6m x 3m) garden rooms at a cost of £18,960.00 (price correct as of Sept 2022, this cost includes the garden room itself, delivery and assembly, including internal plaster skim and electrical wiring - but does NOT include the cost of interior painting or connection to your home’s main electrical supply).
At a cost of £18,690, a Contemporary Panoramic garden room would be expected to add approximately £28,000 to the value of your home.
According to The Telegraph newspaper (Oct 2022), adding a garden room can be relatively cost-effective (and less disruptive) than a comparable extension of loft conversion.
Note - this is a rough approximation and is not a guaranteed valuation.
A note on build quality
Note, not any ordinary garden room will do.
As you may have seen, the market is flooded with what we at Rubicon call ‘posh sheds’.
These are emphatically NOT garden rooms suitable for all year-round usage.
If adding to the value of your property is a major consideration for you, then it’s vital that you select a garden room which is built to the highest possible standards.
You want your garden room to effectively look and feel like an extension of your home.
As Robert Ellis of Nutbrook Property said in an interview with Ideal Home magazine:
“There is no doubt that the quality of the building adds significant value too”.
You basically want your garden room to be an exclave of your home; a part of your home that isn’t directly connected to the main building you live in, but of equal build quality and standards.
How does a garden room add value to a property?
As we said at the outset, one of the main reasons that a garden room will add value to a property is because it creates additional living space.
But, that’s not the only reason a garden room will add value to your home.
Retain existing rooms in your home
Traditionally, if you wanted to create a dedicated study or gym space, it meant sacrificing an existing room in your home - generally a bedroom.
Garden rooms provide you with the best of both worlds, allowing you to create a dedicated space for study or workouts, whilst also allowing you to retain all of your home’s existing bedrooms/rooms.
In other words, you can add additional space to your home, without sacrificing valuable living areas within your home.
WFH
Working from home (WFH) has now become an established part of many people’s working routines.
So, being able to boast a dedicated office in your garden is now a highly desirable selling point.
People may not be commuting to the office everyday, but many of them do want to instil a degree of separation between home and work. A dedicated garden office is the perfect way to do this.
Simply close the door at the end of the day, walk up the path and into your home and that’s work done for the day!
Increased property appeal
It’s not just about increased living space (but, of course, that’s important!). Garden rooms also add a degree of appeal and style to a property.
Garden rooms, especially the more contemporary styled models, are particularly sought after and are very much ‘on-trend’ right now.
If you’re looking to create a highly-appealing property that’ll be the envy of your neighbours and prospective buyers alike, then a high-quality garden room is a must-have addition to your home.
Increased storage space
Not only does a garden room offer a dedicated space for working, studying or general leisure activities, but certain models such as our Combi Style offer plenty of storage space.
Whether it’s that collection of vinyl records that keeps getting bigger and bigger, or more mundane things like gardening equipment or car washing accessories, a garden room offers additional storage space for your home.
Revitalise your garden
For some people, the garden is an area of their home that they’ll only ever use on those rare, hot summer days. The rest of the year, it’s a space which requires occasional upkeep and care.
A garden room allows you to make the most of an area of your property that you may not otherwise use a great deal.
Even if you are an avid gardener however, a garden room can often be the catalyst for a whole new landscaping project and planting arrangements.
Just as some people use an extension as an excuse to pursue a wider remodelling and redecorating project of their home, a garden room project can act the same way.
What to look for in a garden room supplier
As the points above make clear, a garden room is an easy, straightforward way of adding value to your property.
But, what’s crucial to remember is that any old garden room isn’t going to add to the value of your home.
Quality is key. So, you need to make sure you select a garden room that’s designed and assembled by a quality, reputable supplier with extensive structural guarantees in place for peace of mind.
Below, we’ve detailed the things you should look for in a garden room supplier.
Strong track record
Unfortunately, there are all too many garden room manufacturers who do little more than offer ‘posh sheds’, which don’t have the build quality to stand the test of time.
When selecting a garden room supplier, look for companies that can demonstrate a strong track record of delivering garden rooms that last.
Look for testimonials from previous customers, check out the company’s case studies, and see if they have a gallery of photos of their past work.
If a garden room supplier isn’t able to provide you with those things, think again.
Long-lasting designs
As we mentioned earlier, you don’t want to buy any old garden room. Whilst cheaper versions such as ‘posh sheds’ may be tempting, in reality they’re a false economy.
You’ll only get a few years of use out of them before they start to fall apart and degrade.
Instead, you want to select a supplier which designs and builds their garden rooms to last.
At Rubicon we design our garden rooms to last for 30+ years. Our garden rooms are more akin to small houses in the way they are designed and built.
Showroom
In addition to seeing examples of previous work in the form of photos, case studies and testimonials, you should also choose a garden room supplier that lets you see their work up close and ‘in the flesh’.
Many garden room suppliers will ask you to go and visit a previous customer in order to see an example of their work. This is often inconvenient for both parties.
At Rubicon, we’re different, as we have our own dedicated showroom with numerous examples of our garden rooms that you can try out.
Beware of those companies who just send a salesperson to your house with a glossy brochure and sample packs - you need to see and touch the type of building you are looking to purchase, after all, it's a lot of money to spend on an unseen commodity.
Guarantees
You don’t want to choose a garden room from a supplier that’s not going to provide you with any long-term support.
It’s important that you select a garden room that comes with proper guarantees on the structural, roofing and other elements.
Here at Rubicon, we offer industry-leading guarantees, including a 20-year structural guarantee, a 20-year roof membrane guarantee, a 10-year cladding guarantee and a 12-month guarantee on fixtures and fittings on all of our garden room models.
Easy payment terms
As you’ve seen, a garden room is a big investment. For many people, the prospect of having to pay for a garden room in one lump sum is not a welcome one.
So, you should select a garden room supplier that offers easy payment terms.
At Rubicon we allow you to finance the cost of your garden room using easy monthly payments. What’s more, we ensure that our pricing is clear, with VAT included. We also clearly set out what’s included with the price, and which jobs need to be separately contracted for.
Credentials
Unlike the house building trade, the garden room industry isn’t highly regulated. This means that it’s all too easy for ‘fly by night’ garden room builders to pass under the radar.
That’s why it’s important to look for proper credentials in a garden room supplier.
In addition to looking for a strong track record, as demonstrated by testimonials and case studies, you’ll also want to look for credentials such as being part of the Trading Standards Buy With Confidence scheme.
The Buy With Confidence scheme involves a business being vetted and undergoing a series of detailed checks before being approved as a member of the scheme.
Here at Rubicon we’re proud to say that we were the first garden room company in the UK to achieve this accreditation.
Vetted staff
The assembly of a garden room involves a team of people. If you’re going to be inviting a team of people onto your property then you should know that they are trustworthy.
Check that your garden room supplier’s staff have been properly vetted. This includes DBS checks which assess people for criminal records and child safeguarding.
At Rubicon, all of our garden room assembly teams are DBS-checked. Not only that, they’re really friendly too!
Zero maintenance
Does the garden room supplier you’re talking to offer truly zero-maintenance garden rooms?
Not all of them do. Many garden room suppliers offer garden rooms with wooden cladding and felt roofs, which require regular maintenance and are unlikely to last.
If you don’t want the hassle of dealing with maintenance, then select Rubicon for your garden room. All of our garden rooms can be fitted with our ZERO maintenance composite cladding in a variety of colours. They do not require you to undertake the sort of bi-annual maintenance tasks that competitor garden rooms do.
Add value to your home with a garden room from Rubicon
If you’re thinking of investing in a garden room for your home, then make Rubicon your first port of call.
As one of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers of garden rooms, Rubicon can create your dream garden room; one that’ll certainly enhance your property.
Explore our range of different garden rooms and garden offices and see examples of our past work in our gallery.
Speak to Rubicon about your garden room project today
For more garden room information, inspiration and advice, read the Rubicon blog…