Horsebox converted to a home office
A rotten horsebox with no floor left in it, taken back to the frame and rebuilt as a fully lined timber room — new floor, pine tongue-and-groove throughout, lighting and power.
Services
Bespoke Garden Offices
Garden offices are sold almost entirely as products: pick a size from a catalogue, and a lorry delivers it. We build them the other way — designed to the plot, framed and insulated on site, and finished like the inside of a house rather than the inside of a shed.
5.0 from 11 Google reviews
Built, not delivered
Bespoke garden offices against prefab
Search for a garden office and you will find nine companies selling you a product. Pick a size, pick a cladding, pick a door, and a lorry arrives. It is a perfectly reasonable way to buy one, and if your garden is flat, square and has easy access, it is probably the cheaper way too.
Most gardens are not flat, square or easy to get into. A bespoke garden office is framed and built on site, which means it fits the plot you actually have: the awkward corner, the slope, the mature tree you are not cutting down, the side passage a delivery lorry cannot reach. The size is whatever suits the space and the budget, not whatever comes on the price list.
And it is finished like the inside of a house rather than the inside of a shed. Plastered or panelled walls, proper skirting and architrave, fitted desking and storage built in, and joinery that matches whatever we have done indoors.
Specification
How one is actually built
The difference between a garden office you use in February and one you stop using in November is entirely in this section.
Base
A reinforced concrete pad, or ground screws where the ground is soft, there are roots to avoid, or access is tight. Ground screws go in within a day and need no curing time, which often makes them the faster and less destructive option.
Frame and insulation
Treated timber frame, insulated with mineral wool or PIR between the studs and a continuous layer over them to break the thermal bridging — which is the step a cheap building always skips. Insulated floor and roof to the same standard.
Breather and vapour layers
A breather membrane outside the insulation and a vapour control layer inside it. Get these the wrong way round and you build condensation into the wall. It is the commonest fault in cheap garden buildings and it is invisible until the mould appears.
Cladding and roof
Western red cedar, larch, or thermally modified timber for cladding — all of which weather to grey gracefully and need no annual treatment. EPDM rubber on a flat or mono-pitch roof, guaranteed twenty years and effectively seamless.
Glazing and doors
Double-glazed throughout, with the main glazing oriented for light without cooking the room in July. Bi-folds or French doors where the view earns it, and a solid door with a decent lock where security matters more.
Power and heating
A buried armoured supply from the house, installed and certified by a registered electrician under Part P. Sockets, lighting and data. Done properly on insulation, a single electric panel heater is enough.
The rules
Planning permission and Building Regulations
Prefab suppliers tend to skate over this. It matters, and it is not complicated.
Planning permission
An outbuilding is normally permitted development, needing no application, if it is single storey, no more than 2.5 metres high where it sits within 2 metres of a boundary (or 4 metres to a dual-pitched ridge and 3 metres otherwise, further in), covers no more than half the garden along with any other outbuildings, and is not forward of the principal elevation.
The condition that catches people is incidental use. The building must be incidental to the enjoyment of the house. An office is fine. Sleeping in it, or running a business with staff and customers visiting, is not, and turns it into a separate dwelling for planning purposes.
Conservation areas and listed buildings are tighter — and a great many Wiltshire villages are in one, so it is worth checking before you design anything.
Building Regulations
Usually not required, if the floor area is under 30m², there is no sleeping accommodation, and the building is either more than one metre from any boundary or built substantially of non-combustible material. Go over 30m², or put a bed in it, and it becomes notifiable.
The electrical supply is always notifiable. A new circuit out to a garden building falls under Part P and is certified by a registered electrician, whatever the size of the building.
Proof
A home office nobody else would have taken on
The clearest evidence that we build workspaces to fit awkward briefs, rather than selling one out of a catalogue.
5 out of 5
Alex delivered a bit of an unconventional project for us, conversion of a vintage horse box trailer to a home office. I'm delighted with the result. Alex is enthusiastic, creative, and skilfull. He worked hard to achieve a high quality outcome. Highly recommended.
Questions
Garden offices — common questions
Do I need planning permission for a garden office?
Usually not. An outbuilding is normally permitted development if it is single storey, no more than 2.5 metres high within 2 metres of a boundary, covers no more than half the garden, and is not forward of the front elevation. It must be incidental to the house — living or sleeping in it changes that. Conservation areas and listed buildings are tighter, and a great many Wiltshire villages are affected.
Does it need Building Regulations approval?
Not usually, if it is under 30 square metres, contains no sleeping accommodation, and is either more than a metre from a boundary or built substantially of non-combustible material. Electrical work is the exception: a new supply to a garden building is notifiable under Part P and gets certified by a registered electrician.
How is it insulated and heated?
Timber frame with mineral wool or PIR between and over the studs, a breather membrane outside and a vapour control layer inside, insulated floor and roof. Done properly it needs very little heating — usually a single electric panel heater. The difference between this and a prefab summerhouse with a bit of foam in it is the difference between working in there in January and not.
How long does a garden office take?
Typically three to six weeks on site once the base is down, depending on size and glazing. The base — a concrete pad or a ground-screw frame — needs to go in first and cure.
Talk to us about a garden office
Send a photograph of the spot and a rough idea of the size and Alex will come and look at the access, the ground and what will fit.