Total Sheds
Buying Guides · 6 min read
Yes, a shed can be your garden office — with honest caveats. A maker's guide to insulation, power, planning and Wi-Fi, from fair-weather to year-round.
Home working
A straight answer from the people who build them: what a shed office is genuinely good at, and what year-round comfort really takes.
Can you use a shed as an office? Yes — and for a lot of people it's the smartest way in. But let's be straight before you spend a penny: a standard timber shed is not an insulated garden room. Fresh from the workshop it makes a brilliant fair-weather office and a superb-value starting point; for year-round comfort you'll be adding insulation, lining and heating. None of that is complicated, but you should know it before you order.
We've been making garden buildings in our West Midlands workshop since 1995, and plenty are earning their keep as offices right now. Here's the honest ladder. Start with a window and a solid, level base; everything else can come in stages.
Any well-built shed with a window and a solid base. Spring to autumn it's a genuinely pleasant place to work; in January you'll be back at the kitchen table. Nothing here is wasted if you upgrade later.
A composite building buys you thicker walls, a maintenance-free shell, double-glazing options and an EPDM rubber roof included. Add a small heater and you're comfortable most of the year.
Insulate and line the walls, floor and roof, and have power laid professionally. Done properly, it becomes a warm, quiet room you'll happily sit in right through February.
Insulating a shed isn't a dark art. Fit PIR board or mineral wool between the framing, line over it with OSB or plywood, and you've turned a shell into a room. Do the roof as well as the walls and floor — warm air leaves upwards. It's a competent DIYer's long weekend, not a builder's quote.
Two things make the job far easier if they're in the building from day one. A breathable membrane behind the cladding — in every building we make — lets the structure shed moisture while you keep the warmth in; insulation over a damp frame is effort wasted. And an EPDM rubber roof, a single sealed skin with a 50-year life, won't let a drip near your electrics. It's included on every composite building, and an upgrade on timber.
Heating is the easy part: once insulated, a modest panel or oil-filled radiator on a low setting does it. Rather skip the insulation project? A composite building gets you most of the way there out of the box: thicker walls, double-glazing options, nothing to paint — ever.
The realistic order of work — rushing an early step makes every later one harder.
A garden office lives or dies by its base. Sort a solid, level foundation before the building arrives — concrete, slabs or a grid base all work well.
Tip: A level base is the difference between doors that swing sweetly and doors that stick by Christmas.
Your building arrives — delivery is free across mainland UK — and a typical garden office shell is standing the same day, its tanalised framing ready for weather from the off.
Garden electrics fall under Part P of the building regulations. Use a qualified electrician who can self-certify: armoured cable from the consumer unit, sockets, lighting, a heater circuit, certificate at the end. Not a planning matter — but not a DIY one either.
Careful: Don't run an extension lead across the lawn as a temporary fix — temporary becomes permanent, and it's neither safe nor legal for a daily office.
PIR board or mineral wool between the framing, OSB or ply lining over the top — floor and roof as well as walls. Do it before the desk goes in; it's far easier in an empty room.
Tip: If you only do one surface this year, do the roof — it's where most heat leaves.
Desk under the window, a chair you'd accept in the house, internet sorted: a mesh extender or powerline kit covers most gardens. Trenching for power anyway? Drop a Cat6 cable in the same trench and hardwire it.
Tip: Test a video call from the desk position before committing the layout.
Most garden offices need no planning permission — they fall under permitted development. The one rule to hold in your head: within two metres of a boundary, the whole building must stay under 2.5 metres tall. That's exactly why pent-roof buildings are the garden office favourite — the single sloping roof sits inside that envelope naturally. The full rules, in plain English, are in our planning guide.
And to settle the worry we hear most: working from a garden office doesn't normally change your council tax or need planning, so long as the house stays primarily a home.
Position matters more than an extra foot of width. North-facing glazing gives steady, glare-free light on the screen all day — and point the desk at the garden, not the fence. The view is free.
If the right-hand column sounds like you, we'd rather say so now than after you've bought a shed. If a phased upgrade suits — and for most home workers it does — our timber vs composite comparison is the next read for choosing which shell to start from.
Usually not — garden buildings normally fall under permitted development. The main catch is height: within two metres of a boundary the whole building must stay under 2.5 metres, which is why pent roofs are so popular for offices. Listed buildings and designated areas carry extra rules — see our planning guide.
Not normally. If your house is still primarily a home and the office is where you do your own desk work, council tax doesn't change. It only becomes a question if the building turns into true business premises — customers visiting, staff, signage.
Yes, in the way most people mean it — laptop work, calls, admin, small-scale making. None of that needs permission while the property remains primarily a home. If the business brings regular visitors, deliveries or staff to the garden, talk to your local authority first.
Easier than most people expect. A mesh Wi-Fi extender or a powerline kit covers the typical garden without any digging. If you're already trenching for power, lay a Cat6 cable in the same trench and hardwire the office — the most reliable connection there is.
Honestly: it's a three-season building out of the box. Thicker walls and double-glazing options make it noticeably warmer than a standard timber shed, and with a small heater it's comfortable most of the year. For daily desk work through deep winter, we'd still say insulate and line it — a manageable weekend job.
In the Build Studio you place doors and windows panel by panel — so the glazing lands exactly where you'll sit. And if you're not sure it's the right building for you, ask: we'd rather talk you out of the wrong one than sell it.
Open the Build StudioReady to put it into practice? Every building is made in our West Midlands workshop with free mainland delivery.
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