The garden office. To build or not to build?

We all know working from home has its advantages. It’s now the norm for many to spend part of their week working from home and more and more larger businesses encourage their teams to work from home. But there’s also a downside too. Deteriorating mental health is on the increase with many not being able to separate work from home and establish a work-life balance that works. So, what’s the solution? The garden office.

It sounds perfect doesn’t it? Working from the garden in a private creative space. No commute, no rent and no sharing your environment with colleagues who eat fish pie at their desk and complain about the air con.

For me I needed to separate work from home. I needed to have a minimal commute to be around for little people and free up space in the house so campaigns and concepts were locked safely away in their own home. A garden office was the dream for 10 years plus and I decided to finally bite the bullet and go for it.

Next came the problem of who to choose to build it.

Do a quick google search and you’ll be inundated with suppliers offering bespoke timber spaces at varying costs, some with installation, some without. Some, who are considered to be the best in the business, have open days allowing you to look around their showrooms and be inspired by their layouts and designs. So off we went. That was at Easter and I’m still waiting for my quote…I guess my requirements didn’t meet their sales targets. Not receiving their quote was truly the BEST thing to happen, because I found the greatest garden office suppliers in the country. I’m biased but it’s my blog so I can be. Let me introduce Bentley’s Garden Buildings.

I’ll be honest, this wasn’t my first visit to their showroom site. I’d been here two years ago with the same dream and thought their offices were out of my price range…I couldn’t have been more wrong.  They had a vast selection of buildings on display. Some very plush with plastered walls and laminate floors (living the dream) and others on a slightly smaller scale but equally as impressive. So, after lots of scratching heads and measuring walls we headed to the office to ask for a quote. This is when we met David.

5 Star Service

Now David could’ve taken one look at us and thought he’d make much more money helping someone who wanted a larger cabin, a pool room or private bar but he couldn’t have made us feel more welcome. In fact, he spent the next hour going out of his way to discuss wall thickness, installation preparation, electrics, heating and insulation right down to the foundations, quite literally, advising us on the best base for a building. This wasn’t a simple build. You could say we were an awkward customer before we even started as we had no rear access to our property other than through the house (tree roots making waves across the garden and neighbours to consider on both sides of the fence). NONE OF THIS WAS A PROBLEM. David talked us through planning regulations (all of their buildings meet standards and don’t need planning permission), assured us the buildings are built modularly from scratch so all parts would easily fit through the house and with the help of a decent landscaper (Mckay’s Maintenance) the tree roots could easily be rectified.

Before long the dream was starting to become a reality. With David’s guidance we configured the office on screen and chose windows, doors and layouts to suit the space available. Then came the quote. Which was instant. No waiting for weeks, no plucking figures out of the top of his head, just an instant figure including installation and with 0% Finance options for three years.

It didn’t take much consideration

I signed on the dotted line ordered my office and paid the deposit. Delivery would be from Holland and take roughly six weeks, plenty of time to sort the base and dig up those old tree roots. Throughout this time David was in constant contact, agreeing the most convenient times for installation, on hand to chat to our electrician (also the best in the business – my wonderful Dad) about the technicalities of installation day and to introduce the team of talented carpenters who would be with us on the day. Good service is hard to find but Bentley’s were exceptional. They went above and beyond to answer my queries and even after the installation were still happy to offer advice on the right wood stain and maintenance techniques for the cabin.

On installation day the team arrived half an hour early – in BLISTERING heat and didn’t stop until the job was done. Working through tea breaks and happily humouring a 3-year-old who wanted to ‘help’ with his toy hammer! Within half a day the cabin was complete and I had the keys in my hand to my new workspace. A week later and the laminate floor was installed courtesy of Powers Carpets and I was ready to move in. And I couldn’t be happier. I’ve had the best home-office build experience possible and have had the greatest service I’ve ever experienced, where my custom felt valued every step of the way and there was no such thing as a ‘stupid question’. Where nothing was ‘oversold’, in fact I was advised to reduce my insulation to save costs as it was superfluous to my needs. Powers Carpets also saved me costs on flooring by applying laminate direct to the cabin floor without the need of plyboard.

So, if you’re thinking of creating your own creative space, looking for a treatment room, music room or studio and think it’s out of your reach – think again. And if you don’t know where to look and are spoilt for choice from the suppliers showcasing their buildings on Instagram – contact Bentleys , pop over for a visit and see for yourself what quality service really is.

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