Garden Room DrawingsFrom £495
How much do garden room drawings cost in London?
Garden room and garden office drawings in London start at £495, with no VAT charged, and we check the permitted development limits for your garden first. Whether you need an application depends on how tall the building is, how close it stands to the boundary and what it will be used for, so the first job is working that out.
The short answer: a small fee, and the route decides the rest
Our garden room drawings start at £495. For that we check your garden against the permitted development limits and draw the building to build from. The fee rises where a Lawful Development Certificate or a full planning application is needed instead, and we say which at the start.
A certificate is not required by law for a genuinely permitted garden room, but it is written proof for a buyer's solicitor. Our post on what a certificate costs sets out the council's side.
- Check the limits
Height, position, coverage and use are tested against the permitted development rules for your garden.
- Pick the route
No application, a Lawful Development Certificate, or a full planning application.
- Draw it
Drawings are prepared for the route and for the builder.
- Check building regulations
Size and use decide whether the building falls outside the regulations.
The permitted development limits for an outbuilding
Class E of the General Permitted Development Order covers outbuildings incidental to the enjoyment of a house. It does not allow development where the ground covered would exceed 50% of the total area of the curtilage, excluding the original house, or where any part would be forward of a wall forming the principal elevation of the original house.
On height, the limit is 4 metres for a building with a dual-pitched roof and 3 metres in any other case, and within 2 metres of the boundary the limit is 2.5 metres. A garden room built to the fence on a terrace is therefore capped far lower than one in the middle of a long garden, and that is the measurement we take first.
What "incidental" means for use
The right covers buildings for purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the house, and the Order's own examples include keeping poultry, bees, pet animals, birds or other livestock for domestic needs or personal enjoyment. A home office, gym or studio is the sort of thing people mean. A building used as a separate home, or for sleeping, is a different thing, and we say so before you draw it.
If the use is not incidental, a full planning application is needed, and our post on rear extension drawings explains the council's fee of £548 for a householder one and our own drawing fee. Conservation areas and Article 4 directions can also restrict outbuildings, and we check them.
Building regulations: often none
Schedule 2 of the Building Regulations exempts a detached single-storey building having a floor area which does not exceed 30m2 and which contains no sleeping accommodation, provided no point of it is less than one metre from the boundary, or it is constructed substantially of non-combustible material. A detached building of no more than 15m2 with no sleeping accommodation is exempt without those conditions.
That is why many garden rooms need no building regulations approval, but a room with sleeping accommodation does not qualify. We tell you which category yours is in.
Where it sits in the budget
A garden room is a small building, and the drawings are a small share of the project. If you are weighing a garden room against an extension, the post on feasibility studies shows how to compare them.
Our garden room drawings page shows the service.
Sources
Every figure in this article, where it comes from and a link to the original.
- exceed 50% of the total area of the curtilage: GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class E.1(b): not permitted where the ground covered (source wording: "would exceed 50% of the total area of the curtilage"). www.legislation.gov.uk
- forward of a wall forming the principal elevation: GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class E.1(c): not permitted where any part (source wording: "would be situated on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation of the original dwellinghouse"). www.legislation.gov.uk
- 4 metres for a building with a dual-pitched roof and 3 metres in any other case: GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class E.1(e): height limit (source wording: "4 metres in the case of a building with a dual-pitched roof" and "3 metres in any other case"). www.legislation.gov.uk
- 2.5 metres: GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class E.1(e)(ii): within 2 metres of the boundary (source wording: "2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within 2 metres of the boundary of the curtilage"). www.legislation.gov.uk
- keeping poultry, bees, pet animals, birds or other livestock for domestic needs or personal enjoyment: GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class E.4: (source wording: "purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse as such" includes keeping poultry, bees, pet animals, birds or other livestock for domestic needs or personal enjoyment). www.legislation.gov.uk
- detached single-storey building having a floor area which does not exceed 30m2 and which contains no sleeping accommodation: Building Regulations 2010 Sch 2 Class 6, para 1: (source wording: "A detached single storey building, having a floor area which does not exceed 30m2, which contains no sleeping accommodation", and either one metre from the boundary or constructed substantially of non-combustible material). www.legislation.gov.uk
- 15m2: Building Regulations 2010 Sch 2 Class 6, para 3: (source wording: "A detached building, having a floor area which does not exceed 15m2, which contains no sleeping accommodation"). www.legislation.gov.uk
Questions people ask
Do I need planning permission for a garden room?
Do I pay VAT on your fee?
Can I sleep in it?
Is a certificate necessary?
Does a conservation area change it?
Photographs: Brett Jordan (Unsplash License); Martin Sepion (Unsplash License).
Garden Room Drawings: a fixed fee from £495
Read more on the garden room drawings service page, or send your address below and we reply within one working day.
Garden Room Drawings
from £495
Every price is the full fixed fee you pay. No VAT is charged. Council application fees are paid to the council separately.
What you get
- A check of your garden against the permitted development limits
- Drawings of the garden room prepared for the route that applies
- A clear answer on whether you need a certificate or an application
- A note on building regulations for your size and use