Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello everyone,

My husband and I have a very large back garden, and so he wants to build/buy himself a little workshop where he can do woodwork and generally tinker around with his toys - so more substantial than a just a regular garden shed. He is considering buying a building from this company (http://www.yorkon.co.uk/) as it is local and therefore convenient but I'm not sure. The buildings do look nice on their website so I'm not worried about the aesthetics, but it seems to me that they only make buildings for companies rather than individuals, and I also can't see their prices which makes me think they're expensive. Have any of you ever bought from them as an individual? And if so what were their prices like?

Thank you in advance,
Cathy

Oh yeah - they are going to be expensive! Why don't you look at those places usually near garden centres that sell summer houses & sheds & stuff. The one near us will erect & join designs & clad them out. Basically to meet your needs.

So much cheaper as no ground work except to be level.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

Westi

Roughly where are you Cathy, county or nearest oarge town?

Have to confess that looks expensive.
I built a workshop out of several old diy chain sheds, a redundant carport, stuff off freecycle ' mostly old sheds, decking boards from next doors old deck, my old aluminium double glazed windows & doors and insulation + corrugated roofing & a few 4' fence posts for extra structure, all from wickes.
I insulated every surface, chicken wire holding it between the floor joists and a tongue & groove inner ceiling below the corrugated pitch stuff with insulation on top.

Any dodgy bits of wood made a lovely bongire to celebrate completion.
Electricity laid in properly as well.

Hmmmmm ?

My view is quite different, ok, if you're building a shed on an allotment where you aren't particularly interested in it's value. Then building a shed out of recycled sheds and the like is fine but adding that to your property just relegates it's image and value.

A quality shed, well built and able to serve the main residence will increase the value rather than be a source of amusement.

Every bloke needs a shed, it would appear that lots of ladies appreciate sheds though not on the same wavelength as blokes.

Our friend in Norfolk has just bought a very nice workroom from Cabins Unlimited, of Kings Lynn. She says she highly recommends them. I think the one pictured cost about £2000.

Oh gord - that's how she sent it to me, thought I'd rioghted it! Still, you can see it.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet
is that if you have a building from the
firm your husband prefers, it will count
as a permanent structure and almost
certainly require planning
permission.

Certain things ladies are good at and certain things/decisions that should never cross the border.

Well done Alan.

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for all your useful responses, I appreciate it a lot.

Westi, we're going to go to the local garden centre as well as part of our research. Thank you for the welcome to the forum

Peter, I live in York, North Yorkshire. Ooh, I hadn't thought of freecycle. Do I have to contribute something to freecycle though in order to get stuff off there though? And will the quality be lower seeing as it's second-hand?

Richard, we do want it to be good quality, that's a good point about at affecting the price of the house, we hadn't thought about that.

John, that looks like a good shed! Not sure if it'd be too small for what my husband wants but I've shown him the website. Thank you

Alan, how do I find out if the Yorkon building will count as a permanent building or not? Shall I just get in contact with them and ask? That's a very good, serious point. We don't want to go through the hassle of planning permission if we can help it.

Thank you,
Cathy

Cathy1960 wrote:
Alan, how do I find out if the Yorkon building will count as a permanent building or not? Shall I just get in contact with them and ask? That's a very good, serious point. We don't want to go through the hassle of planning permission if we can help it.

I think you would need to contact the company. You could ask York planning department, but then you'd be on their radar so best avoided as a first step.

This is down near me in Hertfordshire, just over the border from Stansted Airport in Essex.

http://www.howefencing.co.uk/

Hopefully it will give you some ideas and there will he a similar firm near you, consult the "horsey set" stables are needed everywhere.

That shed in the photo would need planning permission from my experiences, also from experience it's too close to the house to get planning permission though planning law changes from time to time and isn't a national standard even though it was supposed to be.

I was just thinking about this need for a shed that blokes have, is it to do with having a cave to retire to rather than a practice place ?

I've always had a need for my shed though my shed is a maintenance HQ for the home and garden. Two bikes, three mowers, woodworking machinery, washing machine, side-by-side fridge-freezer, storage for all the stuff I need to keep this place in good shape and storage for all the stuff that might become useful. Then the space to work on a rainy day all adds up to a six by eight meters two story building the size of a small house.

Builders build houses assuming everyone lives out of a suitcase and it's why garages are rarely used to house a car so why build a garage and why not build a proper shed out of stone or brick.

First thing I do after I get out of my Jim-jams is open the shed and light the stove during winter, take my shed away would be like cutting my arms off.

Blokes need for a shed is of paramount importance to their long term happiness.

Hi all,

Alan - I've just sent them an email about whether their buildings need planning permission, fingers crossed they get back to me! It will also be something we make sure to ask when we go to the garden centre this weekend, thank you for drawing our attention to planning permission, it had completely passed us by as a consideration.

Peter - thank you very much for the link I will show it to my husband when he gets in.

Richard - My husband would like to use it as a place to do woodwork, tinker around with mechanical things and generally use it as his "man cave". It sounds like the two of you would get on very well!

Thank you for your help. everyone,
Cathy

Cathy1960 wrote:Hi all,

Alan - I've just sent them an email about whether their buildings need planning permission,

Cathy.

Please be very wary about the answer the sales people for a building you would like to erect give you.

As already pointed out, keeping under the radar of the local planning people can have it's benefits. You can erect the Eiffel tower in your back garden if no one complains within the statute of limitations which I think is seven years but it only take a creep from miles away who has an axe to grind to send an anonymous complaint that will be investigated.

Much safer to find out what you are allowed to do in the first place.

Good advice, thank you Richard.