Garden summer house/storage project

[NiceCupOfTea]

We've been in our house for 15+ years and the garden has always been a can that got kicked down the road. Over the years I've dug out an overgrown pond, pulled up a huge bed with sleepers etc. and spent a week getting rid of weeds and nettles and brambles, The plan was to have, across the back of the garden, some sort of summer house on the LH side on a slightly raised platform, and a shielded slabbed storage area about a metre deep on the RH side (mostly for my collection of unused alloy wheels ). The summer house is more of a feature and place to store bikes/barbecue/cushions from the outdoor furniture than a place to sit as our garden is south facing, although I am not averse to turning it into a useable space.

Photo of area currently - totally overgrown again since I last cleared it. We've been talking it over for years but not sure how to go about it best on a budget.








Initial thoughts are getting somebody in to lay a patio sort of area, just not sure if I need to do the donkey work of flattening it myself or if it would be better to let a pro with the right equipment do it. That corner is naturally a bit higher so I guess some earth would need to be removed. The plan was to have a 3m2 slabbed platform (marked in red in the pic), and a 2m2 summer house in the middle so there is access to the back and sides for maintenance/trimming of the laurel. In my mind's eye I saw a square structure with windows to front and RHS with a champfered edge where the door is (if that makes sense!). Something like this:



(but without the £6k price tag )

Then to the other side - some slabs and I guess something creeping growing up trellis or something.



The sleepers are just there to mark things out and will be going so ignore.

Would appreciate thoughts on how to go about the whole project, how much I can expect to pay, the sort of people I need to speak to (landscapers, gardeners, or simply a builder to lay slabs).

Also suggestions on decent garden builkdings, or any other things/ideas that I might not have thought of...

Thanks in advance!

[OutInTheShed]

It might be worth a look at some local garden centres, I was in on the other day which had a display of garden buildings.
Look at websites like Dunster House.
Have a look for your local indy shed builder.

I've been pricing up cladding and stuff, in anticipation of a house move. It seems the shed retailers get their wood etc a lot cheaper than retail, you don't always save millions by DIY.

Keep an eye on Gumtree and faceache marketplace, used sheds, greenhouses etc come up quite often if you're up for refurbing something.


Design wise I would consider something that provides some shade to sit in.

[Huzzah]

If its for storage why spec a building with so much glass? It'll look always look messy and nowhere to put up shelves. Wouldn't a shed do a better job?

[Mogsmex]

facebook marketplace for local cash in hand builder for concrete shed base or if on a budget the plastic grid click together things are good especially if you may move it around in the future

https://www.ibran.com/products/plastic-shed-base

garden buildings I really rate Tuin, better price and quality then Dunster in my experiance

https://www.tuin.co.uk/

good luck, good project

[Badda]

I recently installed one and used ground screws rather than a concrete pad. Worth reading up on.

[McGee_22]

Work out how many square feet/metres of space you think you’ll need…



…then double it.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks all - some lovely ideas already. Thanks for the link to tuin, they look a really nice mixture of reasonable quality but without ludicrous prices.

Part of the reason for this is something nice to look at at the bottom of the garden hence a summerhouse rather than a shed (which we already have).

Initially I liked this:

https://www.tuin.co.uk/jos-corner-summer-house-2-5...


Already I am looking at size creep - wondering how vital it is to have space to the side and back for servicing the fences, and wondering if we make it slightly wider. I'll be running power to it and probably chucking some celotex/plasterboard up with some low wattage heaters. The main purpose is garden storage and something nice to look at - but perhaps it might end up being a nice "escape" from the house or workspace, so going bigger might be an option.

Quite like this:

https://www.tuin.co.uk/max-summerhouse-3-8x2-9m/

Undecided about a base. Don't want a concrete base in case we want to move things around, but unsure as to how to go about slabbing the area - I guess get it reasonably level and slab it on some sand? I did that with our shed and while it's functional it's a long way from perfect...