FAQs

Below are our most frequently asked questions, if the answer you're looking for isn't here please feel free to get in touch.

All of our garden building structures come with a 5-year guarantee. All materials, glazing, flooring and electrical items come with their own manufacturers’ warranties/guarantees (see below), that will be included as part of your handover pack.

Garden building structure: 5-year guarantee
Doors & windows: 10-year guarantee
EPDM Roof: 15-year guarantee
Flooring: 20-year guarantee

Yes, before the installation team can begin construction of your new garden building, you will need to ensure that the chosen site is clear. This includes the removal of things like decking, sheds, outbuildings, patios, rockeries, trees, or plants and the area needs to be relatively level. Whilst the ground screws can level up a slight gradient, they cannot level up a slope. Your site survey team will confirm that the site is suitable for your chosen building during your site survey.

We are happy to provide a quote to clear the area, however, our team are highly skilled and it is often cheaper for you to source a labourer.

A very good question and one of the most commonly asked questions. 99% of garden buildings do not require planning permission and are an extremely easy and stress-free process from start to finish, but it is worth checking out the Planning Portal.

All our garden rooms are built and installed to comply with the permitted development guidelines. So long as your plans fall within the following permitted development rules then there is no need to apply for planning permission:

1. Your building has a maximum height of 2.5m

2. Your garden room is less than 30 square metres, anything larger than 30m2 building regulations is required.

3. The build must not be within 2 metres from any boundary if it is taller than 2.5 metres or 1 metre from any boundary if it is less than 2.5 metres.

Buildings under 15m2 don’t have any regulations and buildings between 15m2 and 30m2 only have to be considered if they are to be slept in, or are to be installed within 1m of any boundary. If you do plan on building within 1m of your boundary don’t worry, all we have to do is construct your boundary facing wall makeup from a substantially non-combustible material.

4. Your garden room does not cover more than 50% of the original house. The term "original house" means the house as it was first built or as it stood on 1 July 1948 (if it was built before that date). Although you may not have built an extension to the house, a previous owner may have done so.

5. You are not using it as sleeping accommodation

6. You are not building on a conservation area or an area of outstanding natural beauty
If you are unsure or need to clarify whether your property has permitted development rights, then check the planning portal with your local council .

Whether you will be using your retreat as an office, a gym, teenage playroom, games room, studio or cinema room, none of them require planning permission, so long as they comply with the above. If, however, you are endeavouring to create a space in which people can live in, you will need to seek out planning permission. Sleeping accommodations are not covered under permitted development of a garden room and the garden room will be treated as its own property, subject to council tax and other regulations.

Along with the dimensions, the positioning of your garden room is of equal importance. The garden building can also not be placed forward of the front wall of the property.

Your new garden room will be fully insulated and can be used throughout the year. Our garden rooms are constructed using structurally insulated panels (SIP) technologies which maximise energy efficiency. All of our garden rooms come as standard, with a wall-mounted 2kW panel heater. These are excellent at heating garden rooms as they heat the room quickly.

At My Retreat we incude the electricial connection (up to 20m) to your house as standard, with all our garden rooms. At the site survey we will check to ensure you have enough space on your fuse board, all the garden room requires is a spare 32AMP fuse. Our qualified electrician will connect your garden room to the mains board in your house and provide you with an electrical certificate.

Your garden room will come complete with everything you need including recessed chrome 4x double sockets, light switch, spotlights, wall mountable low energy with Smart Wi-Fi Alexa, external up/downlights, chrome spotlights in the canopy (CLifton and Westbury) and a fuse box. Please check the standard specification of each build to see what is included. If you wish to upgrade the numbers of sockets, lights or anything else, please speak to us and we will be more than happy to help.

If you require running water in your garden room, you will need to ensure that the groundworks are completed prior to the team getting there and please check with your local planning office before work begins, as you may require planning permission for certain uses.

Our order form will show all the information you need with a full breakdown of the works to be carried out on your new garden building including any optional extras that you have added. There are no hidden costs with us. Your build team will discuss the project with you throughout the installation process and if there be any changes to the agreed specification, or in the unlikely event there are some unknown charges incurred for unforeseen circumstances during the install they will be discussed with you immediately.