Making Cheap Garden Summerhouses - It's Easy, Fun and Saves a Ton of Money

Garden summer houses are usually supplied as either ready-made or flat-pack for assembly on site.  However, this is expensive compared with doing it yourself, and denies you the chance of designing the summerhouse exactly the way you want it.
With a comprehensive set of plans and list of materials you can achieve the perfect cheap garden summerhouse to enjoy and, incidentally, add significant value to your property.

These are the main points to think about when planning your garden summer house:

Use.  Will the summerhouse be just a storage shed for tools and gardening bits and pieces?  A backyard office?  A teenage hideaway?  A place for quiet time, reading, playing games?  These ideas will influence the eventual design of the summerhouse.  Whether or not to provide water or electricity supplies, perhaps solar heating, window dimensions, insulation – some or all of these might by necessary.

Size.  Deciding on the uses for the summerhouse will dictate the size you need. A popular size for a garden summer house is 6 x 8 feet but you should always go up a size if possible.  You can never have enough storage space in your garden.

Location.  Reasonably flat land is needed for the summerhouse with good access for building it.  The choice of site might also depend on the ease of access you might want from your house, or being overlooked by neighbors.  Also, you need to consider location in relation to the desired size and intended use of your summerhouse. It is often a good idea to mark out the location with string or stones to see if the summerhouse will fit well with its surroundings.

Aesthetic Considerations. Think about the visual impact of your garden summer house. Only you can be the judge, but try to relate it to the other significant structures in your backyard such as a shed or hot tub.

Regulations.  Check local planning regulations to make sure that your planned garden summer house will be allowed or will need planning permission first.  Don’t forget to follow the electrical code and your building regulations when making your summerhouse as well.

Base. It is usual to make a proper, ie concrete, base for an average-sized summerhouse, but an acceptable alternative would be to mount the building on concrete posts set into the ground.  The advantages of this would be good air circulation under the summerhouse and less ground preparation. Chickens love it under there as well!

Materials. A favorite is western red cedar, which is insect-resistant and lasts a long time. Many people also use pressure-treated softwood.  The good thing about this is that you can paint it, which is not really appropriate for cedar. You can use cedar shingles for the roof.  Some people use bark but it is difficult to find any of good quality.

Plans. Don’t rely on your own sketches or rough diagrams, get some good quality plans.  Getting a professional to do all the hard work, such as drawing up detailed materials lists, is not expensive and this will save you from making the inevitable trial-and-error mistakes.  

Building a garden summer house yourself will be fun and immensely satisfying.  We have more information about building cheap garden summerhouses, including our highly recommended group of professionals who have produced a fantastic range of plans and step-by-step instructions for a variety of interesting summerhouse designs.