Are you looking to build an office in your garden? They are a fantastic addition to any garden and essential for everyone working from home these days.  However they are not the cheapest home improvement. When you are planning out your garden office project, please dont forget to plan the electrics too.  Electrics are a significant cost, so don’t overlook these or you may be in for a surprise…

Most garden offices are already pre-wired with electrical sockets and lighting as standard, there is usually an option to add extra sockets or broadband points too. However, once built in your garden, don’t forget that all of this needs to be connected to the mains supply and then tested.

Connecting a garden office’s electrics needs to be done by a Certified Electrician. Not many suppliers send an electrician to site, so this is why they ask you to find a local electrician.

Connecting the office’s electrics to the mains supply has to be done by a qualified electrician to current Building Regulation standards. Once the connection has been made, it needs to be safety tested and a certificate needs to be handed over to you. 

What exactly is  involved in connecting a garden office’s electrics to the mains?

We have put together a step by step guide to help you to understand what is required to connect your garden office to your main electrical supply.

First you need to dig a trench so that the armoured cable is buried safely. An armoured cable will carry the electrical supply from the main fuse box in your house directly to the garden office. This heavy-duty cable needs to be buried underground so that nobody trips over it and protected so that nobody accidentally digs through it. The cables are buried at depth, they often have a stone layer and a marker tape buried above them so that anyone digging in the garden is aware that there is a cable in place. The trench is then backfilled and you can sow grass or plant flowers over the top.

It’s difficult to advise on the costs involved here as the prices depend on how much armoured cable you need from the garden office to the main house. Additionally, you might need to update your existing fuse board to accommodate the new circuit.

Some Electricians might suggest pinning the cable to a fence. Although this is a cheaper option it’s not ideal as it is not as safe and also looks untidy.

The next step is to connect the cable to the consumer unit in the garden office. The electrician will also add an earth rod so that the building is fully earthed. Once the cabling has been connected at both ends the electrician will carry out a number of tests on the electrical circuits.

As you are buying a garden office you are probably choosing a model which includes data cabling for telephones, broadband and television. These cables will also need to be connected to the mains supply. Often an electrician will connect these services for you.

Cabling for such data cables can be buried in the same trench as the electrics, but you should keep them separate from the electrical supply so there is no electrical interference.

Are you looking to build a garden office this year?

Would you like a FREE quote on your electrics? 

Get in touch with Forbury Electrical for more details.