Garden Office Garden Studio Project Blog

Garden Office and Studio Trends 2012

2012-01-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Trends in Garden Studios and Garden Offices for 2012

A bit of blogging and predictions from me - Richard GraceGarden Structures Ltd Project Director and blogger in chief. www.aarco.co.uk

Olympic year is here I would make a comment about OlympianSheds although I should be careful here as Olympian sheds are a sort ofcompetitor. Which brings me to my first point.

Competition in the UK Garden Studio and Garden Officemarket 2012.

Probably driven by the continued doldrums in the buildingmarket overall the competition here remains fierce. This of course drives costsdown and benefits clients, it keeps us all on our toes and maintains highquality service.

Web remains the main marketing tool for most companies. PPCcosts have remained high although adwords a great tool for instant traffic.Traditional media advertising has remained cheap, as competition in that fieldtoo is fierce.

Unfortunately the combined effect of increasing competitionand cost pressures stresses some companies to breaking point and recently wehave seen some competitors fail to make it through.

Social Media and Garden Offices

I am learning more about "social media". Personally Ihave not been a big facebook fan, as I don’t like turning down friend requests.I notice that following introduction of Google+, “which by the way I do like”this problem is, being addressed by facebook, a family button has appeared(maybe I just didn’t see it before).

Social media effect is proliferate and chaotic. We are allinvolved in some way – right now I am nervous about touching my phone screen incase it sends a private message across the planet by mistake and I guess I amnot alone.

Almost everywhere people are trying to work out if findingfamily detail first on facebook is “how things should be”! Well its great tokeep in touch with cousins on the other side of the planet but not for learningthat one of the grandchildren is ill.

What has changed a lot?

When we started in this business as one of the earlyentrants in 2001 a few things have changed quite dramatically.

Clients have more choice of supplier and product design

Suppliers have more competition

Designs and building material preferences have proliferated

In ending my review of this topic it would not be like me toavoid saying something controversial.

Whilst our market remains in steep growth overall thevisibility of competition over the web has led to some companies usingdesperate negative marketing. i.e. instead of explaining why they are the bestthey tend to imply the competition is not good.

Here are a few examples: (Decided to delete this so as not to be guilty myself)

From my own standpoint the customer remains king and clientsatisfaction is the key.

“Live and let live is not a bad business attitude and neverhas been”.

Anything new in materials or design?

There are always new designs, last year saw a proliferationof “pods” a sort of space-age capsule instead of a traditional building. A goodthing unless you are a traditional neighbour next to a fairground cast-off or aGoogle pod with logos still in tact.

On the materials side I am quite excited about a bit of atrend in roofing material, which looks like a traditional zinc roof. We areintroducing this as an option and have our first order right now.

Trends in our Market overall.

The cost of commuting and the development of IT or should Isay the proliferation of connectivity between web, phone, tablet and the socalled cloud itself continue to be big drivers for us.

The option of working from home and remaining fullyconnected with the world of work is definitely here. It is accepted and here tostay. The embarrassment of working from “a shed in the garden” has gone.

Sleeping in a shed in the garden is next on the list. Whynot? Many Garden Studios are now better insulated and of a higher fire safetyspecification than the main dwelling. Families prevented from moving due to thecontinued credit crunch need additional accommodation and at least for us thisis a growing area of business.

More and more I am coming across clients with what I call a“Grand Designs” concept. The Garden building project has become a “passion” andcompetitive between owners.

Our Market has “come of age”

I have noticed a marked change in attitude of clients andother business associates, as they are now aware of our market coming of age.It is differentiated from the traditional shed market because they now knowsomeone who has a supershed, garden studio or a workroom at home.

Oh and regarding the weather. The autumn and early winterwas good and today it is good but COLD! So must get back to a bit of physicalwork.

Richard

Incredible weather for Garden Building

2011-11-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

Seven Barrows Office

It must be global warming because there has only been frost on the windscreen of my pick-up truck once so far and there have been T-shirt days on our sites certainly within recent weeks. Mud on boots has been less than normal and recent projects have been quite demanding.

Bespoke office building at Seven Barrows Stables

In September we designed and built a fab traditional style large office of very high specification. Seven Barrows was built in traditional timber frame and clad on the inside and outside with pine boards. Office furniture and kitchen units were supplied by us to suit the style. Landscape was also designed by us. The veranda gives the building a “fishing hut” look as requested by its fishing enthusiast horse race trainer. Nicky Henderson. It was great to work at the stables where the horses received fantastic care and attention. They are expected to perform and seem to be doing so although “Long Run” was pipped for first place at Haydock Park last week and I lost a tenner! (best I stick to building I guess).

Inside Seven Barrows Office

Chiropractic Therapy Studio

In October back in Cheshire we installed a Therapy Studio with waiting room and toilet for use by a Chiropractor. The building was installed within permitted development rules and between the trees at the bottom of the garden. Our small bore toilet solution was installed and two way switching for the covered veranda lights will make it welcoming for clients in the winter months. The tri-fold doors seem to be very popular still.

Therapy Studio fits between apple trees

Terra Nova Rifle Range

An unusual School amenity building project was completed in mid November. A small-bore rifle range at Terra-Nova School, Jodrell Bank Cheshire. The building was specified by the schools trainer to comply with all requirements for Olympic standard shooting (at targets of course). 16m long and 5m wide the building provides for safety of the kids in its internal layout and special theatre style lighting for the best target illumination.

Windows are up to to avoid stray ammo!

A big long supershed really

Theatre lighting for the targets fitted by the Wizard

We are working now on a Grand design style project in North Wales.

The year is coming to an end I expect colder less predictable weather in December and January and time has been allocated to completed work on our own sawmill. The wizard (here fitting the spotlights at Terra Nova) has added new facilities this year including a forge.

Noella and I would like to thank all our clients for may interesting project this year. In December we are visiting Branksome Place again and I will make an update on the sad story of their rotting log cabin. Due in January is Thomas Oliver our fourth Grandchild making it two of each. We are very proud grandparents although none are yet old enough to be a help at our workshop (maybe soon!)

Two of them

Penny Red: Panic on the streets of London.

2011-08-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

An interesting piece of work by a bright young journalist

Penny Red: Panic on the streets of London.

These guys seem to have some new ideas about helping communities

http://spacehive.com/Blog/Details/5

Garden Office and Garden Studio Insulation

2011-08-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

Insulation of Garden Studios and Offices (A very hot topic)

By Richard Grace Project Director Aarco Exclusive Timber Buildings http://www.aarco.co.uk/

It’s always been on the agenda but never more so than now. When our clients are investing their hard earned cash in a work building (Garden Office or Garden Studio) at home they always want to know:

a) “Will it be warm and comfortable?”

b) “Will my things be dry and protected in bad weather?”

c) “Will it cost me a small fortune to heat?”

d) “Will it become too hot on our best days?”

The answer is “yes if the building has a watertight roof and you control the temperature” but - it will cost more for this control without insulation. All the information I sought in preparation for this article about the importance of insulation in a single storey building reveals the following: (I guess you already know)

1. Heat rises leaving cold air at the lowest level in a structure.

2. Air movement in a structure tries to equalise the temperature inside and outside.

3. Some materials provide better resistance to temperature transfer than others.

4. Return on investment on structural components varies

This table indicates the importance of each part of a single storey structure

Roof	The most vital investment associated with loss of 40% heat on cold days and responsible for 80% of overheating on hot sunny days
Walls	Important should be draught and condensation free + provide adequate resistance to heat transfer in and out typically 25% of heat loss
Windows	Vital without good draught sealing and double glazing allow draughts and can lead to condensation even then responsible for 15% of heat loss
Doors	Vital (the same as windows) but need to be in constant use + resist draughts and condensation another 12% of heat input gone
Floor	Some heat is lost if floor is highly conductive and in direct contact with ground e.g. concrete exposed or single skin wood fixed to exterior beams 8% is going here

The above is my analysis data drawn from multiple professional sources and reflects the relative importance to internal comfort level of each part of the structure. You can see from this table that the ideal structure would have no draughts, a flat (highly insulated) roof at about 2.2m height, walls which are thicker at the top than the bottom and less windows than most people want. As previously stated I think we already knew this.

Some experience

Over the years Noella and I have lived - in a cottage in Derbyshire with stone walls two feet thick, an old chapel converted, three modern style houses of different specification, have been on holiday in a caravan, tent +++ more hotels than can be remembered. We have been overheated in a tent, frozen stiff and damp in an un-insulated attic flat and superbly comfortable in a single skin wooden cabin we had as a showroom for six years.

If we all had an unlimited budget to build a garden office today we would both choose Structural Insulated panels with Solarflex (brand) folding doors and windows. This specification is probably the best available and with minimal heating or cooling provides a superb comfortable environment at the lowest energy cost.

At the other end of the scale a thin draughty single skin wall with draughty windows and no roof insulation would be uncomfortable on 250 days out of 365 in our climate and require expenditure of at least £300 per year to control it. (This is an ordinary garden shed)

So - let us look at another table comparing the three most common Garden Office and Garden Studio construction techniques with specifications that meet the essential criteria for Garden Offices here in the UK.

	Comfortable all year round	Save some further cost on energy	Superb Specification
Roof	Flat roof with 70mm of dense insulation	Upgrade to 150mm	SIPS
Walls	65mm of single skin pine wood	Double skin with 50mm dense insulation	SIPS
Windows	Sealed double glazed windows 10mm gap	15mm gap in double glazing with seals	Triple Glazing
Doors	Same spec as windows	Same spec as windows	Triple Glazing
Floor	Two layers with some insulation	40mm dense insulation	SIPS
Cost per sq m installed project	£700	£900	£1100
3m*4m Office Total Project inc VAT	£8400	£10800	£13200

We are asked about electrical systems, security, maintenance etc.on each and every client site-visit. All of the answers are simple but the explanation of insulation importance and ROI remains the hot (in more than one way) topic of the day.

Richard August 2011 richard@aarco.co.uk

A Short History of Garden Offices

2011-05-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

“Didit dar dit, screech screech screech reboot reboot – tweet tweet tweet”
Since the millenium something has been happening at the bottom of the garden all over the UK – silence, efficiency, time saving, planet saving and family friendly.
With the almost universal use of web1, with the emergence of web2 and web three “the cloud” on the horizon there is less need for the communal workplace. Travel is more costly, work and life “balance” becomes more demanding on time as communications become easier and the pace of processing information continues to increase.

More and more people are working from home

A Brief history of the garden office market 2001-2011 By Richard Grace (Aarco Exclusive Timber Buildings)

Phase 1. The humble shed transforms into a place to Work

Internet for the masses brings broadband into the street and the cost of being on line collapses. A few companies adapt high quality sheds and summerhouses and name them “Garden Offices”. The biggest demand was in the South East of course where practically everyone now knows someone with an office at home. With space being at a premium building a workplace in the garden became an obvious option.
New companies arrive on the scene re-naming these structures “Garden Studios” but they are still “Garden Buildings” or “Super Sheds”.

Phase 2. The shed market splits and a new sector arrives (2001)

The market for Garden Offices and Garden Studios becomes competitive and starts to attract media interest, new companies arrive all using the internet as the primary route to market and some shed show-sites start to build the high quality sheds into their displays. Bloggers and directories written by professional shed working journalists take interest and claim their space.
The competing, predominantly small building companies develop their own unique selling points and the market is divided by three construction systems. Log walls (log cabins), Timber Frame composite walls an SIPS (Structural Insulated Panels) panels. All these systems have a place, give different advantages of cost, ease of installation and comfort.
Still the architectural designs remain the same shed like structures, flat roof cubes and small houses. New names emerge “Garden Den”, “Eco-House” “Garden Office Pod” etc. etc.

Phase 3 The new market becomes competitive. (2004)

Our Government sorts out planning for outbuildings to make it easier????
Following an attempt by legislation in 2008 to make it easier for people to understand what can be built without the bureaucracy attached to planning applications. People with small gardens have been limited to cube style flat roof buildings because of the so-called Permitted Development Rights.
The Cube manufacturers ramp up, franchising makes an entry and universally the flat roof quality garden building suppliers use rubber roofing sheets (epdm), which do not leak, give the low maintenance and the assurance the investment will be protected.
Plus Plus on the back of “Kyoto protocol” the green brigade can now have grass roofs which look better from upstairs windows and make everyone feel environment friendly. Insulation becomes a must for the clients as comfort and energy bills change their priorities.

Phase 4 Recession causes growth/shake-out and efficiency increases (2008)

The recession comes as recessions always do and the fall out in the construction industry brings new competition to each end of the market, the number of UK companies claiming to be specialists in Garden Offices and Studios tops 300.
Helped by Google geographic polarisation takes place with many companies claiming local territory.
At the top end the product is absolutely in line with executive housing quality and the offers now range from the posh-shed to the “Garden Palace”. A place for work for family and friends with all the mod cons imaginable a long comprehensive guarantee and finance available as a package.
In fact Garden Annex’s where relations can stay or Granny can live are now available as turn key package from many Garden Office Suppliers. There are now no shed suppliers that don’t have a Garden Office or Garden Studio offering. A significant percentage of installations now have bathrooms and kitchenettes.

Phase 5 Where we are today (2011)

Weird and wonderful derivatives of the “same thing” are now cropping up daily as trendy architects and designers personalise their “Garden Office Pods” and specialist compact furniture suppliers are emerging to support the ever marching and increasingly competitive trends.
None of this is unusual – since the dawn of time new products and markets have emerged and competition has brought about increasing choice and value. In our market the range of product has increased and brought seemingly endless choice.

Customer Choice

The one question remains in each new client contact “What is the price”. With so much choice and so many competing companies offering “everything” our clients must have a method of comparing value for money.
Customer Service remains constant in all large purchases this is of the same importance and remains No.1. Buildings should therefore be judged on three criteria. Design, Specification and cost per square metre.
In the Garden Building marketplace this ranges from £100 per sq m for a good B&Q shed which you transport and erect yourself to £1500 per sq m for a Garden Palace, which arrives, in your garden seamlessly with all the goodies the keys and a long insurance backed guarantee.

Our offer to this market covers the range from £300 to £1000 per square metre "We don't sell sheds" and now a new catch phrase enters "We don't build Palaces" we build exactly what you need as agreed and our Customer Service remains "simply the best" call us on 01244 679502 or email noella@aarco.co.uk

Thanks for visiting.

Log Cabin at Branksome Place and weather of course

2011-05-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

As followers will be aware I have to watch the weather - "well" my prediction is if we don't get rain in the next few days I will have to declare it an official drought - the ground is dry as a bone, difficult to dig and for golfers un-watered greens are impossible to make puts on

Latest + more on the log cabin at Branksome Place (Hilders)

I know a few people liked my post about the Log Cabin at Branksome. Even the Marketing Manager at DeVere appreciated some parts of it.

The cabin has had a bad winter (what would you expect when the roof felt is completely rotten)

Noella and I returned to Branksome Place as Devere gave us a really good deal. We were visiting to attend Tom's Wedding at Merrist Wood College in Guildford. Tom has married Hannah at last (he reffered to her as "the wife" for the past eleven years. If any clients can remember Tom worked with us on quite a few jobs around Surrey and is now a lecturer specialising in arboculture (chopping up trees with a chainsaw). On one job with me in the North he stepped on a rusty nail and the hospital visit delayed the project + his Mum was not pleased (since this we have reviewed our procedures of course).

On the Saturday morning I took a stroll down to check on the now famous log-cabin and took a few more photos (they may well be the last of this beautiful cabin which holds so many memories. (see my previous blog on this subject) http://gardenofficeproject.blogspot.com/2010/08/log-cabin-in-need-of-restoration.html

Anyhow:

The missing roof covering has left the cabin in a devastating rotting condition. The deck is dangerous and the doors are badly vandalised. Certainly this is no place to take your grandchildren and mine certainly won’t be playing here as I had hoped they would.

The roof boards are 90% rotted and a section in the centre of the log walls on the left has received a thourough soaking for years now leading to severe damage on the beutiful 190mm round logs..

I made a plan to save the cabin by chopping out the rotten timber and replacing the roof completely. It is still possible and of course over the last ten years being in the business I know how to do it.

The swimming pool is not suffering so much damage and everything else here is in top notch condition.

Sorry about this diversion but to us "Cabin Builders" it is difficult to watch.

Back to our projects.

One of our recent local projects on the Wirral is now finnished and the client has promised internal photos with Office and Gym stuff in place. Here is a shot of the completed project:

On closing this post - I don't know if I should do this - but for those interested in woodworking skills you have to see this I was thinking of claiming it was taken in our woirkshop but here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXW55S4X9zo heading towards 2 million views and anyone that has used a bandsaw can understand why!

Spring is here daffodills are out and temperature reaches 14 degrees

2011-03-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

That's it winter is officially over. Time to get blogging again.The winter work took us away to High Wycombe, Wimbledon and Ironbridge none of which were in daily driving distance so Hotels /pubs were home for a while.

I won't be saying much about the hotel in Luton but something of the others:

The most noteable were The Kings Arms Hotel Hampton Court where I wrote a review as follows: + The Swan at Bridgenorth (see below)

Our stay at the Kings Arms Hotel :

This hotel has a very good location with more than pleasant surroundings and easy access to rail. I guess parking could be problematic sometimes but we found space without too much problem.

Breakfast was excellent and the rooms had great character.

What impressed me most was the attitude of all of the staff without exception. We were greeted and dealt with in a pleasant open and straightforward way. Everyone made us feel totally welcome.

I stay away from home a lot and my own hotel test was passed with flying colours. I leave a teddy bear (really he is an orangutan) in my room. Noella bought him for me and he reminds me of home. Not only was he placed back on my bed each day but the room staff arranged him with care.

This hotel scores ten out of ten as a home from home.

On to Ironbridge for a bigger job and more staying away.

The Ironbridge job found us staying at The Swan at Bridgenorth. The Bear (the pub that is) made a mess of our booking thats how we found the Swan - A good old fashioned pub with excellent service.

This is how Congo was looked after at the Swan

He was placed on the bed every day - one day they sat him on the bed head with earphones on keeping up to date with news and sport (even left my radio on tuned to five live) Score fifteen out of ten another excellent home from home!!!!!

Our next two jobs are on the doorstep so Congo stays at home.

here is photo of my dashboard:

Future stays near Telford may be here (client has invited us to stay in this fantastic lodge - guess who built it)

BBQ season is here see our new range at http://www.aarco.co.uk/outdoorkitchens.html

End of year and very bad weather again

2010-12-08T04:38:00.000-08:00

Been a bit busy! Here are a few of my "lines"

Blogging had to take a back seat as the year became more and more busy. As to the weather it has not been favourable “to say the least” but working in the North West has had advantages over those working outside in other parts of our country not to mention Scotland!!!

My own opinion is that “if this is global warming” then let’s starts building more garden offices. No one will be able to get to work if it gets any worse and now we know super-fast broadband is coming it’s time to get planning.

Full spec timber frame 30 sq m building

In September we embarked on one of our most ambitious projects to date. A wooden cabin of exceptional specification:

· Size 30 sq m
· Insulation value (right up to current house building spec)
· Under floor heating
· Basic construction (all timber frame with lined internal walls and vaulted exposed timber ceiling)

· Conventional drainage to main property basement 30 metres from site across a busy car-park

It could be accommodation, large office or a leisure facility – it is additional space for 12 children at a busy nursery.

More of our bespoke cabin matching kitchen work. This one has L shaped worktop and a Belfast sink at kiddy level. I guess they can learn here to wash up!

Before and after

A smaller but “I guess” a more enjoyable project followed as the weather let go some moisture and the temperature dropped like a stone.

A hobby workshop replaces a leaky old tin garage. We removed the massive tree and re-landscaped the area. You can see video of the stump removal at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD8YOLN-X70&feature=player_profilepage
"what a machine named Carly" Here you can see before and after shots.

68mm solid timber walls
Our own design windows and doors
50mm roof insulation
Full electric system

Moving on we built additional living space with toilet and kitchenette for an expanding family.

· Less than 2.5m high
·15 square metres
·Small bore waste system
·Full electrical system
·44mm timber walls
·Floor and roof insulation
·Rubber roof membrane

The budget was challenging but the accommodation value achieved is super.

Building temperatures on site were as low as –7 but our insulation with a small oil fired radiator will soon solve this for the family over Christmas.

Back in our own workshop it is a bit warmer (today –6 outside but +8 degrees inside. Even warmer near our log burner, which is making good of this years off-cuts).

Another more traditional garden office seen here in first snow of the year:

New Projects to come

Today we are starting kit construction on two projects starting in the New Year. I am hoping that site conditions will be better in St Albans on Jan 3rd.

Interestingly our client who has a business providing 3 dimensional modelling tools and materials made a model of what we should build. The lady next door was somewhat concerned about the development but when seeing the model was re-assured all would be OK. (An interesting approach and one that could be used when neighbours are concerned)

Here are pics of the model – check back in mid Jan for photos of the real thing.

· Two rooms
· Low pitch roof
· Just less than 50% of garden space
· Full electric system
· Modification to existing concrete base adding membrane
· Roof and floor insulation

Our project of the year:

If I could choose a project for the year it has to be this family building and store where we landscaped the whole area and created a secure store (convertible to bathroom) and a family area with covered veranda.

It is on two levels. We did the whole of design and construction.

Seasons Greetings to all from Richard at Aarco Exclusive Timber Buildings

Wizard creates Magic doors and windows

2010-09-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

Wizard unveils latest Magic!

Dylan known to his mates here in Chester as “the wizard” has been with us just a year. His own workshop is close to ours - an aladins cave of inventions and shoestring engineering magic.

About 6 months ago Dylan took on the task of designing and taking into production a new range of Aarco doors and windows. The criteria was pretty tough but simple.

Better quality than our current suppliers
Lower cost to us and clients
Maximum investment in tools and machinery (£800 only)
No requirement for additional workshop space.

You guessed it – the wizard succeeded and on Friday he proudly lifted the doors (above) off his production line and popped them in to our latest project. The client made good comments straight away.

The wizards melting pot contained:

Wizzard tools came in on budget

1. A 30 year old radial saw bought from a local retiring joiner for £200 to cut precise tennon joints and perfect squares installed in 6metre 2 minute collapsible sawbebch

2. A totally flat worktable made from a second hand palette and a sheet of heavy ply which appears like magic from our workshop roof-space inside 1 minute using wynch and steel cable cost £47 (most of this for the wynch)

3. A 45 year old planer thicknesser weighing in at 250kg (quite a solid job) mounted on castors and threaded floor anchors bought from the same retiring joiner. He is moving to Cyprus to live in one of our buildings.

4. A 200kg table saw which cuts to an nth in seconds without needing to plane the output source ebay expected life another 50 years. Mounted on screwfix hevy cabinet rollers the total cost was £225 found on ebay by the wizard and modified in his workshop to increase speed and accuracy.

The wizzard space saving workbench

When the Wizard came across technical or quality problems he used U-Tube video projection on our new workshop broadband

The oak top router table takes the prize – capable of cutting grooves, rebates and mouldings in finished units this table left the wizards workshop for ours in July for a total cost of £9.60 (that’s not including his time for another bit of magic)

Well done Dylan – the doors and windows will be on show at NEC Glee in a couple of weeks and are available to the garden office market this winter.

See more of wizards latest ideas soon (they just work!!!!!)

Why was there no book with our new computer?

2010-08-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

It simply didn't need one?

I have to write about this because I am so excited I feel ready to burst - "enthusiasm is leaking out of my every pore and lying two feet deep on the floor".

For those that don’t know me I have been involved with computers in some way every day for forty years, Our timber building business has changed over the last couple of years and our computer network first installed as a mail order system at Bracken House in 1995 had not totally kept pace. The first step of replacing our workshop systems had been completed some weeks ago and it was now time to bring our home office up to date.

My idea was to purchase a good laptop for Noella and organise our business and personal data in such a way that some of the office space was redundant and could be converted into a nursery for our developing grandchildren to stay.

The Dell laptop chosen by Noella is” fuchsia pink”! And according to the salesman at PC World Chester was a “very good spec” (dual core 500 g’s of everything, total connectivity, built in web cam, audio visual db’s, blue dentures the lot, in fact there was a tea making button and on voice command from the lounge it would transmit anything in breathtaking 3d realism to any device or surface available!!!).

Well you can imagine - as a long, long sufferer having spent 20% of my waking lifetime re-booting windows in total frustration I took this all with a pinch of salt and prepared myself for more of the same.

What a change and what a pleasant surprise / shock / astonishing experience I have had.
I prepared a plan, allocated the time, took off the box seal and looked for the instruction manual usually written in 700 languages of unusable gobbledygook – “the damn book was missing”.
Instead of returning to PC World to protest I did what I had told myself not to do (started without it).

Here is my experience and why I am so excited:

On lifting the lid I spotted a silver button – central over the keyboard and pressed it of course. The Dell laptop sprung to life, asked for me to be patient and answer a few questions. These were simple questions and it gave responses to my answers in simple speak. It reassured me that all was well as it connected automatically to our network and the internet in fact it connected itself to just about every damn thing on the planet each time asking for my permission and apologising when it needed my input to make sure that our data was secure etc.

Over the next few hours “it set itself up”, organising all our last fifteen years of data, photographs, music, business programs, etc. it apologised for making me wait but was visibly working at blistering pace with each request keeping me reassured and truly amazed.

It spotted our son on line in Surrey and put us in contact with video, and sound - it was like being there with the family instead of 300 miles away. We all sat amazed as the smelly vision box (an optional extra) output the delicious aroma of cooking in their kitchen.

On closing the lid it went to snooze but didn’t stop working because on re-opening it had protected our data against malicious viruses. Updated itself with all software upgrades and scanned 125,000 documents and images indexing them in a way that simple searching would find anything and deliver it anywhere virtually instantaneously. It kindly explained that things could be better organised but in reality you could leave everything in a disorganised pile on the hard disk and still recall something from 12 years ago in a couple of seconds.

I sat just now staring at the screen with incredulity and wrote this note:

How far this technology has come – truly astounding!
Straight out of the box The Dell “Fuchsia Pink” laptop combined with windows 7 is a life changing package, well done Dell, well done PC World and well done Microsoft not forgetting intel and Google desktop search. My faith is restored, my sanity saved and our clients will be better served from our home office!

With this computer there was no book and I now understand why “it simply didn’t need one”.

Richard Grace http://www.aarco.co.uk/ and www.calfpath.co.uk

Family Garden Studio

2010-08-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

We just finished this project in a small Stockport garden. An unusual combination of bike store and family garden room. Designed and built by ourselves for a specific purpose and now fulfilling it. There are two areas 4m * 3.5m studio with trifold doors and covered entry deck area + 2m * 4.4m bike store. The store is convertible to a bedroom shower area should this be required at a later date. It is on a different level from the studio to suit the small well landscaped garden (landscape modifications by us).

The trifold doors purchased from B&Q are excellent (if you know which checkout to go through with them). Fitting is easy and the quality of these pre-finished ones is very good. You can see here how they open to give excellent access to the Garden.

On site the old lady next door made us a good few brews and we helped her by removing rubbish from her garden (a plastic shed and her old bike). It was a pleasure to see how well the neighbours and someone from as far away as Wirral turned up to help her by mowing the lawn etc. etc. Genuine help and support in this neighbourhood is alive and long may it go on. Well done Stockport!

I am looking at her old bike in the rubbish bay of our workshop - it seems a bit sad she won't ride it again!

A bit of frustration with our communications (Update)

2010-08-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

Today I received a letter on HOUSE OF COMMONS notepaper fro Stephen Moseley MP saying he has written to Ian Livingston Chief Executive of BT Group Plc asking him to look into our case. Jeremy Hunt MP Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Sport and the Olympics has also been asked to comment.

I will update when further info comes through.

Our BT broadband at the workshop is now working fine improving our communications with customers and helping us to do business. The only thing that was a bit frustrating is the difficulty in configuring email through this system to display the from address as @aarco.co.uk. It seems that BT has built in to their package difficulty in avoiding the BT brand name. I was however impressed by the way their technician took remote control of my laptop and guided me through the many steps required to achieve this..

I was left with the impresion that:

1. This is a further attempt on monopolistic practice (I might be wong here)
2. The technician was used to my request and knew it was difficult but necessary for businesses to maintain there image + use the system for sending and receiving email from multiple locations.
3. The technician was a true expert at this.

Please don't get the impression I have it in for BT but they did break my contract and leave me stranded without communications and both Noella and I are proud of our 16 year history of great customer service in our small business.

Log Cabin (in need of restoration)

2010-08-08T04:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Noella and I visited our grandchildren in the South and stayed at my old training school (now a hotel). I couldn't resist taking a walk around the grounds to see the log cabin we used as a changing room some 35 years ago. What a shock!

This once beutiful log cabin built from 120mm round logs has been allowed to start rotting due to lack of repairs to the roof. A lesson I suppose for shedworkers to make sure your roof is maintained. This cabin would cost more than £30,000 today (it was not built by us of course). The roof was covered in ordinary shed felt and has decayed under the trees over a perion of 30+ years.

The whacky A Frame on the same site once featured in architectural magazines has long since followed a similar path to complete decay. An interestingly designed tall triangle rising to 5 metres in height with two floors. (not suitable at all for the average garden)

Next week I will post pictures and information on our current project a 6m Garden Studio with storage. Weather remains good for outdoor building. Our workshop telephone and broadband network is working now after the long battle with BT and Openreach.

More on log cabin visit and A frame at http://www.aarco.co.uk/log_cabin_at_branksome_hilders.htm

A bit of frustration with our communications

2010-07-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

We need broadband and fixed line telephone in the workshop.

Telecommunications are a vital service for the progress of mankind. It is appalling that the individual should be denied choice in the selection of a company that can connect or repair communication faults. The cost to our nations progress is colossal. Anyone who has tried to get an openreach engineer will understand this.
This week I have made 120 calls to my service provider BT trying to get an openreach engineer to connect 7 wires. The connection of these wires is important to me so much so it has become a personal crusade.

How can the nations productivity improve when a monopoly control the communications infrastructure. It reminds me so much of the environment I faced when trying to build a photocopier factory in Leningrad in 1990. Where there is no choice there is no progress.

George is so right in his analogy.

George Pitcher is an Anglican priest who serves his ministry at St Bride's, Fleet Street, in London – the "journalists' church".

He says and I quote "It seems to me that BT’s Open Reach is symptomatic of two service-industry ills in Britain. First, it’s a service company that has no direct customer contact; that’s a recipe for sub-soviet style arrogance and neglect. Second, it’s a symptom of the over-enthusiastic privatisation of the Eighties. BT was sold off effectively as a monopoly and has been pretending not to be one ever since to satisfy the regulator. That’s why Open Reach is allegedly “separate” from BT, but can behave with all the disdain for customer-service that the old nationalised industry had."

Back to my comment:

In the Soviet Union there was no concept of competition no advertising, no property ownership, no insurance, no carrots, no windscreen wipers, no tractors, no internet etc etc etc and no hope. Photocopiers were locked in guarded rooms and regarded as potential weapons against the state. Thatcher and Reagan knew that communications through satellite and internet would be an unstoppable conduit for change.

I witnessed this first hand. When choice is introduced freedom can develop and productivity can improve. These are lessons for us all so why can’t I buy the services of a telephone engineer to connect my phone.

There is no way to contact an openreach engineer they have a Soviet style monopoly and will not speak to end users. This monopoly must go if we are to progress and not be overtaken by our Russian friends who have seen the light.

Richard

Our entry for shed of the year 2010

2010-07-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

Our entry for the “shed of the year” competition 2010

"A virtual paradise for home-working"

Nestling in the Cumbrian hills at the bottom of a beautifully self landscaped garden, overlooking a 240-degree panorama of arguably the most picturesque countryside in the UK. Our client (a planning consultant) commissioned us to build his new garden office/shed!!

The design a combination of the client’s vision and our own input fits into a discreet area. Separate from the house with views / views and views the building is contemporary and discreet. Small but adequate it floats above ground on a slope with an entry deck cantilevered over a wildlife pond.

Fully insulated and double-glazed windows are placed with uninterupted views of the garden and the 240-degree Cumbrian panorama.

A virtual paradise for home-working and a great pleasure for us to build.

http://www.aarco.co.uk/

My shopping today

2010-07-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

How to buy from B&Q
Richard Grace 12/7/10
B&Q are owned by Kingfisher Group – buying from kingfisher is a bit like fishing – put your bait (money) in the right place – stand on the right river bank. This is how to do it.
1. You need to understand this information first. B&Q, diy.com, screwfix, electricfix, plumbfix and Trade Point are all part of the same organisation. They sell the same products from the same manufacturers packaged and delivered in the same way. They sell to trade and public taking cash, card or bank transfer. Their pricing policy is difficult to understand but if you do you will save money.

2. It is a good place to buy they have good products and good after sales service. If you want to save money visit any one of their outlets or do it on-line. Decide on your product then check if it is available at one of the other outlets or counters and what will be the price will be there. Do not assume that all products are the same price as there can be as much as 40% difference for the same thing.

Here is an example from my shopping today:
1. A Chrome washbasin waste is £32.46 on the shelf in the main store £11.06 + VAT at the TRADE-POINT counter and £9.85 including VAT at the plumbfix counter it is also available at the screwfix and electricfix counters at separate pricing. This is the same product in the same box made by the same supplier.

2. A slide mitre saw is available in store at £106.00 and at the TRADE POINT counter in the same store it costs £69.00 (both these figures include VAT). The same product in the same store taken to a different checkout.

3. A set of trifold doors in store at £1856.00 attracts no discount at any of the checkouts or different outlets – but if you have a Discount / loyalty card or if you are over 60 and buy at store on pensioners day this is £150 cheaper.

My shopping today - the facts:
Today I bought a saw a set of trifold doors and a washbasin waste and a few other things (not typical but true) – I needed them anyway and I made a total saving of £230 on todays visit using this knowledge. I spend approximately £600 per day on building materials. The total estimated saving per year for me at kingfisher outlets using this knowledge is £3000 – with this money I intend to keep on smoking, drinking and wasting my time blogging.

Try it but chose yourself what you do with the money.

Information here has been checked and verified by a journalist and verified with receipts vs store prices.

Small corner garden office

2010-06-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a prospective client today about our standard single skin wall electric system and where the wires went. We completed this project ready for painting in North Wales today - here are a few photos including standard electric system:

The wires are between the base / subfloor and the floor (this is a heavy plywood floor being carpeted) Around the perimeter is a bullnose architrave skirt drilled 20mm for all wires to reach the patress boxes in white plastic conduit glanded to the box (lightswitch, consumer or double socket)

Lightswitches shown here inside the entry door are positioned at normal height and the conduit rises to lighting distribution at the wallplate.

Lighting shown here as four bar spotlights are fitted at wallplate height connected by flex back to lighting ditribution. It is easy to add or change lights.

Outside lights are fitted here under the eaves.

Connection is nearly always by steel wired armoured cable back to the main property. Safety systems at both ends of this cable ensure safety on route and in the building.

The building shown here is of similar visual design to the Lugarde summerhouse range (once dominant and still available in UK). Our version of these designs have many improvements. All the timbers are redwood which is denser, more stable and has longer life. The corner post frame structure is rigid and prevents timber shrinkage becoming visible. Most importantly we are able to manufacture these kits at 20% below the imported cost of the Lugarde equivelant due to economic changes over the last four years.

derek

2010-06-29T13:50:00.003-07:00

derek asked me to remove this photo

More on Plum Tree Studio - Belfast sink unit fitted

2010-06-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Our client needed somwher to wash his hands and make a brew.

Here is the Belfast sink in unit designed for the building by us.

Best sink unit in a shed???

Plum Tree Studio

2010-06-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Weather remains good and World Cup has started. Plum Tree studio is finished - this is a therapy studio working building for a remedial massage therapist. The specification includes - entry porch with wheelchair access - disabled spec toilet, main room , treatment room separated by folding screen and two mezannine floors with ladder access. Floor area is 30 square metres. We have made a couple of videos including an explanation of the sewer system which pumps down a small bore pipe saving cost. see at http://www.youtube.com/ricardospizzeria

We are fitting a belfast sink unit in here tomorrow and then off to build a small garden Gymnasium in North Wales.

Outdoor Kitchens A List Celebrity "Must Have"

2010-05-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Phew weather is about as hot as it gets here in Chester.

Couldn't resist this - it seems I am in competition with Guy Ritchie, Jamie Oliver and Gwyneth Paltrow who all have (according to Times newspapers) see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article7133565.ece

Here are a few pics of Ricardo's Pizzeria built in our own garden four years ago! Not practical but great fun.

Rona painted Plum Tree Studio starts heatwave arrives

2010-05-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

As I am writing this the temperature outside is 27 degrees (officialy a heatwave in my commentary) I have a couple of pics of the veranda painted and Plum Tree Studio concrete base going in.

This is a good setting for this new project but quite a long way to barrow 8 tons of concrete on a hot day. It is sometimes best to use concrete and this is one of those projects which requires an extra strong floor with no give at all. The building is going into full time use as a therapy studio immediately on completion. I will feature other photos. Weather permitting we should have the roof complete on Thursday. So no excuses - this is what the building looks like today.

I suppose all projects start out as a drawing and a pile of materials - this is the wood pile in our workshop ready to be converted - 5 tons of it to be precise! The redwood tgv boards top right would stretch a full mile if laid end to end.

Alex Johnsons shed book arrives on 29th May and I will feature a review of this on my blog - you can buy from Amazon now use the link to shedworking from our links page.

Rona Veranda complete and Plum Tree Studio starting

2010-05-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Heatwave on the way and Plum Tree Studio is about to start. 6m * 5m therapy studio with two areas and dissabled access. Full plumbing and electrical systems and two mezannine floors. This is a bespoke project designed with the client to function as a treatment room.

The design incorporates a sliding partition to separate of a private area when more than one patient is being treated.

More next week on this - here are a couple of pics of Rona Veranda before painting:

Outside

Inside

This poject was designed specifically for the property to client spec and provides 30 sq m of covered space for family activities and outdoor entertaining.

Rona Veranda and "iffy" weather + election!

2010-05-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

I remember promising costruction photos of Rona Veranda. Here they are our busy season is here and the weather this week has been cold and wettish.

This is a super outdoor coverd space and BIG.

Dylan and I installed the deck/base on Tuesday and the frame today - Tuesday we will complete the project and I will update the blog next week.

It creates an extension.

8.5 metres * 3.5 metres of covered space.

As I am writing this it sounds like David Cameron is acting sensibly - I think we all need him to continue in this way.

Business seminar and Rona Veranda

2010-04-25T08:04:00.001-07:00

More weather news - as I said the heatwave came + rain in London for the marathon. A further aside from Garden offices Neil’s seminar on Leading Edge Thinking was a great success here in Chester with Comments like “Very informative, would recommend anyone who wants to be successful in business to come to this seminar”, “Well structured, well researched content, delivered with enthusiasm” etc, etc

Leading Edge Thinking two or Too not sure yet is coming in mid July. For more see http://www.wildfire-concepts.com/

Will comment on this later.

Next week look out for our latest veranda project.

Rona Veranda drawing here>

Bothay is ready for final fit out

2010-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Weather prediction for tomorrow is "heatwave"

Just returned from site having prepared "Bothay" whatever that means! ready for second fix electrical and installation of kitchen etc. Here is the view from is surrounding garden:

Dylan is sweeping up whilst I take photos.

This building designed for the site is 10.5 m * 4.0m and has a covered area - you can see to the left. On the subject of weather, yesterday Dylan an I were sitting "grabbing a sandwich just to the left of this photo and a tornado the first one I have experienced at first hand passed diagonaly as you look at the photo - over the covered area.

Inside:

Inside you can see the complex roof or at least a bit of it as the building opens out giving a massive 30 sq metres of internal space.

Just a shot of the covere area:

A good space for sitting outside in the rain - a bit more space to fumble with keys when carrying ple of papers and a laptop!!

Next week we move a previous building and start work on a huge veranda - bit busy but will keep blogging.

Grand National Barbeque

2010-04-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

We built a garden office 2 or three years ago for a client in Chester - Simon (the client) calls me to help out with Covered barbeque structure. Simon had organised a Grand National party having backed the winner last year "do you remember the odds" and was in a bit of a fix to get it installed in time.

I took the opportunity on re-visit to this site and to make video presentation of this tiny covered BBQ project you can see at http://www.youtube.com/ricardospizzeria#p/a/u/0/nmwb3somgds . As usual totally unscripted with Dave back on camera and me - presenting - starting off in our workshop with sympathetic background and flipchart visual aid!

Our own annual family bets on the race failed to realise a profit this year but business and weather continues to favour us. On the next post you should see our complex roof building installation. Its Sunday afternoon temperature here is in the high teens and we are all loaded up to start sit-work in the morning.

Weather continues to improve - a promising week ahead for outdoor chefs.

If you have been reading this blog I guess you think I am obsessed by weather but if you had been working outside this winter "so would you be". A single wood burner in a 250 square metre workshop doesn't improve the climate very much!

Just a quick plug for my friends business seminar on April 21st you can get details at http://www.wilfire-concepts.com/ I am presinting the second session focussing on Differentiation and future trends in business - but may stray off into IT and predictions of coming impact to business. (one of my main interests and my career for 25 years before escaping to garden office design and installation). Event is near Chester and suitable for business leaders needing to review their business plans.

New project starting (Complex Roof)

2010-04-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

First photo on blog taken in our workshop in Chester.

I took this photo to demonstrate how we create complex bespoke structures. The building which you will see on site in the next few days is a large structure covering 40 sq m. It has been designed to compliment a new formal garden and cater for large barbeque parties etc. I guess now you can see why I like it!

The roof is nearly eleven metres long and fills a good part of our workshop as it is created before knocking down into a kit for transport.

Here it is.

Small corner garden office

2010-03-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

3m square Garden Office with 45-degree corner doorway entry and pyramid roof. The building is double glazed and insulated. Building designed and built by us.
This building required full planning permission due to the fact that the roof was over 2.5m and in order to save garden space it needed to be sited very close to the boundary. The planners were helpful about design and plan submission by email and all went ahead smoothly. Time from submission of plans to permission granted was 9 weeks as promised. The alternative was to build with a flat roof – I think you can agree the wait was worth it.
You can see something of the style of local buildings in the background “a Cheshire Village environment”

Matching Furniture and first barbecue of the season

2010-03-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

Printer table and stationary cupboard

Kitchen

We were invited back to design and install some matching fittings:
This large garden office is home to a specialist tree care company in cheshire. http://www.amenitytree.com/

You can see. the building from the outside at http://www.aarco.co.uk/snapshot%20Office%20for%20six%20people.htm

Currently we are working on a garden office a large complex multi purpose garden building with two rooms a covered outdoor space a gymnasium and a veranda structure. More on these soon.

Bit of an awkward week coming up with rain on and off but temperatures have certainly improved. First barbecue of the season was Saturday.

Barbeque Summer on the way!!

2010-03-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

Weather continues to improve and it seems outdoor cooking is back - could this be our "Barbeque Summer" predicted for last year. The traffic on our http://www.outdoor-kitchens.co.uk/ page is catching up on our Garden Buildings pages. I thought it was just me and Jamie Oliver that were interested! (although I built mine first)

Well indeed not we are to feature soon in another magzine article on outdoor entertaining. Maybe www.youtube.com/ricardospizzeria will feature a movie of my Pizza Oven in action soon!

Bloomingfelt Office Completed and ready for painting

2010-03-08T03:30:00.000-08:00

Much better that the information comes from our client you can see here photos etc.http://pictureitinstitches.blogspot.com/

AS predicted

2010-03-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Weather was brilliant - project complete tomorrow so photos due in day or so.

Onwards etc.

Building Weather to improve next week

2010-02-26T03:06:00.000-08:00

My third post. It's Friday morning and we are at the workshop waiting for large timber delivery to complete the kit for our installation next week.

Weather forecast for Sunday in south UK is poor with lots of rain and high winds! Monday is the first day of spring so daffodils, sunshine and rapidly rising temperatures are on the way! I have packed my suntan creme but not sure about shorts. Anyway I suppose its better to be in the South next week than in Scotland, their weather this week has been appaling. Severe weather warnings every day - not what we outdoor garden builders need.

Business enquiries are good as they always as they always are at this time of year. It seems that lots of people are researching garden accomodation buildings and work from home offices (which is good for us). The keyword trends are tending towards longer search phrases - yesterday someone found us by typing into google "garden office accommodation building and outdoor bedroom in cheshire" - Quite specific and well in line with what we do.

Google were in the news on Wednesday for giving prefferential treatment to their own interests in searches. From my point of view I am not at all sure about this as they will only maintain dominance in the market if their algorithm concentrates on relevance. Looking to the future and as more websites arrive then relevance is the only thing that will matter as users continue to be more and more specific about requests.

Some of the search engine experts are saying that blogs on sites are going to be more and more important so I must continue to try. I am not really sure what visitors here want me to say on this blog so any comment on this would be appreciated.

Our planning permissions page has become more and more active and since the introduction in December of clarification in the previously "wooly" rules it seems that any interpretation of the garden building height allowance is now clarified. This subject is very important to our clients and we continue to update our information regularly. See new info here:
http://www.aarco.co.uk/Do%20I%20need%20planning%20permission.htm
or guide only here:
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/miniguides/outbuildings/outbuildings.html

Delivery is here now so must get on!

Day 2 and dodgy adverts appearing

2010-02-22T03:28:00.000-08:00

OK - so here's my second post. Hm... no comments on first one - I guess it should engender such interest that people have a view!

Of course I accepted the sponsors big G offer of using their adverts on our blog but I got a bit of a shock when the displayed ads were for some seedy stuff. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe it is what I am writing or just the way I have set it up. Maybe someone out there knows the answer?

To make this visible and fulfill the purpose I will need to write mainly about Garden Buildings. So far his year has been such bad (understatement) weather that anyone working outside in gardens hasn't had such a good time (understatement 2).
Fifteen layers of clothing and 60 mm of mud stuck to boots has been the typical day. Soon it will be spring and then all of you lot will be stuck behind your keyboards wishing you were "in my clean dry boots".

I guess-can't have it all ways.
I will try now to fix the ad content before anyone gets upset. One thing for sure I will not be clicking them - my contract with big g prevents this anyhow.

Project bloomingfelt

2010-02-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

So at last I started a blog - each day I must make an entry (and deal with any comments). The first featured project is bloomingfelt - I guess it is not too difficult to find out on google about this! Why we are doing it and what it is all about.

We took the order a couple of weeks ago and design / prep has already been done. Materials are on order and start is in 8 days. My first visit became a problem on return as snow on A14 at Kettering forced unexpected o-nite stay at a dreaded Travellodge. (stranded with choice of burgerking and littlechef - but safe and warm!!)

Back tomorrow