Royal vs Platinum Garden Rooms Guide – Which Should You Choose?
| Feature | Platinum Garden Rooms | Royal Garden Rooms |
| Best for | Home offices, hobbies, studios and garden retreats | Premium offices, studios and larger multi-purpose rooms |
| Price position | Lower initial investment | Premium specification and price |
| Popular models | Fleet Apex and Odiham Pent | Bletchley, Buckingham, Denham and Marlow |
| Typical sizes | Fleet and Odiham available up to approximately 16×12 ft | Royal models available up to approximately 20×12 ft |
| Insulation | Fully insulated Fleet and Odiham models with insulated walls and roof | Premium fully insulated construction |
| Double glazing | 14mm double glazing on Fleet and Odiham | Higher-specification double-glazed garden room range |
| Design choice | Apex Fleet or contemporary pent-roof Odiham | Wider choice of distinctive Royal designs and configurations |
| Why choose it? | You want an insulated garden office or room with an excellent balance of comfort, quality and price. | You want a more substantial garden room with premium specification and additional floor-space options. |
Small Gallery of Customer Office Sheds We’ve Built
Explore our photo gallery featuring garden rooms supplied and installed for our customers. From stylish home offices and creative studios to relaxing retreats and versatile living spaces, discover how our bespoke garden rooms can transform your outdoor space.
Customers Garden Rooms Supplied
Another one of our lovely buildings brought to life! Our Royal buildings are the perfect choice for a fully insulted and double glazed year round garden room. Our customers came in to design the building with our sales advisor. This Royal is 10 foot x 16 foot with an apex roof with black felt tiles. The building also includes PVCu windows and door frames in the colour of your choice and Strongcore cladding painted in a Royal Exterior paint. The customer chose to include laminate floor and blinds for the windows also. Our base contractor constructed the heavy duty timber subframe base for the building and will be back to add decking to the base area together and our electrician will visit shortly to add the electrics to the building.
Lovely feedback to receive from our customer who recently had installed our Platinum Odiham 12ft x 10ft pent insulated garden room. Thank you for your comments 😀 ***** 5 out of 5 stars Mr C - December 21st, 2024 Happy with the range of summerhouses seen on site. Quality and pricing is good. It was easy to view and did not feel pressured into buying. Our queries were answered and we went ahead with our purchase, The summerhouse was installed on the date given. No issues. A good shopping experience.
We really did love receiving some photos of our customer's completed building which she's using as a hairdressing salon . The building is our Royal Pent Garden Room 20 foot x 8 foot which comes fully insulated, painted Strongcore, PVCu double glazed windows and doors and designed to our customer's specifications.
One of our customer's recently bought one of our Platinum Winchester Apex Garden Studios 12ft x 8ft. They had the studio painted, ply lined and with laminate flooring in advance at the manufacturer but they also wanted their very own bar to enjoy in there! Which of course we could do for them and what a nice addition to the building.
We always love seeing the finished result! From initial discussions to placing the order and sketching out the customer's desired building and then to actually seeing the building in our customer's garden is so satisfying and why we love what we do! This building is from our Royal range of fully insulated and double glazed garden rooms and is 12 foot x 10 foot with a pent roof which has EPDM rubber roofing as standard. PVCu windows and door frames, laminate floor and painted Strongcore cladding all in colours choices chosen by the customer.
Some lovely photos from one of our satisfied customers! This is one of our Royal Buckingham insulated and double glazed garden rooms measuring 10ft x 8ft. These buildings make great year round buildings and perfect for a home office. Our base contractor also laid our customer's timber subframe base for the building and our electrician has fitted the electrics including an air con unit.
10x8 Royal Garden Room supplied to a local customer, providing a smart and practical garden space for year-round use.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
This image may show optional extras
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Optional extras may be shown. AI-enhanced image; original unchanged.
Outdoor Office Shed Features and Requirements
What Should You Look for in an Outdoor Office Shed?
An outdoor office shed needs to work as a comfortable workspace rather than provide somewhere to put a desk. Check the construction of the walls, roof, and floor; the amount of natural light; the position of doors and windows; and the actual internal dimensions. Remember that the advertised external size does not represent all of the usable space inside.
Think about where your desk will go before deciding on the window and door layout. Also allow space for your chair to move comfortably, shelving or filing cabinets, computer equipment, and any additional seating you may need. If two people will regularly use the office, a larger building can make a considerable difference to everyday comfort. You can compare our garden room and garden office sizes to help you judge how much space you’ll likely need.
Insulation and Year-Round Working
If you intend to use your shed office throughout the winter, insulation should be considered from the outset. Insulated walls, roof, and floor, combined with suitable glazing, can make the building easier and more economical to heat and provide a much more comfortable working environment. In some cases, you can upgrade a basic shed after installation, but choosing the right specification at the start is usually the better approach. Our insulated garden rooms and offices are worth comparing if regular year-round working is important.
Electrics, Heating and Internet
Most home offices will need electricity for computers, monitors, lighting and heating. Plan electrical work before installation and have a suitably qualified electrician complete it. You can usually provide internet access using your home Wi-Fi, a mesh system, powerline adapters, or a dedicated network cable, depending on the distance between your house and office and the strength of the existing signal. Our guide to getting Wi-Fi in a garden office looks at the different options in more detail.
Don’t Forget the Base
The base is one of the least exciting parts of buying an office shed, but it is also one of the most important. A solid, level base helps the building sit correctly and allows doors and windows to operate as intended. It can also significantly affect the long-term life of a timber building. Always check the base requirements for the particular office shed you are considering before installation.
Over 45 Years of Garden Building Experience
Over 45 Years of Garden Building Experience
I left school at 15 and eventually started my own business in 1979, trading as Marina Sheds. I sold Marina Sheds in 1990, although unfortunately I did not receive all of the money due from the sale. Like many business experiences, it taught me lessons that stayed with me.
In 1992, we expanded into summerhouses, garages, garden rooms, and log cabins, which led to a name change to Titan Garden Buildings. My son Craig joined me that year after studying carpentry at Guildford College from 1990. We sold Titan Garden Buildings in 1998 and, in 2000, decided to retail quality garden buildings from a selection of manufacturers rather than being restricted to one factory’s products. That was the beginning of 1st Choice Leisure Buildings.
Craig now runs the day-to-day business, and I continue to support him and the team as required. That history matters to me because our recommendations are based on decades of working with sheds and garden buildings. You can read more about my background and experience and learn more about 1st Choice Leisure Buildings.
Office Shed or Garden Office?
Office Shed or Garden Office – Which Should You Choose?
The terms office shed, shed office and garden office are often used interchangeably, but there can be significant differences in specification. A straightforward timber office shed can be an excellent and economical choice for occasional home working. In contrast, a higher-specification insulated garden office is usually more appropriate if you expect to use the building every working day, year-round.
Rather than concentrating on what the building is called, I recommend comparing its construction and deciding what you actually need. Consider how many hours you will spend inside, whether you’ll use it in winter, how much equipment you have, and how much internal space you need. You can compare other options in our main garden rooms and garden offices range.
See an Office Shed Before You Buy
See an Office Shed Before You Buy
After all my years in the garden building business, I still believe there is considerable value in seeing a building before buying whenever possible. A website can provide photographs, dimensions and specifications, but standing inside a building gives you a much better idea of its usable space, construction and overall feel.
You can visit our Surrey garden building display site at Sutton Green Garden Centre, between Guildford and Woking, where you can see representative buildings and discuss your requirements with our team. If you cannot visit, use the specifications and information on this page to compare the options, and please ask us if you need help choosing the right office shed.
Robin Antill
Founder, 1st Choice Leisure Buildings
From £7869