Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Summer House

It appears to be easy to buy a wooden summer house for your garden. Just take a look on the internet to see a building that takes your fancy in the design you are looking for and find the best price – easy peasy! Well – NO!

This is because there is such a large range of garden summer houses available with questionable quality. It would be best if you were careful to ensure you are not disappointed

Take a little time and read through the following tips and be prepared before taking your decision to buy a new building for your home.

1st Choice Garden Summer Buildings – are All UK Made to Very High Standards and Quality.

The choice of summer houses delivered and installed is crucial if you want it to fulfil your requirements and, importantly, last a long time. By having the building erected, you can be sure it has been assembled correctly and will last a very long time. All 1st Choice Diamond and Platinum (GREEN DELIVERY AREA) summer buildings have installation included free of charge, so no worries for you. On all Lugarde summerhouses, there is an option for assembly, if required.

Summer buildings, appropriately made and from quality timber, are heavy, so erecting them is hard work. Some people like the challenge and the satisfaction of doing it themselves, but getting the experts in is the best way to ensure they are delivered and installed correctly. You will find that cheap summer houses are made in lots of small sections, which are easier to move about and more fiddly but are more flimsy than buildings made in single units.

As there are many cheap models on the market, ALWAYS try to view your intended purchase so you can how well it is put together, as this will give you a good idea of the company’s ethos. Check whether the summer house can be delivered and installed and, as a bonus, free of charge. If you don’t get this opportunity to view it, then be very careful as it is tough to return a building after it has been delivered.

1st Choice offers an Installation Service. Don’t risk building just being dumped in your garden!

A company which has been established a long time is the right choice. You can be reasonably sure that they have gained a great deal of expertise in the market.

More importantly, by being in business for a long time, they have listened to their customers. You will find the better-established companies have ‘bricks and mortar’ sites for viewing, and their website is just a tool to inform the public of their range of products.

These companies also tend to employ staff who you can talk to (just like in days gone by – how quaint but charming) and advise you on what will be best for you. Most ‘web site only’ firms expect you to communicate through the modern wonder of email, which is OK but will never ‘actually’ beat talking to a person.

1st Choice was established in 1979. There is a physical office where you can talk to us – face to face.

The internet is a fantastic tool for seeing what is available. It can be straightforward to purchase a summer house for your garden online sitting at home. With just a few clicks, you can have made a decision, paid for a new building, and before you know it, your new garden building will on its way! However, moving in haste may make you repent at leisure!

There are many summer house UK manufacturers out there selling sub-quality buildings online, and this is where trouble can occur. Your new sunroom will have to stand up to the full force of our British weather, and any shortcomings in the materials used will expose it. So how can you tell?

With the internet, with its flashy web pages and, possibly if you are lucky, a glossy brochure, you can never really know what your proposed summer house will be like in ‘real-life’. This is why it’s crucial, BEFORE delivery, to try to view any potential summer building. This will ensure that you can see and check for yourself how well it’s been made, that there is enough height inside, and you can see that the doors and windows are solidly built (and not nasty, cheap and flimsy).

As well as that you can check what quality of timber which has been used. It’s claimed by many summer house firms, who only operate on the ‘web’, that it’s best to buy online and that you can save money. However, it’s never possible to be sure what you will get. You need to be VERY wary if they are not prepared to let you see their buildings beforehand. It’s a fact that the best value building is not always the cheapest one.

We have a large summer house UK show site near Guildford in Surrey not far from the M25. We would love to show you our huge range of buildings erected and ready to view. We have over 80 buildings on display, one of the largest collection of summer houses on display in the UK! We employ expert staff who will guide you through the buying process with no pressure. We are a simple and honest family business, so come and see us. You will be very welcome.

Click Here For A Walk Through Of Our Display Site

It’s possible that you can save money by selecting one of these cheaper summer houses, but you do need to ensure that only the best and correct materials are used in your new building.

This means only using timber from the colder parts of Europe such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, where it grows very slowly. This cold weather means it has the highest density ensuring it remains very stable even in varying temperature.

The BBC asks the question ‘Could wooden buildings be a solution to climate change?’ They claim that carbon would be drawn from the air when utilising timber buildings and would entrap it within the structures of our homes and offices – with many seeing it as the future of architecture. Strong words but potentially very probable.

The so-called inexpensive summer houses for sale are made using faster-growing cheaper whitewood trees, meaning it is likely to have more movement in your garden. Which is not right in the long run. But using timber can be seen to be better than other unsuitable, environmentally damaging materials.

1st Choice Sun Rooms are made using slow-growing Redwood Deal timber.

You will find the better tongue and groove summerhouses have toughened glass as standard.

To cut costs, the cheaper buildings will use horticultural glass (which is, in essence – seconds) or, worse still, plastic. This is ‘second-grade’ glass, and you will generally be able to see defects in it. Away from the busy activity, it can be just about OK but on buildings which are being used regularly is it not better not to take any chances?

If horticultural glass smashes, it breaks into jagged pieces, and you certainly would not want your children or grandchildren getting hurt. Horticultural glass does reduce the cost of the building but is it worth the risk? However, the better summerhouse manufacturers will, as standard, be using toughened glass and will be an excellent choice as well as peace of mind.

1st Choice Wooden Summer Houses have toughened glass windows and doors.

There is an advantage to buying standard sizes and designs because it can help keep the cost down. However, if you don’t like where the windows and doors are, you would be out of luck?

This is why it’s good to talk to a timber building company who can make your building with a choice of summer house designs to suit you. It may be more expensive, but the extra cost can make the difference between putting up with what’s available or getting the best possible building for your garden.

Don’t regret saving a few pounds and compromising on the potential enjoyment of your new building.

1st Choice Bespoke Houses can be made in more or less any size or style to suit you.

I find it amazing that any company would consider supplying a building not finished, but there are some factories that will do so. Unbelievable! These cheap summerhouse manufacturers provide panels or floors which need to be cut by you. This saves money but means more work for you and the possibility of mistakes. Always ensure that all the panels are supplied cut to shape and size.

Ensure that all the gable and shaped ends are cut to size. Some cheap manufacturers are offering summer houses for sale and supply shaped ends that need to be cut by you. This saves a little money but means more work for you and the possibility of mistakes.

Do you really want to take the risk doing this? Also, if the manufacturer is trying to save a few pounds here what else might he be trying to save money on? Why not consider a corner summer house if you have a smaller garden?

All Summer Buildings from 1st Choice have pre-cut panels.

You Can See INDEPENDENT Customer Feedback on this page.

The advantage of long-standing businesses is that they share good advice about buying summer buildings. This helps you to make the correct decision for you. You will find they will always offer advice which they have gleaned over many, many years and never forget that you may be in the market for another building later in the future. Take a look these Buying Advice Pages to give you further insights as to what you should look out for.

The key to buying a wood summer house or even a garden workshop is to ensure you do your homework, ensure you know who you are dealing with, and try to get the best value building for your home. And at face value, this is not always the lowest price.

We, being a family business, have been involved in the manufacture of quality timber summer houses for sale since 1979, when Robin started his first production unit. Craig, Robin’s son, joined in 1990 and trained at Guildford College in joinery. For over 20 years, we ran one of the largest UK wooden building companies in the south of England. We made the conscious decision to only deal with quality materials which we knew would last the test of time. This ethos probably comes from our upbringing. Robin’s father and grandfather were Master Butchers in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire and Quality and Customer Service were always crucial in their businesses.

Craig is a key member of the business and is helping 1st Choice to embrace the challenges of the 21st century. With his two children Daniel and Rebecca, the future looks very promising. As you can see we are not just salespeople selling a range of products, we know nothing about. We have the history behind us to ensure that when you choose ‘1st Choice’, then your summer houses will be ‘1st Choice.

Choose us if you are interested in a new traditional, modern, contemporary, large or small summer building designed for your home. Whether it’s for sitting out in the garden on a sunny day or using it as a recreation area, hobby room or somewhere to store your leisure equipment and gardening supplies. You can even find a corner summerhouse, if you have an unused corner in your garden, in the extensive range on offer on our 1st Choice Leisure Buildings web site.

A summerhouse with installation is one of the things you should be looking for and, to save you time and money, we will assemble our Diamond and Platinum buildings free of charge. These buildings are ideally suited to any size of the back garden. They can be used for leisure or professional use to suit the needs of you all our buildings. From insulated sun rooms to wooden summerhouses and can be entirely bespoke. Why settle for anything less? We always strive to ensure we are your 1st Choice for your garden buildings.