Cheap Summer Houses

How much does a cheap summer house cost?

A budget summerhouse in the UK starts at about £500 for a 6x4 and climbs with every foot of floor you add. Across the 19 models on this page, prices in the Shedstore feed run from just over £500 to just under £800. Prices move most weeks, so here are the bands rather than exact figures:

• 6x4 summer houses: about £500-£600. Room for two folding chairs or a potting bench.
• 7x5 summer houses: about £600-£700. Two armchairs and a side table, or a compact desk.
• 8x6 summer houses: about £690-£800. The biggest choice here, with pent, apex and reverse apex roofs.
• 10x6 summer houses: just under £800 for the Forest 4Life pent, the largest building on this page.

For comparison, installed and insulated summer houses from specialist builders often start at £3,000 or more. A self-assembly kit is the cheapest way to get a proper garden building, and that's what every wooden summerhouse here is.

Bigger is cheaper per square metre

Here's the part most shops don't tell you. Because walls, doors and the roof cost much the same whatever the size, the price per square metre drops as the building gets bigger. At today's prices the Forest 4Life 6x4 apex works out at over £200 per square metre of floor, while the 4Life 10x6 pent comes in at around £125. If your garden has the space, a slightly bigger budget summerhouse is often the better buy, and the extra floor space makes room for storage as well as seating.

Comparing our cheap summer houses side by side

Shops show the specs one product at a time. Here's every summerhouse on this page in one table, taken from the Shedstore feed. Sizes are the listed external footprint in metres, and the last column shows roughly what you pay for each square metre of floor.

All the Forest models are pressure treated; the Shire models are dip treated. * Shire's 10-year guarantee applies when the timber is retreated every year, following the maker's guidelines. Prices change daily, so check the product page for today's figure.

What makes a summerhouse cheap?

A cheaper summerhouse isn't automatically a lower quality one, and good build quality shows in the details below. The savings come from a few specific choices, and knowing which ones matter to you is how you get the most for your money.

Overlap or tongue and groove cladding

The cheapest models here, the Forest 4Life range, use 7mm overlap boards lapped like roof tiles on a 28mm frame. Overlap is light, sheds rain well and keeps the price down. The Forest Beckwood range swaps this for 12mm shiplap tongue and groove, where each board locks into the next. That gives stiffer, tighter walls with fewer draughts and something solid to screw shelves into, and it's the main reason the Beckwood version costs about £70-£100 more at the same size. Shire uses 12mm tongue and groove on a 34mm frame.

Pent, apex or reverse apex roof

A pent roof slopes one way and is the simplest to build, which is why the pent version is never dearer than the apex in the same range. All the Forest pent summerhouses here stand 2.02m tall, low enough to sit right against a fence. An apex roof gives more headroom down the middle and the classic look. A reverse apex turns the ridge front to back so the glazed gable faces the garden. For more single-slope designs see our pent summer houses.

Glazing

Every Forest window uses shatterproof plastic: PET on the cheaper range, acrylic on the tongue and groove one. Forest describes both as lightweight and far safer than conventional glass, which matters if a football is likely to come near. The Shire models have glazed double doors, and the Haddon adds two matching side windows. The Forest windows are fixed rather than opening, so the double doors are your ventilation. Large windows also make a small summerhouse feel bigger, so count the windows as well as the price.

Floor and roof

The cheapest Forest summerhouses have a 12mm solid timber floor on treated bearers, which let air flow underneath where rot usually starts. The dearer Forest range upgrades this to tongue and groove. The roofs are 8mm solid sheet with green mineral felt on the Forest models, and OSB with felt on the Shire buildings (11mm on the Lumley).

Pressure treated or dip treated: the real 10-year cost

This is the single biggest difference between two summer houses at the same price, and it changes what you'll spend after delivery day.

• Pressure treated (every Forest model): preservative is forced deep into the timber. Forest gives a 25-year anti-rot guarantee and says the timber never needs retreating.
• Dip treated (the Shire Haddon, Lumley and Alnwick): the panels get a coat of preservative at the factory. The 10-year anti-rot guarantee only holds if you retreat the timber every year.

So a dip-treated summerhouse costs you a tin or two of exterior wood preservative and a dry weekend each year. That's real maintenance, not a one-off. Over ten years that adds up, and it's the job people skip. If you want the lowest lifetime cost, choose a Forest building. If you love the traditional Shire look, or plan to paint the building a colour anyway, dip treated is still a good buy as long as you keep up the yearly coat.

4Life, Beckwood or Shire: which budget range?

Forest 4Life: the cheapest

This range gives you the lowest price at every size, FSC-certified timber that's pressure treated, a 25-year guarantee and a fully modular design. Modular means smaller panels with more timber, so it's easier to carry round the side of the house and put together, and Forest offers a wide choice of door and window positions. The trade-off is the thinner overlap cladding.

Forest Beckwood: tongue and groove for a little more

Same modular build and the same 25-year guarantee, but with tongue and groove walls and floor and acrylic windows. If you plan to use your summerhouse as a home office or hobby room for more than a few months a year, the tighter walls are worth the extra.

Shire: the traditional summer house look

Shire's summerhouses are built in the UK with 12mm tongue and groove cladding and floors, a 34mm frame and details like barge boards, finials and Georgian-style doors. The Lumley 7x5 uses mortice and tenon joinery on its doors, and the Alnwick adds a small veranda with posts and side balustrades. Shedstore quotes about 4 weeks for delivery on these. See every model in our Shire summer houses, or the full Forest Garden summer houses range.

The true cost: base, assembly and extras

The price on the product page is for the building delivered to your door. Budget for these too, because they decide whether your new summerhouse lasts in the garden:

1. A base: every summer house needs a firm, level base laid before it arrives. Concrete, paving slabs, a timber frame or a plastic grid filled with gravel all work. A 6x4 or 7x5 base is a weekend job with slabs.
2. Assembly: these come as panels for self-assembly. Allow two people and a day for most sizes. Installation is offered as an extra on many models if you'd rather not.
3. Treatment: nothing extra for the Forest buildings; a yearly coat for the Shire ones.
4. Felt and fixings: included. Check the roof felt every spring and refix any loose edges before winter.
5. Insulation and power: none of these come with insulation. Lining the walls, floor and roof and running power adds real cost, so only plan on it if you'll use the space in winter.
6. Delivery: free to most mainland UK addresses, but check the delivery details for your postcode and make sure there's a clear route to the back garden for the panels.

Where you shouldn't cut corners

Some savings cost more later. Don't skimp on the base, because a summerhouse on soft or uneven ground twists, the doors stop closing and damp gets into the floor. Don't skip the yearly treatment on a dip-treated building, or its guarantee won't hold. And never wire in mains power yourself: electrical work in a garden building is notifiable, so use an electrician registered with a competent person scheme. For basic lighting, solar or battery lamps cost far less.

Which size summer house do you need?

Measure the space, then allow about 60cm clear on every side so you can treat the walls and clear leaves. Listed sizes are usually external, and walls take a few centimetres off each side.

• 6x4 summer houses: the cheapest entry point, for a patio corner or side return
• 7x5 summer houses: enough for a reading chair or a small garden office
• 8x6 summer houses: the most choice under £800 and better value per square metre
• 10x6 summer houses: long and shallow, good along a back fence
• Large summer houses: 10x8 and up, mostly above this price range

Want a corner fit, a porch or something more modern? Our corner summer houses, summer houses with veranda and modern summer houses start a little above £800, while log cabin summer houses cost more again but suit year-round use.

Do cheap summer houses need planning permission?

Usually not. In England a garden summer house is an outbuilding, so planning permission isn't normally needed, under permitted development, as long as it meets the limits in the Planning Portal's outbuildings guide. The ones that matter most:

• not in front of the main wall of the house
• single storey, with eaves no higher than 2.5m
• no more than 2.5m tall if it's within 2m of a boundary
• with other outbuildings, covering no more than half the garden
• no veranda, balcony or raised platform

Every building on this page is under 2.5m tall, so the height rule isn't a problem next to a fence, though you'll still need planning permission in some cases. The veranda rule is: check with your council before putting up the Shire Alnwick. Conservation areas, listed buildings and National Parks have tighter rules, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own. The government's permitted development technical guidance has diagrams.

Building regulations

A garden building with under 15 square metres of floor that nobody sleeps in doesn't normally need building regulations approval, according to the Planning Portal's building regulations guide for outbuildings. The biggest model here has about 6.4 square metres.

Six ways to pay less for a summer house

1. Buy pent: in the Forest ranges the pent version is never dearer than the apex.
2. Go one size up: an 8x6 costs far less per square metre than a 6x4.
3. Buy out of season: prices tend to soften in autumn and winter, when fewer people are shopping.
4. Compare against RRP: most models on this page sit below the RRP Shedstore lists, so check how much you're saving on the product page.
5. Build it yourself: modular panels make assembly manageable for two people.
6. Choose pressure treated: no yearly treatment means a lower total cost over ten years.

Finance can spread the cost, but it rarely makes a summer house cheaper. Check the APR before you sign.

Budget summer house, shed, log cabin or garden room?

A shed of the same size is usually cheaper, but a shed is built for storage, with small windows and often a single door. A summerhouse gives you glazed double doors, big windows and a floor and finish you'd want to sit in. If you need both, put the bikes and tools in a shed and keep the summerhouse as a room, or use the back of a 10x6 for storage and the front for two chairs.

A log cabin uses thick interlocking logs rather than a framed wall, so it holds heat better, but it costs a lot more; see our log cabin summer houses if you need a warmer space. A garden room is the top end: insulated, double glazed and often wired, with prices to match. For a garden retreat from spring to autumn, a home office for one, a hobby space or a playroom, an affordable wooden summer house does the job for a fraction of the cost of a garden room.

Cheap summer houses FAQs

What is the cheapest summer house you can buy?

Here it's the Forest 4Life 6x4, in pent or apex, at around £500-£550. Both are pressure treated with a 25-year anti-rot guarantee.

Are cheap summerhouses any good?

The ones here are made by established UK brands with real guarantees: 25 years for Forest, 10 years for Shire with yearly treatment. The savings come from thinner overlap cladding, simpler roofs and plastic glazing, not from leaving things out.

How long does a budget summer house last?

A pressure-treated summer house on a good, dry base can last well beyond its 25-year guarantee. A dip-treated one lasts as long as you keep treating it each year.

Can I use a budget summerhouse all year round?

None of these come with insulation, so they're spring-to-autumn garden rooms out of the box. Add insulation to the walls, floor and roof, use a heater and keep air moving to stop condensation if you want to use one in winter.

Is a summerhouse better than a shed for storage?

For pure storage a shed is cheaper. A summerhouse makes sense when you want somewhere to sit as well, with the garden furniture cushions stored at the back.

Is delivery included?

Shedstore lists free delivery on these to most mainland UK addresses. Shedstore quotes around 4 weeks for the Shire models; Forest models show their delivery options at checkout.

Do I need a base for a cheap summerhouse?

Yes. Every summerhouse needs a firm, level base so the doors hang true and the floor stays dry. Paving slabs or a gravel-filled grid are the cheapest options.