What do you do when you’re just about to start building a dream garden room for a customer, and the whole country goes into lockdown? This is the situation we found ourselves in on 23rd March, and just as we had unloaded a large lorry-load of screwpiles and materials which filled our client’s garden in Whitstable, the announcement followed that the UK COVID-19 lockdown was being enforced and we were all to ‘Stay At Home’.
Like many industries around the globe, we were entering unchartered territory and immediately withdrew from the site. However, after 24 hours we had established that construction workers (when working outdoors) in fact could continue to work. Luckily, we had already considered how we could introduce a no-contact build procedure into our build, and as our customer’s garden was full of all the materials needed to kick-start their bespoke garden studio, we agreed with the customer that we would return to site to get the frame of the garden room built, so that at least they could enjoy their garden during lockdown.
It took our skilled team 3-days on site to erect the timber frame, and after this we were forced to withdraw as our suppliers and builders’ merchants were forced to cease trading to non-essential businesses. All we could do is wait, keep our customer well-informed and continue to review the situation until a time that we could safely and practically return to the site to complete the project.
Over a four-week period we took the project step-by-step, all the time fulling complying to the government rules and always keeping our crew and customer’s health as the ultimate priority. More than ever, our customer needed a working home-office and slowly-but-surely, we managed to complete the build after 4-weeks (which would have been 2 weeks under normal circumstances).
As you can see, this tailor-made 5m x 3m garden studio in Whitstable, Kent, is now a fully-functioning home office. Featuring a large set of sliding doors and window to let in lots of natural light, the stylish space is the perfect, peaceful spot to work-from-home, without the distractions of the household.
Our satisfied client sent us the following message from their new office space… “Can I say how much I am enjoying our new garden room supplied by you. It is a fantastic space and makes these trying times much easier. Matt and his crew where fantastic, always very polite, efficient, with an excellent attention to detail, so thank you for them. The process from initial contact to getting the final product was so easy and the fact that you and your team persevered to get materials to finish the job in this current climate is remarkable”.
Mr and Mrs Watson, Whitstable
As lockdown restrictions continue to lift, we are slowly getting back to a ‘new normal’ within our business, which includes virtual site surveys and our new no-contact build approach. With an uplift in enquiries for an extra garden space; whether for work, family time, or even a home gym, we are looking forward to helping to bring plenty of dream garden rooms to-life in the near future.
If you’re thinking about transforming your garden and routine with an eDEN Garden Office, get in touch with our helpful team on 0800 0935 339 to discuss your requirements and arrange a Virtual Site Survey.
