We’re at s lovely campsite in Norfolk abs there’s a bunch of Shepherd’s Huts for glamping in.

Curious for a garden office we decided to look up some prices…£7-20K??

Am I totally naive or does that sound ridiculous for such a small and basic structure?

trendy innit

You could buy a T5 camper for three times that.
Shepherd’s hut is a bargain…

It’s just some wood.

The perceived value is in the labour.

If it’s small and basic then crack on a build your self for a couple k

Materials alone for a standard 12′ x 7′ hut would run into £3-4k for a decent standard and fixtures and fittings. I’d figure two people full time would need at least two weeks to build it, probably three. So you can add about the same in labour. Stick some profit on and you’re there. They vary massively in quality, size and specification, and you’ve got all sorts of outfits building them, hence the range of prices.

Mrs Kilo looked at these, seduced by one at some county show. Thankfuly it went no further than getting a catalogue. It would have been cheaper to do up the stone barn she wanted to put it outside!

It’s just some wood.

The perceived value is in the labour.

If it’s small and basic then crack on a build your self for a couple k

Classic! I know a few people who have built their own sheds or summer houses or Gazebo’s because they think they’re too expensive. Almost all of them look crap, are built craply from cheap materials and only fit for firewood to my eye. And those that don’t look crap coast as much as buying one. Lots of people think they can do a better job….really they can’t. They just can’t. Luckily for them they are surrounded by people that care about them and tell them “it looks great” so as not to hurt their feelings…but in reality they’re just being kind and not wanting to hurt their feelings after all the weekends invested in cobbling it together, busted thumbs after being hit by the hammer, multiple trips to B&Q because they cut a piece of wood to the wrong length, or need a slightly longer screw because it isn’t quite square and that last corner is a couple of inches further away from where it should be. And ultimately the corrugated plastic look really only appeals to a very small percentage of population. But yeah…go for it. Lets see if you can bring it in for a couple of k AND end up with something most people would be prepared to have in their gardens.

Core is right. Decent wood certainly isn’t cheap, probably a quarter of the total cost -maybe more if it is a complicated shape wit a lot of wasteage. Also its a business so has overheads, has to invest in marketing, advertising, the products have to conform to all the various regulations and building standards, insurances, pay for premises, machinery and tools, machinery and tool maintenance, rocking up to various trade shows etc. employing people and logistics services, dealing with warranty or guarantee issues. And after all that how many a month do you think they actually sell? I can’t imagine its a lucrative business with the owner being wafted around in a brand new Rolls-Royce laughing at mugs who have one of their summer houses in their garden, even at those prices. Not saying its cheap or a bargain, but, assuming they’re decent quality, its a semi-permanent structure capable of being lived in. It’s going to be a bit more substantial than your average ‘couple of k’ DIY attempt.

I have nothing more to add.

So what you’re saying is, it’s just some wood, and some labour?

Classic! I know a few people who have built their own sheds or summer houses or Gazebo’s because they think they’re too expensive. Almost all of them look crap

So what you’re really saying is that some (but by no means all) actually look quite good. Therefore, if someone knows what they’re doing, plans it properly and takes their time they could deliver it very well..?

What core and wobbliscott said is so on the money. 😊👍

wobbliscott misses my point entirely

The key point wobbliscott is missing is the opportunity cost.

The opportunity to buy a whole new set of nice power tools…

My dad built one for his Devon farm with a neighbour. They aren’t cheap – you need a solid trailer base, then they effectively built a small house on top of it. Bathroom, log burner, heating and electrical provision etc, and they did most of it themselves.

Shameless plug:
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/28997948?location=Tq13%208qt&source_impression_id=p3_1565857865_7AGGRIKTtQxLcW6q

Seems popular though.

Therefore, if someone knows what they’re doing, plans it properly and takes their time they could deliver it very well..?

Yes but if you dont have those skills and the time then you need to either give up on the idea or pay someone for it.
They do come across as rather expensive but as others have said materials arent cheap and I would assume they are talking about handmade ones as opposed to mass produced ones so going to cost in time and expertise.
A cursory google shows some mass market ones which are a fair amount cheaper although even then as a niche product there is going to be some mark up.

Why would you build a hut on wheels to place in your own garden?

Why would you build a hut on wheels to place in your own garden?

Isn’t David Cameron writing his memoirs in one somewhere in the Cotswolds, could ask him…

Why would you build a hut on wheels to place in your own garden?

Because its romantic and stuff.
Plus looks better than a normal shed, maybe?

wobbliscott misses my point entirely

You bastard, he spent hours composing that^

Isn’t David Cameron writing his memoirs in one somewhere in the Cotswolds, could ask him…

Do let us know where, so we can nuke him from orbit.

Failing that, I’m quite near, I could go around and wee in his shoes.

Failing that, I’m quite near, I could go around and wee in his shoes.

You could just tow him away and leave him somewhere random..

Lynda, is that you?

Pfft. Modern abominations. This is a Shepherd’s Hut. Very cosy it is too and breakfast is brilliant.

wobbliscott is s Shepherds Hut manufacturer, surely?

Each voucher costs £80.00 (+ £2.50 post and packing)

Says it all really. Must be some serious money being made there if people are willing to pay 2.50 on top for p&p for a bit of paper to be posted.

Apparently David Cameron’s garden shed / shepherds hut was a mere £25k…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39761410

Old shipping container. Add cladding. Sorted.

Lynda Snell in the The Archers had Eddie Grundy knock one together on the cheap using various bits of scrap he had just lying around. Admittedly she’s a fictional character, but despite some initial misgivings during the construction phase, she appears to be perfectly happy with the result.

I’m not sure there’s much you can deduce from this, except maybe that shepherd’s huts are best left in the realms of radio fiction. Mostly, I think, she sits around reading pretentious novels in it. There were suggestions, I think, that the bed might have been ‘too narrow’, though it wasn’t clear what it was too narrow for.

Maybe worth considering.

Middle class sex shed for people too posh to do it in the hot tub? Of course there’s a markup.

The wheels are only there to get arround planning permission rules.

These things are the new yurts, aren’t they? Hello, city folks, come and look at a Victorian city dweller’s idea of what the countryside might look like.

Says it all really. Must be some serious money being made there if people are willing to pay 2.50 on top for p&p for a bit of paper to be posted.

This is basically a bed and breakfast, without breakfast. Sounds ideal from the owner’s perspective. Can’t help thinking the customers are being mugged.

Perhaps one could attach one’s shepherd’s hut to one’s bicycle?

Plenty of room for the trail dog, pizza oven, woodburner, watch/guitar/Lego/Tamiya/model plane collection inside….. 🙂

If it’s on wheels and doesn’t have an engine, it’s a caravan.

A friend of mine has two restored original huts, one dated on the chassis around 1870, and she has guests more than eager to stay in one of them, the other is used by staff when she’s extra busy and needs their rooms for guests. She does own a 17th Century Cotswold farmhouse, with a fairly big garden to accommodate them, though.
There were a number of new build huts at a steam rally and country fair the last couple of years, one bloke builds two a year, but he’s a carpenter and furniture maker by trade, I believe, and his wife won’t let him build any more than that. He uses old farm hay bale trailers for the chassis.

I’d like to see the efforts of a few on here, to see how they match up to these, although there are also a few forumites who I’m damned sure could build their equal.

We recently bought an original 1756 shepherd’s hut, and attached it to our T5 Transporter for our traildog to sleep in while we went glamping to various “family friendly” festivals this summer.

If it’s on wheels and doesn’t have an engine, it’s a caravan.

It’s not just a caravan, it’s Ye Olde Romantique Caravanne.