Most people set out looking for a standard wood double garage and end up wanting something slightly different. An extra metre for the workbench. Taller walls for the campervan. A partition so the mower is not sharing space with the classic car.
Because every Shields garage is drawn up from scratch and made to order at the farm in North Tawton, none of that is a problem. You are not choosing from three sizes in a catalogue. You work out what the building has to do, and it gets built around that.
Here is what to settle before you commit: the size, the doors, the roof, the base, the cost and where you stand on planning.
Start with the job, not the building
The quickest way to get the design right is to write down everything the garage will hold on a wet Tuesday in February. Two cars is the obvious answer and rarely the whole one.
- Vehicles, including anything seasonal like a camper, a trailer or a classic that only comes out in summer
- Garden machinery, a ride on mower, and the fuel and tools that go with it
- Bikes, which need wall space rather than floor space
- A workbench, and somewhere to leave a half finished job out overnight
- Logs, which are happier in a ventilated corner than shut in with the cars
Once that list exists, the layout tends to sort itself out. If the workshop end starts to look like a room in its own right, a combination building may suit you better, with a garage and a workshop under one roof working as two separate spaces.
What size is a double garage?
A 6m by 5.3m double garage is the usual starting point. It takes two cars with room left to open the doors properly and walk round the back of them, which a tighter footprint does not. Every Shields garage has at least 2m of headspace as standard, and the wall height can go up from there.
Real projects move off the standard quickly. One customer near the edge of Dartmoor chose a 6m by 5.3m double garage with 2.4m wall heights, specifically so a future campervan project would fit. Another needed a four bay pent garage at 11.8m by 6.7m with an internal log store. Neither came off a size chart.
Paul recommends: measuring with your car doors open, not shut, and then adding a metre. Almost nobody tells me they wish they had gone smaller, and going up a size at the drawing stage costs a fraction of what it costs to solve later.
Doors make more difference than the timber
The doors decide how the garage feels to use every day, so they are worth more thought than they usually get.
Timber double doors come heavy duty with galvanised bolts as standard, and the example prices on the product page are based on a 2.4m wide pair. A powered roller door is the one to look at if you will be arriving home in the dark and the rain with your arms full. A personnel door in the side or the back saves swinging the main doors open every time you want a bag of compost.
Wider and taller openings are both possible. They are simple to change on a drawing and expensive to change once the frame is cut.
Paul recommends: checking the lane before you check the garage. A building made at the farm has to get to you, so if the last quarter mile is a narrow Devon lane with a tight gateway, tell us early and we will design around it rather than discover it on delivery day.
Roof, windows and finish
This is what decides whether the garage looks like it belongs to the house or looks like it was dropped in the garden.
You can choose natural looking artificial slate or long lasting Plastisol steel sheeting, both in a range of colours, so a modern house and a stone cottage each get something that sits right. Gutters are included and there is a waterproof membrane under the roof.
Roof lights are worth asking about if the garage doubles as a workshop, because daylight from above beats a strip light over a bench. Windows can be fixed or opening, and removable security shutters are there if the place stands empty for weeks.
Left unpainted, timber fades and softens over time. Some people want exactly that. If you would rather the colour stayed put, painted and stained finishes are available.
What goes underneath it
A garage normally sits on a concrete base rather than arriving with its own floor, and the base is the single most common thing that holds a project up.
You do not have to work it out yourself. Shields will tell you what the base needs to be for the way you plan to use the building, and provide the plans to hand to whoever lays it. Old buildings can be removed and the site cleared as part of the job.
Paul recommends: starting the base conversation at the drawing stage rather than at the end. A sloping site is completely workable, but it changes the groundwork, and it is far easier to design for a slope than to fix one once a base is already down.
Fitting out the inside
Ply internal partitions are the simplest way to keep a clean end and a messy end apart. Shelving, racking and a log store area can be designed in from the start rather than bolted on later. If the workbench is really the point of the building, a timber workshop building may suit you better than a garage with a bench in the corner.
And if you only need the cars off the frost rather than locked away, a wooden carport does that job for less. It is a fair question to ask before you commit to an enclosed building.
How much does a wood double garage cost?
A 6m by 5.3m double garage starts from £21,400, and the same building with a synthetic slate roof starts from £26,300. Singles start from £13,400 for 5.5m by 3m.
Those are example prices based on 2.4m wide double doors, windows and a Plastisol roof, and they include installation and VAT. Your own figure depends on the size, the doors, the roof and the fit out, so a quote will always beat a price list. Download the brochure and price guide if you are still weighing things up, or use the instant quote tool if you want a figure for your own specification now.
Worth saying plainly: this is not the cheapest way to cover two cars, and almost everybody prices up a metal or flat pack option first. What the difference buys you is a building designed around your plot, made to order, and installed by the same team that made it.
Do you need planning permission for a double garage?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, and it depends on your property rather than on the garage.
Outbuildings, garages included, are often covered by permitted development, but that comes with conditions on height, how much of the garden is built on, how close you are to a boundary and whether the building sits forward of the house. Designated land, including national parks and conservation areas, changes the picture, and the grounds of a listed building change it again. The Planning Portal guidance on outbuildings sets out the national rules, and local rules can sit on top of them.
Plenty of Shields customers live in or close to the Dartmoor National Park, where the rules are tighter, so check your own situation rather than assuming. If an application is needed, you do not have to work through the forms on your own. The team will tell you where you stand and can prepare and submit it for you. There is more on the planning permission page.
Frequently asked questions
Can a double garage be built on a sloping site?
Yes. A slope changes the groundwork rather than ruling the building out, and it is one of the more common things designed around in Devon. The earlier it is raised, the simpler it is to deal with.
Can I have electric garage doors?
Yes, a remote controlled powered roller door is available instead of timber double doors. It tends to be the choice where the garage is in daily use rather than storing something that comes out twice a year.
How long will a timber garage last?
That depends on the build and the upkeep, so nobody can honestly put a number on it. Shields garages are built around a substantial framework in pressure treated timber, and you will be told exactly what yours needs to stay in good condition.
Can I have a garage and a workshop in one building?
Yes, and it is one of the most requested designs. It can be done either as a single garage with a ply partition, or as a purpose designed combination building with separate access to each side.
Do I have to build it myself?
No. Nothing is sold as a flat pack kit. Your building is made at the farm and installed by the Shields team, although full instructions are provided if you would rather erect it yourself.
See one before you decide
Photographs only take you so far with a building this size. Standing inside a finished double garage, looking up at the headroom and watching how the doors swing, tells you more in ten minutes than a week of browsing.
You can walk round finished buildings at the display site at de Bathe Farm in North Tawton, at your own pace, with no pressure and no sales pitch. Plan your visit, have a look through the wood double garage range to see what is possible, or download the brochure and price guide if you would rather take your time over it first.
