Garden Room & Man Cave Planner – Materials & Cutting List
Garden Room & Man Cave Planner
Plan the shell, insulation, finishes and optional services. Turn your specification into a merchant quotation list and a labelled cutting pack.
Your project stays in this browser unless you download or print it.
Bulk Entry
Your project, materials & cutting pack
Check the scope, resolve outstanding specifications, then print the pack you need.
Calculate your project to see quantities, stock allocations and optional costs.
Inputs changed. Calculate again before printing or exporting. Previous results below are out of date.
Print or export your current project
Print opens your browser’s print controls, where you can Save as PDF. Partial packs keep their outstanding-items list. Save the editable project using Download project backup above.
Turn your garden room estimate into a professional quote
Create a clear customer document with the Handyman Hub Quote & Invoice Generator.
- Create quotes and invoices
- Add your business logo and customer details
- Itemise materials, labour and services
- Print or save your document as a PDF
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This separate product is optional. The planner, materials lists, cutting schedules and project printouts remain free. Transfer your checked estimate items into the generator.
Plan a detached garden room without mixing it with an extension
Use this planner for a rectangular timber-frame garden room or man cave with the supported floor, wall and roof assemblies. Start with the footprint and supplied specifications, then add finishes, services and optional supplier prices. Review unresolved work packages before treating the materials list as an ordering schedule.
An addition connected to the house belongs in the home extension planner. A raised structure intended as a playhouse has a different support and access scope: use the freestanding raised playhouse planner, or the tree-supported treehouse planner when an assessed tree carries loads.
For separately specified foundations and site preparation, use the concrete calculator and excavation and spoil calculator. Transfer only quantities missing from the garden room schedule. A foundation package quote and a second concrete purchase for the same foundation must not both enter the project cost.
Plan a garden room from the ground up
This free Garden Room & Man Cave Planner brings the main stages of a rectangular timber-frame project into one place: base, floor, walls, roof, openings, interior finishes and optional services. It is intended for a regularly used garden room, office or man cave, with insulation and a finished interior. A toilet and basin can be included as service packages.
Start with the building dimensions, then review the example material specifications against your drawings and supplier information. The planner generates material quantities and labelled cut pieces for supported rectangular components. Items that still need a specification stay visible in the results and printed pack.
How to use the planner
- Name your project, select units and enter the external timber-frame dimensions.
- Add openings and partitions if needed. Use Bulk Entry for a measured schedule or repeated project.
- Choose the foundation purchasing route and review each included material. Switch off unused layers explicitly; closing a section does not exclude it.
- Add the roof fall system, fixings, trims, connections and other project-specific materials to the custom schedule. Use supplied specifications for structural members and supports.
- Add services, prices and labour only when useful. Blank prices remain unpriced.
- Calculate, review outstanding items, then print an unpriced merchant quotation list or the full materials and cutting pack.
- Save a named project on this browser and download a project backup for another device.
What the materials and cutting lists mean
The merchant list shows new purchases, while the cutting schedule shows the finished rectangular pieces or blanks allocated to those purchases. Identical stock is pooled within each material ID. Whole matching stock already owned is used first; extra whole stock is added only when requested. Materials with different specifications are not merged automatically.
Linear cuts use a longest-first packing estimate with entered kerf and end trims. Sheet blanks use fixed-orientation rectangular guillotine packing. Neither method guarantees the theoretical minimum stock. Sheet layout diagrams show cutting stock, not the structural locations of joints or supports.
Wall sheathing and lining are gross blanks; openings are cut out on site and do not automatically save whole sheets. Horizontal cladding courses fully within an opening height are split around it; intersecting courses remain blanks for trimming. Insulation is a conservative face-coverage purchase estimate, not an insulation cutting plan.
Construction scope and assumptions
The generated frame uses rectangular wall panels with one bottom and two top plates, the entered stud spacing and one row of noggins. Front and rear frames run the full building length; side frames sit between them. Openings use entered king/jack/header geometry. Use a replacement component schedule if your supplied design uses different framing, header plies, joints or blocking.
The roof is a level rectangular deck take-off. Its slope or tapered build-up, edge treatment and drainage must be specified separately. The foundation route prices a supplied support schedule, package or slab volume; it does not determine ground-bearing capacity, foundation depth or support spacing. Structural sizes and illustrative defaults are not design recommendations.
Cladding needs its specified drainage/ventilation details; timber-frame moisture layers and roofing products must form a compatible assembly. Read the TDCA cladding checklist and timber-frame performance guidance, and use the selected product’s technical instructions.
For an England project, check the Planning Portal outbuilding guidance. Other locations have different requirements. The planner does not approve a building as living or sleeping accommodation.
A simple example
A 4 m × 3 m external frame has a 12 m² footprint. With a 150 mm roof overhang on each side, the rectangular roof measures 4.3 m × 3.3 m, or 14.19 m². A further 200 mm membrane edge allowance on every side gives an order rectangle of 4.7 m × 3.7 m, or 17.39 m². These allowances are examples to replace with your roof specification.
The Load example button adds a sample door and window. All product and design checks remain unconfirmed until you supply the relevant information; it is an estimating example, not a construction drawing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I print the list and take it to a DIY store?
Yes. Print merchant quotation list provides the descriptions, stock specifications and purchasing quantities, with blank price columns unless you choose to include prices. The outstanding-items section explains anything the merchant still needs clarified.
Does it include a cutting list?
Yes, for supported specified rectangular components. It includes references, dimensions and stock allocations. Unallocated pieces are clearly flagged. Blanks and site cuts are labelled; unresolved structural details must be settled before final cutting.
Can I add several buildings or a large schedule?
Yes. Use copies for identical buildings, add rows for different buildings, or use Bulk Entry with the supplied templates. The planner supports up to ten building rows, twenty building copies and five thousand cut pieces, subject to the tested browser performance limits. Large projects can be separated into saved projects.
Can the interior use timber cladding instead of plasterboard?
Yes, through a specified custom cutting/material schedule. Exclude the generated sheet lining, then add the selected internal cladding and its compatible trims, fixings and finish as custom materials. The automatic horizontal board layout in this version is for external cladding.
Can I include a working toilet?
Yes. The optional service stage adds water, hot water, sanitary fittings, foul drainage, extraction and fitting allowances. Add the enclosure partitions and door separately. These packages collect specifications and prices; they do not design the connections.
What does a blank price mean?
Not priced. It is counted separately rather than treated as a free item. Known-cost totals are labelled partial or provisional while prices or important specifications are missing.
Will my project be saved automatically?
Use Save project / scenario to save explicitly on this browser. Download project backup creates a portable JSON file you can import later. Browser storage can be cleared or unavailable, so keep a downloaded backup. No cloud account or automatic cross-device sync is provided.
Is the planner free?
Yes. Calculations, bulk entry, saved projects, CSV exports and printing are free. The optional Quote & Invoice Generator is a separate product.
Build a complete backyard office budget
Use the backyard office budget checklist to separate the shell, site work and services. Its checked example explains why the footprint, roof and membrane need different coverage quantities.