Backland Development
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Build a home for family in your garden in Woking

A new home for family in your Woking garden is built around one person’s needs, which makes the brief unlike other builds. Level paths from the car, a ground-floor bedroom with a shower room beside it, and enough distance from the main house for privacy matter more than an extra bedroom upstairs.

We take that brief through measured survey, design, planning with Woking Borough Council, approval under the Building Regulations and construction, with a written quote once design and survey are done. The first step is free: an appraisal of your plot, access and the planning picture, with a visit if it looks viable.

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Single-storey garden home with wide glazed doors and a covered porch at the back of a family garden
Planning authority
Woking Borough Council
Postcodes
GU21, GU22, KT14
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.2 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Surrey

How it plays out in Woking

Daylight matters twice over when the new home is for a relative who spends much of the day indoors. At noon on 21 March the sun in Woking is about 39° above the horizon, so a two-storey eaves line around 5 m high casts a shadow of roughly 6.2 m. A single-storey annexe with eaves at half that height casts one about half as long, which is one reason low buildings often sit more easily in a garden. By late December the midday sun climbs only about 15°, so we test winter light on both homes, and on next-door gardens, before the layout is fixed.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Woking: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.2 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Woking: around 39° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

How we’d take it forward in Woking

From first call to keys, a family home in Woking follows a clear order. Free appraisal and site visit; measured survey and design around the person moving in; a planning application to Woking Borough Council; approval under the Building Regulations and any CIL exemption claimed before work starts; then the build, with you living next door throughout. You receive a written quote after design and survey, and we keep the household updated at each stage.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We look at your plot, access and the planning picture from the desk, talk through who will live in the new home, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Survey and design

    A measured survey, then a design built around the person moving in: step-free routes, a ground-floor bedroom if needed and privacy for both households. You get a written quote after design and survey.

  3. Planning and approvals

    We prepare and submit the planning application and manage it with the council, which makes the decision. Before work starts, approval under the Building Regulations is in place and any CIL exemption has been claimed.

  4. Build and handover

    We build while you carry on living next door, with access, deliveries and working hours agreed up front. At handover you get the completion certificate and the paperwork you’ll need for council tax, lenders and any VAT claim.

Worth checking early

  • CIL exemptions are lost if work starts before the claim is made, and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years.
  • A separate home needs its own garden, parking, bins and access, so it needs more land than an annexe.
  • Planning is the council’s decision, and an annexe is not a way round the rules that apply to a new house.

Questions about garden plots in Woking

Can I reclaim VAT on a family annexe in Woking?

Often not. HMRC’s guidance gives an annexe that can’t be used or sold separately from the main house as an example of work that can’t be zero-rated, and the DIY housebuilders refund scheme asks the same question. A separate dwelling is usually treated differently. Take advice from a tax adviser before you settle the planning route, because the wording of the permission matters.

Can I build a separate house in my Woking garden for my son or daughter?

Possibly, if the plot can work as a home in its own right. Woking Borough Council will look at access, parking, garden space for both houses, privacy and the character of the street, as it would for any new house. If permission is granted, the plot can be transferred to your child with its own title, with your lender’s consent if the house is mortgaged.

How much garden do I need for a family home in Woking?

There’s no fixed figure. A single-storey annexe close to the house can work on a smaller plot than a separate dwelling, which needs its own garden, parking and access. What matters is whether Woking Borough Council can be satisfied on privacy, daylight and the space left for both homes. The free appraisal gives you a first view based on your plot’s actual shape and access.

How long will building work disrupt my home in Woking?

A single garden home usually takes several months on site, with the noisiest work, such as groundworks, drainage and heavy deliveries, concentrated near the start. We agree working hours, access and parking with you up front, and with the people next door where it affects them, so your household knows what each week will look like.

Other options in Woking

Family home in your garden near Woking

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.

Get my free appraisal 0800 088 6248