Some island residents are having to wait for the dream of owning their own garden shed to come true.

People demanding their own outdoor bolthole are in bigger numbers than ever before because of the pandemic.

Many want to turn their shed into an office on the back lawn while others have signalled their intentions to use summer houses for a variety of reasons including their own private bar or as places to chill out and relax.

And many are heading for bespoke Manx-made ’shop local’ products.

That’s according to Lyn Bolton, who is in charge of sales at the Isle of Man Sawmill, which falls under the banner of DEFA (Department of Environment Food and Agriculture).

She said: ’We’re victims of our own success. We’ve always been busy but things are now sky-rocketing.

’Business has gone mad.’

The pandemic had led to a surge in demand from people working from home, she said.

Isle of Man Sawmill in St John’s produces fencing materials and garden sheds and furniture using timber from the island’s plantations.

Mrs Bolton said the sawmill provides an on-island supply of a vital commodity in much the same way as we have our own meat plant and flour mill.

The need for this was highlighted by Covid restrictions which severely affected similar operations in the UK whilst our own sawmill has survived and thrived.

Mrs Bolton said: ’Timber prices in the UK have gone up by 60% but we’re not charging any more.’

Speaking yesterday (Wednesday) to the Manx Independent she said the sawmill’s team of 16 have been ’swamped’ with orders.

As a result there is now a waiting list for their bespoke products.

Mrs Bolton added: ’It is great to see people wanting to shop local but I’m afraid that people will have to wait longer for their sheds. I would ask them to be patient.’

All the trees the sawmill uses are grown by the Forestry Directorate in its 7,000 acres of land around the island.

At the moment much of it is spruce. The Forestry do all the planting and harvesting and raw timber is brought to the sawmill, essentially as tree trunks stripped of their branches.

In the joinery shop Alan Bell and Pip Crellin have been kept busy working their way through a list of bespoke customer orders from planters and benches to smoking shelters and summerhouses.

Mr Bell said: ’It’s a long list. Everyone’s spending their money on garden stuff these days.’

They even recently made a shed with a bar inside for a customer.

Any trees which are unsuitable for milling are reduced to chippings and these are used to feed the giant biomass boiler that heats the sawmill offices and DEFA’s headquarters across the road. Any waste from the chipping process is sold as garden mulch.

In the UK it is reported that building materials are running short, leaving DIY projects in doubt and building companies under pressure.

The Construction Leadership Council has warned that cement, some electrical components, timber, steel and paints are all in short supply.

It blamed ’unprecedented levels of demand’ that are set to continue.