Loft Conversions

Post by **Groomyd** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:02

Anyone had one? Know anything about the approximate cost, time it takes to complete, pros and cons etc?

I've had a count up of our bedrooms and with another Groomy due to arrive in August we're one short

Post by **CanaryYellow** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:10

Surely Arsenals win at 11/4 at the weekend will cover it?

Post by **Groomyd** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:15

Unfortuantley i had less than £10k on it

Post by **CanaryYellow** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:17

Pffft, amatuer.

Post by **X-Man** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:29

What happened to the Brave New World of moving to far flung corners of the Country - reality check or new job?

Post by **Groomyd** » 07 Jan 2007, 20:52

Have been looking at house prices in my street and a loft conversion adds about £60k to the house value so it seems a good idea even we were to sell now.

Have got a new job starting Friday and also have a baby on the way so we've decided to put moving on hold at the moment. On top of that my wife has been sounded out about taking a Director of Public Health Post for the London Strategic health Authority which open up lots of doors in all PCTs around the country.......................

Not to say if a job came up in St Ives i'd be there!!!!

Still very interested in Cardiff.

Post by **Madchester** » 07 Jan 2007, 22:41

Groomyd wrote:Anyone had one? Know anything about the approximate cost, time it takes to complete, pros and cons etc?

I've had a count up of our bedrooms and with another Groomy due to arrive in August we're one short

we've got one and very useful it is too. i tend to use it more as an office when i'm working from home. there aren't really any cons to having one, it'll always add value to your property (imo). with regard to the price, that's dependant on a number of factors, i.e. location, size of conversion, amount of labour involved, current price of materials, experience of the people doing it etc... etc...

it could cost you anywhere between £10k and £30k - you need to get some quotes in (obviouslly) and ideally from people who have been recommended to you (rather than just picking someone out of the book). when you come to sell, an extra bedroom can only mean more return from your investment.

Post by **jimmy ching** » 07 Jan 2007, 23:48

Check with neighbours. With the houses probably being of the same build, learn from their mistakes, ie good/bad design, right/wrong builder, underpriced/overpriced. £800 a square metre should include everything, services, decorating, new windows.

Post by **jimmy ching** » 08 Jan 2007, 00:00

Alternatively, use an architect. They should charge a % of the cost and offer different packages from basic to tendering. A rough estimate is 10% for the full monty. This can take the hassle out of dealing with builders and if anything goes wrong you've got somebody to fire at. One word of warning though, once you've gone for a design don't change your mind half way through because that's what the builders love.

Post by **Groomyd** » 08 Jan 2007, 08:05

Anyone know how much disruption it causes?

We live in a classic 2 up 2 down Victorian terrace and the loft conversions with a dorma roof give a huge master bedroom with en suite which covers te whole foot print of the house.

This will mean a staircase going up from the current top floor obviously and that means either losing some of the current main bedroom or losing the current box room.

I'd imagine it means moving out for a week during that stage????

Post by **Javahart** » 08 Jan 2007, 09:25

Groomyd wrote:Anyone know how much disruption it causes?

We live in a classic 2 up 2 down Victorian terrace and the loft conversions with a dorma roof give a huge master bedroom with en suite which covers te whole foot print of the house.

This will mean a staircase going up from the current top floor obviously and that means either losing some of the current main bedroom or losing the current box room.

I'd imagine it means moving out for a week during that stage????

You shoudn't lose any bedroom space for next flight of stairs as they will sit over the exsisting ones. You will lose some headheight coming up the current stairs. I'm assuming you have a landing hallway?

Post by **murf** » 08 Jan 2007, 09:38

Just move to the country - you could have a mansion for the price of a pokey 2 up, 2 down in Wimbledon.

Post by **The Councillor** » 08 Jan 2007, 09:59

just got in 4 quotes for an extra two bedrooms plus shower room loft conversion with a fitted dorma at the back of the property to turn a North London maisionette into a 5 bed 2 bathroom/shower room...new staircase to be fitted over existing staircase. Quotes (with fittings/appliances and decor) between £31k - £39k with works being completed between 6-8 weeks - which includes installation of new steel beams to support new floor in the loft. All quotes have indicated there would be no need for the the occupiers to move out.

Was quite surprised at the length of time as was expecting the works to take 10-12 weeks but all the companies seemed confident that the works would be completed by 8 weeks !

Post by **Madchester** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:16

murf wrote:Just move to the country - you could have a mansion for the price of a pokey 2 up, 2 down in Wimbledon.

or get bunk beds

Post by **Vannie** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:31

make sure you use someone who is aware of all the building regulations. They are pretty strict these days and apparently a high proportion of loft conversions done historically (and even some that are still being tacked on) do not meet these standards. This is a potential issue when it comes to selling it later.

Post by **Stick** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:41

Ensure the correct building regulations are seeked, if they are not in place an estate agent will not advertise the room as a bedroom, they will just call it 'loft/attic space', thus not giving you the extra value on your home.
Building regs will look at the window accesibility from the outside and also the width of the new stairs.

This does sound obvious but I see many homes with loft conversions without the proper building regs in place

Post by **Madchester** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:48

TheStick wrote: This does sound obvious but I see many homes with loft conversions without the proper building regs in place

which is why i'm using mine as an office and not a bedroom. needs some adjustment to the stairs to make it more compliant to "current" regs for a bedroom.

Post by **barry** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:53

Madchester wrote:
TheStick wrote: This does sound obvious but I see many homes with loft conversions without the proper building regs in place
which is why i'm using mine as an office and not a bedroom. needs some adjustment to the stairs to make it more compliant to "current" regs for a bedroom.

I might be wrong but it need the appropriate regs to be classed as any room not just a bedroom, without them it's a floored loft.

Post by **cheshire cat** » 08 Jan 2007, 11:28

great advice on this site.
definitely get someone to help you through the techinicalities, unless you're au fait with building regs and planning policy. This is even more important if you could be selling the place in the next few years as you don't want the expense of making alterations to make the conversion compliant to the regs so you can sell it. get it right from the start, much cheaper.
And it's crucial that you agree what plan you want and stick to it. Be very firm and unambigious with the builders/joiners etc. Check their work yourself at regular intervals (although standing over them will just p!ss them off and slow them down) to avoid costly reworking.
There are some great tradesmen about, so try to get one of these rather than the ubiquitous cowboys. A personal recommendation is worth it's weight in gold. (cue a TFF pun about transfers).

My missus is a planning and development surveyor and she recently helped my aunty through the planning application phase as a favour. It's added a third to the rental income for her flat so she's very pleased, and she gave us a nice fat cheque as a wedding present by way of a thank you.
Your architect 'should' know and understand the local planning policy, but if you know a planner/developer, ask them to review the application before submitting it. Saves time and effort.
As a general rule of thumb, planning shouldn't be an issue if you're not planning external work (such as a dormer window) so going with velux would be simpler, although dormer will add extra headroom.

Good luck.

Post by **Madchester** » 08 Jan 2007, 11:32

barry wrote:
Madchester wrote:
TheStick wrote: This does sound obvious but I see many homes with loft conversions without the proper building regs in place
which is why i'm using mine as an office and not a bedroom. needs some adjustment to the stairs to make it more compliant to "current" regs for a bedroom.
I might be wrong but it need the appropriate regs to be classed as any room not just a bedroom, without them it's a floored loft.

you may be right. we're going to extend at some point so it's going to get an overhaul anyway. not looking forward to the £££cost.

Post by **Groomyd** » 08 Jan 2007, 12:01

murf wrote:Just move to the country - you could have a mansion for the price of a pokey 2 up, 2 down in Wimbledon.

One on my street for sale with loft conversion this week. A snip at £525k!

I'll be going for the dorma at the rear: about 30% of houses on my street have loft conversions so there are plenty of people to ask. There are also a number of loft conversion companies about. More expensive than builders but i think you ensure building regs are complied with........................ lottery though as you never know which team of builders you are going to get so a recommendation is worthless.

Post by **Madchester** » 08 Jan 2007, 12:03

Groomyd wrote: a recommendation is worthless.

disagree - recommendations from people who are happy with the work done by a certain person/company are gold dust, especially if you can have a look at previous work they've done on other properties.

Post by **Fuzzy Logic** » 12 Jan 2007, 21:12

Groomyd wrote:Anyone had one? Know anything about the approximate cost, time it takes to complete, pros and cons etc?

I've had a count up of our bedrooms and with another Groomy due to arrive in August we're one short

Congrats Groomyd, we just had scan for a little bit of Logic and is due End July

Post by **barry** » 12 Jan 2007, 21:40

Groomyd wrote:
murf wrote:Just move to the country - you could have a mansion for the price of a pokey 2 up, 2 down in Wimbledon.
One on my street for sale with loft conversion this week. A snip at £525k!

there's a new game - find the best house for groomyd with a budget of only £525k

Post by **Groomyd** » 12 Jan 2007, 21:46

Madchester wrote:
Groomyd wrote: a recommendation is worthless.
disagree - recommendations from people who are happy with the work done by a certain person/company are gold dust, especially if you can have a look at previous work they've done on other properties.

Schoolboy Mad!

I said recommendations for franchises are worthless.

By the way the £525k house has sold after 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cardiff here I come!

Post by **barry** » 12 Jan 2007, 23:04

slightly over but you are getting a "granny flat" your kids can move you into when you're past it!!

http://www.dgspc.co.uk/details.asp?id=17458

"only" the 5 bedrooms but lovely area

http://www.dgspc.co.uk/details.asp?id=15757

here's a corker!
huge big house plus "cottage" (with 3db bedrooms) still have £100k change to set it up as a b&b or hire it out (popular tourist area)

you'll never have to work again!

http://www.dgspc.co.uk/showschedule.asp ... 6&type=pdf

Post by **Groomyd** » 13 Jan 2007, 09:23

Thanks Barry!

I'll post a picture of mine on here later!!

That last one looks amazing!!!

Post by **buryboy** » 30 Jun 2007, 14:57

Thought I'd bring this back to the fore , we are considering a loft conversion - I thought builders were just unreliable when it came to actually doing the work , not also when asking to quote for work - just can't be ar5ed truning up to inspect ; or not sending in a quote after ; or going for a ridiculous quote cos they are currently busy.

Have just been to loft conversion "specialists" so far - but feel I am being charged a fortune for them to "project manage" when in reality the work, other than a bit of plumbing for an en-suite should be pretty straight forward I would have thought for any competent builder ?

Torn between using the local "one man band " loft specialist who has given a much lower quote , true so called professionals , or scrapping them all and getting a few general builders who have also done a few lofts to come round ?
Any one else got any thoughts ?

I am also looking a getting a balcony done , but one or two put me off ; not sure if its because they haven't done them before or if there are genuine problems , looking at something like http://www.above-it-all.co.uk/loft_wind ... indows.htm which looks quality , but pricey - anyone else had something similar

Thanks
Graham

Post by **buryboy** » 30 Jun 2007, 14:58

Post by **Groomyd** » 30 Jun 2007, 16:49

We have now gone for a local builder and our application for planning permission is in.

He has been doing them for about 15 years, he does all the work himself and we have 3 very reliable recommendations including watching him do one day to day up the road (all done in 5-6 weeks).

His weak point (as with many builders) is the interior design angle but as long as you watch him and keep talking to him and telling you the detail of what you want rather than just leave him to it them his work appears to be sound.

He is about £3k cheaper than the loft companies.

Total is £32k which does not include cost of new boiler, bath, sink and toilet or decorations but does include their instalation, partition wall put back into the lounge, all fire doors & 3 velux roof windows and thermostats an all radiators.

Where are you? He lives in Surrey and does SW London and environs.

FISO