Loft Conversion Cost....

stebiz

suisidevw wrote: »

Had a quote for £35k+£7k VAT for a loft conversion in S Wales. Bringing up side of house so hip to gable, full length dormer across back of 1930's semi, bathroom, all done to leave only carpet and paint........will post sizes later

The company has three teams and are fully booked up for 6 months - never heard a bad word about them and come highly recommended from friends... Maybe this is the 'general' price now for a quality conversion?

This will also be completed in 25 working day, so 5 weeks.....

Any thoughts?

I had every roof truss removed. Hip to gable like you. New dormer and new tiled roof for £20,000 plus vat.

Bear in mind that I took all my upstairs floors out and lowered the ceilings myself as well as the Steel Beams.

I also put my own bathroom in and decor and paid for electricity and doors separately. So seems on par.

Due to move back in a fortnight.

suisidevw

stebiz wrote: »

I had every roof truss removed. Hip to gable like you. New dormer and new tiled roof for £20,000 plus vat.

Bear in mind that I took all my upstairs floors out and lowered the ceilings myself as well as the Steel Beams.

I also put my own bathroom in and decor and paid for electricity and doors separately. So seems on par.

Due to move back in a fortnight.

Thanks Stebiz,what does your work out at in terms of square foot? The quote for ours is 270sq ft and the dormer is nearly the full width of the back of the property.

When I see yours above, it does seem on par, but every search on here/online seems to think they should be £20-£40k with £40k for London areas mainly!

stebiz

suisidevw wrote: »

Thanks Stebiz,what does your work out at in terms of square foot? The quote for ours is 270sq ft and the dormer is nearly the full width of the back of the property.

When I see yours above, it does seem on par, but every search on here/online seems to think they should be £20-£40k with £40k for London areas mainly!

We took ours back as far as we could (about 20 cms or so off the rear wall). We have just measured up for laminate and it is nearly the same as 3 bedrooms downstairs added together, The two bathrooms are tiled.

Ours was about 300 sqft.

Very similar to what yours is going to be. It could have been done cheaper. But I got all the top grade materials including some lovely cladding which cost £1.5k and a brand new roof and all timbers replaced. I also got UPVC fascia and gutters etc. Nothing was done on the cheap.

I had every ceiling removed and lowered to give more space in the loft. That cost me about 6k. Then 24k (including VAT) for shell conversion. That's 30k. Then I had plumbing, electrics, plastering myself to do. Probably 35k ish - then I carried on with a refurb of the rest of the house as we'd moved out. Looking to move back in a fortnight.

A few pics

http://myloftjob.blogspot.co.uk/

If I'd have left ceilings and new roof and cladding, I could have been nearer the 25k region.

suisidevw

Very helpful. Thanks. And how long has it taken you to do out of curiosity?

There's no way I'll be doing it myself due to timing (6 week old and 2yr old!) and the fact it will be done completely in 5 weeks is extremely tempting - I wonder what financial value I should place on that!

stebiz

suisidevw wrote: »

Very helpful. Thanks. And how long has it taken you to do out of curiosity?

There's no way I'll be doing it myself due to timing (6 week old and 2yr old!) and the fact it will be done completely in 5 weeks is extremely tempting - I wonder what financial value I should place on that!

I took a 6 month tenancy agreement out in a local property back in October and moved out along with all our stuff.

Got an architects report and asbestos survey (as there was some artex) and all was fine. Got a builder to drop the ceilings end of November and put up new ones before Xmas, along with new joists/height and lintels. So come Xmas all that work was done.

January we took all the roof off as per picture, including trusses and built gable. This was done within 4 weeks.

Since February we have been getting the whole house plastered. They finished the loft within a week or so. Since then we've been having all kinds of other work done including external insulation, new boiler, electrics,fire/surround. All ceilings removed downstairs and replaced. Now thsi week getting painting done and laminate.

suisidevw

Thanks Stebiz - second quote come back at £37.5k:

Quotation:
Extend hip to gable, re-use existing roof covering (to include felt & treated softwood battens)
Build up gable end (finish - painted render).
Full width rear dormer with shallow pitch, (finish - painted render).
Fully independent structural floor structural floor comprised of softwood joists and 18mm T&G
flooring grade chipboard.
Fully insulated ceiling and walls.
Fixed staircase over existing, new balustrade to landing area and new stairs
(Staircases are constructed with softwood strings, MDF treads & risers & softwood balustrade)
Install Smoke detectors to building control requirements.
Make good as required to stairwell area affected by works.
It is assumed the existing electrical distribution board/fuse box & the heating/plumbing system are
adequate. !
Bedroom:
2 x GGL M08 Velux roof window
1 x uPVC window
6 x downlight – fitted in white uPVC (+ 1 x to landing)
4 x double sockets – fitted in white uPVC
1 x radiator
Access to front void areas for storage.
2nd fix carpentry including doors, linings, skirting & architraves
Plastered.

En-suite:
1 x uPVC window
1 x shaver point
Fully tiled shower area with splash backs to wash hand basin.
Ply flooring to fit floor tiles, walls to be ply & boarded to enable client to fit shelving etc.
2 x down-lights – fitted in white uPVC
1 x extractor fan
Priced to fit standard shower/ bath, wash hand basin, toilet & towel radiator.
(Client to supply tiles, towel rail & suite -Any specialist fittings will be priced for separately
I.e. wet-rooms, complex non-standard vanity units etc) !
£37,500

stebiz

suisidevw wrote: »

Thanks Stebiz - second quote come back at £37.5k:

Quotation:
Extend hip to gable, re-use existing roof covering (to include felt & treated softwood battens)
Build up gable end (finish - painted render).
Full width rear dormer with shallow pitch, (finish - painted render).
Fully independent structural floor structural floor comprised of softwood joists and 18mm T&G
flooring grade chipboard.
Fully insulated ceiling and walls.
Fixed staircase over existing, new balustrade to landing area and new stairs
(Staircases are constructed with softwood strings, MDF treads & risers & softwood balustrade)
Install Smoke detectors to building control requirements.
Make good as required to stairwell area affected by works.
It is assumed the existing electrical distribution board/fuse box & the heating/plumbing system are
adequate. !
Bedroom:
2 x GGL M08 Velux roof window
1 x uPVC window
6 x downlight – fitted in white uPVC (+ 1 x to landing)
4 x double sockets – fitted in white uPVC
1 x radiator
Access to front void areas for storage.
2nd fix carpentry including doors, linings, skirting & architraves
Plastered.

En-suite:
1 x uPVC window
1 x shaver point
Fully tiled shower area with splash backs to wash hand basin.
Ply flooring to fit floor tiles, walls to be ply & boarded to enable client to fit shelving etc.
2 x down-lights – fitted in white uPVC
1 x extractor fan
Priced to fit standard shower/ bath, wash hand basin, toilet & towel radiator.
(Client to supply tiles, towel rail & suite -Any specialist fittings will be priced for separately
I.e. wet-rooms, complex non-standard vanity units etc) !
£37,500

That looks good

Just had a quick browse through

'use existing roof' - okay so what they're saying is the slates/tiles they take of for the dormer they'll use to extend hip to gable. Mine were slate and damaged and as most of the roof was coming off anyway decided to go for new roof. That would cost little more - unless of course your slates/tiles are good.

'doors' - our building inspector wanted fire doors/frames to loft and first floor and ground floor to allow safe passage out. Our architect had predicted thsi so must be common in my area - might be worth checking.

There is no mention of cladding. Are you happy to have cheap cwhite cladding that doesn't match your roof? Mine cost about £1.5k but was grey and looks great. Also fascias aren't mentioned and gutters. UPVC??

suisidevw

stebiz wrote: »

That looks good

Just had a quick browse through

'use existing roof' - okay so what they're saying is the slates/tiles they take of for the dormer they'll use to extend hip to gable. Mine were slate and damaged and as most of the roof was coming off anyway decided to go for new roof. That would cost little more - unless of course your slates/tiles are good.

'doors' - our building inspector wanted fire doors/frames to loft and first floor and ground floor to allow safe passage out. Our architect had predicted thsi so must be common in my area - might be worth checking.

There is no mention of cladding. Are you happy to have cheap cwhite cladding that doesn't match your roof? Mine cost about £1.5k but was grey and looks great. Also fascias aren't mentioned and gutters. UPVC??

Hi Stebiz,

Our roof isn't great tbh and I have gone back to company asking how much it would be to reroof - as the sides being brought up and a dormer across the back, the majority of the roof will be off anyway!

Cladding will be slate hung tiles.(we have a slate roof)

I believe fire door is only needed on the door into loft conversion as they are updating all the smoke alarms to be hardwired in every bedroom and lived in room. Both companies have quoted this as it means we can keep our 1930's doors.

Good questions re fascias and gutters. Will ask them that!

stebiz

suisidevw wrote: »

Hi Stebiz,

Our roof isn't great tbh and I have gone back to company asking how much it would be to reroof - as the sides being brought up and a dormer across the back, the majority of the roof will be off anyway!

Cladding will be slate hung tiles.(we have a slate roof)

I believe fire door is only needed on the door into loft conversion as they are updating all the smoke alarms to be hardwired in every bedroom and lived in room. Both companies have quoted this as it means we can keep our 1930's doors.

Good questions re fascias and gutters. Will ask them that!

The slates (unless you have new tiled ones drilled on correctly)will come off. I have seen many houses like that so be careful. The fire doors were not my choice but local building control who insisted on 2 in the loft and 4 on my first floor and 3 on my ground floor. This entailed getting all the doors off and frames and putting new ones on. Purpose was to create an escape tunnel. This wasn't my choice so check. This was going to add £4k to the bill but employed a joiner for the week and got it done for £2k. Incidentally I had 3 wired smoke alarms fitted as well- stipulated from building control.

suisidevw

Really?! I can't imagine BC will be different in S Wales compared to England (assuming you're there?) These loft conversions are these companies bread and butter and they've assurred me that putting smoke detectors mains wired everywhere so 3x bedrooms on first floor, and all rooms downstairs....

Did yours just go in the hallways? If so, could you not have had these put in every room then not had to upgrade all the doors?