Loft Conversion Cost....

stebiz

ds1980 wrote: »

Ours was built in Feb and it lashed down, blew a gale throughout the 3 weeks it took to build the shell. we never had any bother whatsoever. It was never cold in the house as the dont need access until theyve made it water tight.

I dont understand people coming on a moneysaving website to not save money but its your money? I wish you well with the project.

That might be the case if you want low ceilings in the loft. I've just had all my ceilings lowered - through choice - to give lots of head room in the new floor.

Doozergirl

gingerdad wrote: »

My builder who's trading sub vat (one man band) is project managing our build, he's sorting all subbies and getting 3 quotes for materials also sorted us a trade account with local building supply. The only extra work for me is paying extra invoices. He is local to me and known within the community as are the subbies.

A few years ago we had a similar situation with a joiner when we did our kitchen and bathroom. The joiner took the lead and sorted all the trades.

Don't think you need a big company with big company overheads to project manage jobs like this.

Best is to go on local recommendations get references etc as well.

There's also a difference between big companies with big overheads and companies or individuals turning over more than £80k a year.

onlyroz

Doozergirl wrote: »

You speak as if people are stupid to use reputable firms. There are different ways to save money. One of them is to use a variety of people who genuinely operate under the VAT threshold and project manage yourself. Everyone pays VAT on materials so the saving is made on VAT on subbie labour and the reduction in labour of not having a project manager. A reputable firm, with project manager will add different types of value - mainly for those who have no time or no experience or simply no inclination to find a raft of tradespeople prepared to work together and manage a build and want a clear line of responsibility, a quality manager on site and a job that is properly insured.

It is absolutely critical to have a project manager who knows what they are doing. We used a "reputable" firm for our loft and they were complete idiots and didn't manage the project at all. You need somebody who knows, for instance, that the boiler flue needs re-routing before you put the roof on - otherwise you'd end up in a situation like us where the boiler vented into the roof space for about two weeks, building up carbon monoxide, before anybody decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to do that.

There are simple things like making sure the bathroom fitter has been sent the plans for the bathroom layout in advance, and asking the customer which direction they'd like the doors to open in, or checking that the right windows have been sent - it's not rocket science but if you have a rag-tag band of people with nobody in overall charge then mistakes will be made and time will be wasted.

ds1980

yes that's exactly what I'm saying. There's is little point paying a premium on a simple project such as a loft conversion. Ensure the steel work, drawings and structural calcs are spot on and you'll be fine.

? Surely it depends on the size of your roof! Most people wont have a viable solution for a loft if you need to start lowering downstairs ceilings as you wont have enough headroom for the stairs. Hope your building regs guy knows what he's doing ;-)

My ceiling heights are 2.3m in the third floor and we didn't need to lower anything.

Assuming OP doesn't have to lower anything then full scaffold is pointless and again expense that's not required. Not sure people are grasping the nature of this website!

Doozergirl

ds1980 wrote: »

yes that's exactly what I'm saying. There's is little point paying a premium on a simple project such as a loft conversion. Ensure the steel work, drawings and structural calcs are spot on and you'll be fine.

? Surely it depends on the size of your roof! Most people wont have a viable solution for a loft if you need to start lowering downstairs ceilings as you wont have enough headroom for the stairs. Hope your building regs guy knows what he's doing ;-)

My ceiling heights are 2.3m in the third floor and we didn't need to lower anything.

Assuming OP doesn't have to lower anything then full scaffold is pointless and again expense that's not required. Not sure people are grasping the nature of this website!

You either haven't read the OP or you don't know what you're talking about. A hip to gable conversion *and* a full length dormer will need scaffolding! It would be suicide not to have it.

The OP is having a considerable loft extension, not just a conversion.

suisidevw

Correct, and mine is full length dormer and hip to gable.... I can't imagine the company doing it off a ladder or cherry picker!?!?!

stebiz

ds1980 wrote: »

yes that's exactly what I'm saying. There's is little point paying a premium on a simple project such as a loft conversion. Ensure the steel work, drawings and structural calcs are spot on and you'll be fine.

? Surely it depends on the size of your roof! Most people wont have a viable solution for a loft if you need to start lowering downstairs ceilings as you wont have enough headroom for the stairs. Hope your building regs guy knows what he's doing ;-)

My ceiling heights are 2.3m in the third floor and we didn't need to lower anything.

Assuming OP doesn't have to lower anything then full scaffold is pointless and again expense that's not required. Not sure people are grasping the nature of this website!

I have to agree with the others. You won't find many doing loft conversions without scaffold. Not only is it illegal but also suicidal.

You may have been fortunate that your ceiling heights are 2.3m in the loft without lowering. Most will need lowering if they want that extra ceiling height in the conversion.

Mines all done now and I have the certificate from Building Control.

ds1980

you guys are insane...."Full" scaffold with covering is much more expensive than just front, rear and side scaffold with loading bay. Ill say again there is absolutely no requirement for this. We didn't require it in force 10 gales in the middle of winter so unless you are taking the ceilings down (99% of people wouldn't) then it is pointless and not money saving.

i had an approx. 40sq m. loft conversion with full width (over 7m) dormer and not once did it strike me as a major build. I managed it and not once was it taxing, difficult or a drain on my time.

A massive roof space isn't fortunate it's the reason i bought the house in the first place. We recently went to see a very standard 1930's 3 bed semi near where I live and the roof space was nearly 6m from floor to ridge beam! I was thinking of whether i could build another 2 storeys in it!

Good luck with your project OP.

sam1970

Hi Guys...I am novice to all this and I will appreciate help and advice. I am looking to convert the loft of my 4 bed detached house (in the west midlands). The area roughly is about 70 square meters. not looking to make rooms or ensuite..just a one big hall for the kids to have all their toys, books, computers..etc so keeping the rest of the house tidy. I had one specialist firm looking at it and they said it should cost around 25K (I am still awaiting their final quote). The guy said this should include drawing plans and sorting out all needed paper work, velux windows, radiators and changing the old heating system to a new combi boiler,fire doors to all habitable rooms in the house and mains operated smoke alarms. Obviously I still have to do decoration and flooring after that. Does that sound reasonable? Will I be saving much by going with builders directly rather tahn dealing with a specialist firm?

chickenboy

I have a 2 bed terraced house in Essex, bought last year for 200K. Probably has gone up 10% in value due to the buoyant property market here. Anyway, I do not need an extra bedroom, however recently visited an identical property on the the road and saw their loft conversion - I was very impressed - adding an extra bedroom for ~15k. (Very good value I think).

Now the question, *purely* as an investment, do you think it is a good use of 15K to turn a 2 bed into a 3 bed? (I would want to add an ensuite loo and maybe a shower too, as I think you need those with 3 beds, so maybe a bit more)

I am very conscious of that 250K ceiling.

Lets consider that in 2 years, I may want to sell, at current increases I can expect my 2-bed house to be worth 230k. If I spend 15K, i'm (I think) unlikely to push the value beyond the 250k threshold - so really only seeing a small return on my investment.

Any thoughts, suggestions?