Loft Conversion - Advice

lynneinjapan

Mine was 3 bed, though the 3rd bed was very small (6' x 7'). It's a study now, but will probably become a nursery in a few months' time!

Spendless

Is the layout bathroom and large bedroom at back, 2nd large bedroom and small bedroom at front. small bedroom being above front door and hall? Just trying to visualise your staircase in regards to my own house.

marybishop

Dont rely on loft conversion company unless you know someone who can recommend one. THey dont always know/care about following all the rules/regulations. If it's a semi/terraced house you need to serve Party Wall Notices and you definitely need Building Regs and possibly planning permission. Ask a local chartered building surveyor for advice.

lynneinjapan

Spendless wrote:

Is the layout bathroom and large bedroom at back, 2nd large bedroom and small bedroom at front. small bedroom being above front door and hall? Just trying to visualise your staircase in regards to my own house.

Yes, that's right. Front door & small bedroom are on "outside" of semi, i.e. not right next to neighbour's front door.

clairehi

We had a loft conversion done a couple of years ago.

I did a search on the FMB website for builders who did loft conversions in our area, and had about 6 or 7 of them round to quote.

The one we chose only did loft conversions and nothing else. He had also done one for a friend of a friend - who recommended him.

He knew an architect and a structural engineer who drew the plans and did the calcs for £300 in total I think.

The building costs were about £8.5K for the whole job which was the lowest quote. He project managed from start to finish, including plumbing ( 1 rad) and electrics (3 spotlights, 4 double sockets), for a conversion which complied with all building regs, and was built if I say so myself to a very decent standard.

A loft conversion company quoted us £14.5K for the same job!

The only downside was we had to wait 6 months as the guy was so busy, but we could see why!

My top tip would be, never buy anything you dont understand. be very wary of any company who confuse you with jargon and cant explain it all in simple terms. also dont assume that the most expensive is the best.

ed_quinn

If anyone in the Brighton area can recommend either loft designers or companies I'd be grateful please. Have tried to contact a couple from the internet without success.

rachelandgromit

A word of warning, not to worry you though.

Just over 3 years ago I had a loft conversion put in my bungalow with my then partner (now ex). We used a builder we sought out of the Yellow Pages, he was Federation of Master Builders and we viewed two properties he had recently completed extensions on.

This builder was a disaster. We were in a position where he flooded the house, put us in a position where we had no roof and then said he had no money to finish the job, thus meaning we had to cough up more money for him to get the house in a condition where it was secure, this is only a snapshot of the problems, I could go on and on. After seeking legal advice) we then 'sacked' him. This nearly 2 months after he should have been done and the house completed.

Nearly a month ago, we finally got our case to court and we were awarded nearly 14k. He never showed, answered solicitors letters or defended his case. We are now in a position where a charge has gone onto his property for an Order of Sale of his house.

This is at a time when I'm thinking of converting a bungalow I've just bought since splitting with my ex. The Federation of Master Builders means nothing, neither do looking at previous workmanship. His company claimed they were establised 22 years, I since found out from someone I then worked with that he use to be a labourer and then all of a sudden was claiming to have been in business 22 years!! I will now go off personal recommendations and will proudly show them what happended to the last builder who fell under the 'builder from hell' category as a warning not to mess around with me!!!!

Please, please do as much research as you can. There are some genuine builders out there who take pride in their work, but this really knocked my confidence in tradesmen. DO NOT pay any money up front if you can help it. We literally got into such a financial mess and has taken us over 3 years to win our case. Still not got the money yet!!!

I hope your conversion goes really well. Good luck.

sooz

amongst the many other things you should think of when choosing the layout & details of any conversions, please don't forget to think about opening windows at night - as we did :mad: .....we have a lovely conversion, but basically cannot sleep with the windows open, unless we fancy waking up with the sunrise. this is because we have 2 veluxes - with fitted blinds, so when they are open the blinds don't cover the opening. also we have huge inward opening patio doors, and a juliet balcony. these are wonderful during the day, but we can't keep them open and have the curtains drawn - it was hell this summer in the heat up there.

HappySad

rachelandgromit wrote:

A word of warning, not to worry you though.

Just over 3 years ago I had a loft conversion put in my bungalow with my then partner (now ex). We used a builder we sought out of the Yellow Pages, he was Federation of Master Builders and we viewed two properties he had recently completed extensions on.

This builder was a disaster. We were in a position where he flooded the house, put us in a position where we had no roof and then said he had no money to finish the job, thus meaning we had to cough up more money for him to get the house in a condition where it was secure, this is only a snapshot of the problems, I could go on and on. After seeking legal advice) we then 'sacked' him. This nearly 2 months after he should have been done and the house completed.

Nearly a month ago, we finally got our case to court and we were awarded nearly 14k. He never showed, answered solicitors letters or defended his case. We are now in a position where a charge has gone onto his property for an Order of Sale of his house.

This is at a time when I'm thinking of converting a bungalow I've just bought since splitting with my ex. The Federation of Master Builders means nothing, neither do looking at previous workmanship. His company claimed they were establised 22 years, I since found out from someone I then worked with that he use to be a labourer and then all of a sudden was claiming to have been in business 22 years!! I will now go off personal recommendations and will proudly show them what happended to the last builder who fell under the 'builder from hell' category as a warning not to mess around with me!!!!

Please, please do as much research as you can. There are some genuine builders out there who take pride in their work, but this really knocked my confidence in tradesmen. DO NOT pay any money up front if you can help it. We literally got into such a financial mess and has taken us over 3 years to win our case. Still not got the money yet!!!

I hope your conversion goes really well. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing your experience....

When you checked your loft conversion company did they have the MAsterBond level of Federation of Master of Builders. this is the higher level which means that the company has to jump many hoops and be doubled checked their work to ket this MAster Bond level. do you know also that know their is a government TrustMark which means that the government also check out the company accounts, customer service and their work.

Also did you make payments in stages as work was completed that you could easily see and understand? What I mean did you have a payment schedule?

Why do you think that your references that you checked where very good when your job was a disaster?

What would you do differently with the knowledge you have now when choosing a builder.

leaphaze

Beware of having any work of this sort done without building regs. It can devalue your house and even make it impossible to sell!

We're going through the final throws of a loft extension and we're determined to keep all plans and documentation. Who knows what laws will change in the future when it comes to selling, i.e. proof of insulation material used, etc. We're keeping everything.

When we sold our previous house 3 years ago, we had weeks/months of delay because the vendors wanted the cavity wall insulation material identified. We'd only lived there for 9 years and the cavity had been insulated about 30 years before. We had no idea what material has been used. Ended up by sending some off (at our expense) to a lab for anaysis. So be warned.