Garage conversion - good idea or potential loss of money if come to sell

Biciitalia

Hi - am looking at a garage conversion as now stamp duty is back to 125000 it seems a cheaper way to create more space. I have loads of questions in relation to it (go for a specialized company or project manage it myself using various tradesmen etc) but the main one is will the conversion add any money to the house or do people still require a garage? Cheers Dave

jack_spratt_2

A lot will depend were your property is located( what area ) and if parking is still available within your property

slummymummyof3

You will also need to check if you need planning permission - your property might have restrictive covenants imposed.

becs

I would say it really depends on whether it's YOU that needs the extra space or the HOUSE? Not sure if that makes sense but I guess what I'm trying to say is if your house is say a typical 3 bed detatched house with average smount of space then most people looking will not be looking for extra space and you would therefore lose out because of lack of a garage. If your house is on the small side and majority of perspective buyers would be put off by it's small size then the conversion may well be the way to go. I would say overall most people would rather have a garage otherwise where else do you put all the rubbish that you store in a garage! :rolleyes:

SailorSam

I think if you have a drive around the average housing estate you'll see most cars on the path. Very few of them live in garages.
In fact when most garages are built attached to the house there isn't enough space in them to fit a modern car.

becs

That is very true SailorSam but it doesn't mean that you still wouldn't want a garage. Ours is too small for our current cars but it is packed with diy tools and equipment, gardening stuff, paints, tumble dryer, bikes, Christmas decorations and much much more! All this means we don't have to have a great big ugly shed in our already small garden. I also think most gargae conversions don't look good, they stick out like a sore thumb as being a garage and I just think that loks odd.

daska

Parking may well be your biggest concern. Whereas most gardens will accommodate a small shed for tools can you guarantee parking in the future. A lot of the houses behind us converted their garages years ago and are now struggling because their street is covered in double yellows, they have no driveways or front gardens left and have to park outside the resident's parking zone.

Biciitalia

Hi thanks for all your inputs - becs comment about is it the house or us that needs the space is food for thought and it is definately us who need the space (house currently living in is huge by comparison). The house is currently rented out as I am working abroad until this time next year. Prior to moving we had a massive clear out of the garage which did include a tumble dryer other than that the space wasnt really used.

The house is a 3 bed detached with a fairly large rear garden and a front garden that has a driveway. The garage is located to the side of the house and is integral. There is also a patio area to the back of the garage which ideally I would like built up to be a utility room. I agree with becs again ref the visual appearance. Sourcing bricks may be an issue. Internally I would like to use reclaimed bricks (not sure if this would pass regulations if I used the space for childminding) and parquet flooring but may be lost with a UPVC window to match the rest of the house. As for storing stuff I was looking to board up my loft but with a budget of 15k I dont think it will be enough for conversion/utility room built and the loft basic board up. Cheers Dave

slummymummyof3

Do you have room at the other side of the house or in the front garden to put a new garage?

There are companies that specialise in matching bricks such as the matching brick company - our bricks were discontinued over 25 years ago, so we reclaimed as many as we could sensibly from other parts of the house as the extension was going around three sides and involved a number of external walls being removed and massive rsj's put in place, we then mixed the reclaimed ones with a similar brick sourced by matching brick company and hey presto!

blushingbride_3

hi

i have just recently (august) had my integral garage converted at a cost of £4500 we had quite a basic conversion. Builders were £3500 but once added cost of 2 internal doors & flooring etc the price rose.

I am so glad we had it done, its given us a extra room & we debated about it but as we have a lodger we realised the room has paid for itself from a year of his rent.

We use the room for crafts & gymn equipment, we're now planning on moving (unexpected circumstances) and we'll be renting the house out from end of this year/ early next year.

I'm hoping the extra space will be appealing to future ocupiers.

we already had a shed for garden bits & cleared out lots of the junk

HTH if you have any questions hopefully i can help.

Also our neighbours have just had theirs done!:) talk about keeping up with the Jones!

Wickedkitten

SailorSam wrote: »

I think if you have a drive around the average housing estate you'll see most cars on the path. Very few of them live in garages.
In fact when most garages are built attached to the house there isn't enough space in them to fit a modern car.

Aye, most of the people around here keep theirs on the drive but my OH keeps his motorcycle in ours. Matter of fact that is the only must have that was on our list when we looked at houses is that it had to have a garage.