Quote for single garage conversion

vampbear

I have been quoted £14,000 to convert my part-integral garage into a study - new window at front, floor to level of the house, 3 x double-sockets, electric heater, create internal door, move existing radiator.

Does this seem a fair price? What would be the likely reasonable price for such a conversion?

Any questions I should ask the company before going ahead?

Thanks.

iamcornholio

Normal sized garage (5x2.7m)conversions to a room (ie not a utility) and basically as detailed above but including insulation to roof/ceiling should be between £5k and £9k

You need b/regs approval for this work.

Also make sure that there are no planning restrictions on your property requiring a garage to be kept as a garage (more common with newer properties)

vampbear

What is the best way to find a reputable company to do the work, including the planning/building reg aspects?

ormus

as above.
ask friends family and neighbours.

iamcornholio

Personal recommendation is always the best way to find builders - but see the long recent thread on this.

For planning, you just need to check the planning history for your property - you can do this for free by phoning the council to ask if there are any planning restrictions, or visit their office.

For building regs, don't bother with plans, but rather submit a " Building Notice ". This just basically tells the council what you are doing (in a single sentence) and they will still come and check the work as it proceeds. However, this does rely on the builder knowning what to do (which he should do anyway) so confirm with your chosen builder that he must be responsible for ensuring that the work complies - and you don't expect any extra charges if he has to alter work or do it a different way

Topplasterer

Hello
That seems an awful lot for what you are having done, here is the rough costings for the last one I worked on: building work £2500 Plastering £2000 (that incldes all insulation on exterior walls/ceiling) Joinery £1000 which includes laminate floor Sparky £800 and £2500 for the plumber to turn the adjacent utility room into an ensuite, ref planning go to your local planning office and ask for a Householder Permitted Development Form; fill it out and post it and you will get an answer within 2 weeks, hope this helps

Colour_Republic

vampbear wrote: »

I have been quoted £14,000 to convert my part-integral garage into a study - new window at front, floor to level of the house, 3 x double-sockets, electric heater, create internal door, move existing radiator.

Does this seem a fair price? What would be the likely reasonable price for such a conversion?

Any questions I should ask the company before going ahead?

Thanks.

Seems a crazy amount for the works you have listed or is there much more to it (plastering, decorating, flooring, fixtures and fittings?) maybe a break down of labour and materials would be handy, 14k for a single garage conversion is high but not unheard of for a high end finish with top quality fixtures and fittings, for example you state an 'electric heater' which could be anything from £80-£1,500 depending on type

booty40uk

Thats at least double what it should be for the work you have listed. Get more quotes and make sure they are detailed and cover everything that you want.

HTH

Andy

gabyjane

Hi we had a quote a few weeks back for ours, it is bigger than a standard garage but not that much bigger i wouldn't have thought,,anyway..ours was for £6k

• Set of stairs put in from lounge down to garage
• floor put down
• walls insulated and boarded
• power socket x 1 as already have 1
• panel across garage door as wanted to keep front looking the same and keep some storage
• door in panel to gain access out

think that was it..needed a few more bits adding like heating but thats what we were quoted for.
HTH x

needanewjob

vampbear,
we had our garage converted last year, much the same as yours, but 2 windows and 1 radiator. We used http://www.garageconversion.com/, who used a company local to us - "More Living Space"
See http://www.morelivingspace.co.uk/gallery-03.html for our conversion. . Price came in at £8200 for everything.
HTH