Budget for a Loft Conversion

paul0evans1

I hope this is useful to someone: I recently hired a company to do a loft conversion (after three quotes from different companies). I had extended my mortgage to pay for it, but there were a few incidental costs that added to the overall budget – here’s what I *should* have budgeted for:


1. + Cost of loft conversion itself: £29,850 (including all planning / local authority admin to be done by the builder) <<< a very good quote and I’ve not been disappointed with the quality of their work so far (almost finished now)


2. + Cost of builders drawings (needed for building inspection): £850


3. + Unforeseen work on outside drainage pipes - £750 (there will always probably be a bit of work that the builders don’t envisage – my builders weren’t ripping me off here – I accepted that they couldn’t have foreseen these problems and that I had to pay extra for them to do the job properly)



The main additional costs are related to the new bathroom – the deal with the builders was that they build everything but we have to buy the bathroom suite, tiles etc, and pay for the tiler. So my budget here DOESN’T include decoration, carpets or furniture either.


Bathroom costs:
· Shower pump: £475
· Shower cabinet, floor, waste, and actual shower taps/pipes etc: £969
· Toilet & sink (the cheapest ones from Wickes are actually quite acceptable): £129
· Floor ply & primer for tiles: £385
· Sink taps: £40
· Heated towel rail: £99
· Tiler: £500 (estimate – he’s doing this at the moment)
Tiles (floor & wall) £200 (roughly)


This was the mistake I made – I underestimated the cost of getting the bathroom furniture and tiling done. Not a massive mistake (in my head, I’d budgeted about £1200-£1500 – I’m not a home-improvement fetishist so I don’t really think of this stuff much). It all came in nearer to £2800.


To: Total cost of the work: £34,247. Not bad – as I say, very pleased with the builders, but I wish I’d budgeted a bit more for the bathroom finishing.


Hope this helps someone?


Ta
Paul E.
North London

fluffpot

Having just had mine done, I agree - the actual structural work isn't that expensive, it's the cost of everything else as Paul E has said, plus:
New stairs carpet - for the second set, plus then we had the first set done so that they matched up (it would have looked a bit tatty otherwise!)
Decoration for existing hall, stairs and landing - again need to match up with new stairs and landing
Outside decoration - while we had the scaffolding, we decided to get the front of the house painted
Cupboards - loft conversions often have odd spaces, so we had some cupboards and shelves built for storage
New roof - having no existing roof felt we ended up having a new roof to the front.

Worth it though!

typeractive

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the post. What I think would be most helpful is the details of the conversion, for example:

No of rooms
Dormer windows or velux?
En suite facilities,
Estimation of size (though specifics would be findable on your drawings )

I've been reading a few posts about loft conversions and all the ones I deem as 'expensive' iclude en suite facilities, though not every loft conversion has the space for such amenities...well I reckon mine could at a push though I think it would be for the sake of cramming more in if that makes sense?

What I'd like to investigate in cold terms - how much value does such work add to your house in terms of hard currency? (Not yours in particular - just in general ) Obviously functionality, design and enjoyment are factors that are all included but I do wonder if say £25k worth of work will add a similar amount of value to properties etc.

Cheers though, sounds like you're happy with your purchase :j Threads like this always benefit from nice pics showing them off.

slimboy

Thanks Paul E and Fluffpot,

I've found both your post very useful, we are just about to get some quotes for a loft conversion, 1 bedroom + en suite, two dormers, 1 velux in stair way. Drawing, consent, etc all done.

I hope i'm in the right cost bracket i've estimated £41K for all the work, everything Paul E has said to get to the £35K mark, plus £6K for roof re-tiled (no felt on existing roof), storage work, carpets and decoration.

A combination of Paul E bits and the extras on what Fluffpot has posted is exactly what we are planning on doing.

I've now got the headache of looking for quality builders, i've had one builder recommended, so searching for another two.

Regards
Slimboy.

ash0786_2

Hi people.

My 1st ever post on this site!

I am looking to get the shell of my loft conversion done in a couple of months. I live in the east London area and have a 3 bedroom terraced house. I know this may sound crazy but im looking to get 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in the loft. The house is 18ft wide. I have a few questions i hope you lovely ppl can help me out with.

1. Do I get the architect to do the plans first or do I speak to the local buildings reg officer first?
2. How much am i looking at, price wise, for a loft shell, raised floor, landing, stairs etc etc? roughly?..the internal stud walls, plastering, electrics, plumbing etc etc i will sort out myself. Just a rough price for the structure.
3. Anyone know a good architect in the london area?

Obviously money is a issue, hence shell only but i am pretty good at DIY so will deal with majority of internal work myself.

Regards to all you peeps and a happy and prosporus new year!

typeractive

Hi Ash, welcome to the site.

Ok - my thoughts.

ash0786 wrote: »

...I know this may sound crazy but im looking to get 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in the loft. The house is 18ft wide. I have a few questions i hope you lovely ppl can help me out with.

To be honest (to me) that does sound crazy. I'm only assuming on size. However, you told us the width, not the length. So you might have much more space than I am guessing. 18ft is around 5m(ish). To fit 2 bedrooms and a bathroom is a grand effort. But of course - we'd need to know the length to gain square footage / mtrs.

What about the height? Do you have plenty of that? You will need around a minimum of 2m (IIRC) of head height above each step. Plus you want to make sure it's worthwhile when you get up there. Also factor for around 115mm of insulation (50mm will be between the rafters, and then the other 65mm will come 'into' the living space, so it does actually reduce a bit of the height.

1. Do I get the architect to do the plans first or do I speak to the local buildings reg officer first?

It's up to you, I'd speak to a few draughtsmen / planners rather than architects as they will be cheaper (usually). Get them to come out and give you some quotes. Then price match them and see who you feel most comfortable with. Basically you want your planner to have a good rapport with yourself and the local building authority, so they will submit the drawings etc. Once they tell you the possibilities then contact the council.

2. How much am i looking at, price wise, for a loft shell, raised floor, landing, stairs etc etc? roughly?..the internal stud walls, plastering, electrics, plumbing etc etc i will sort out myself. Just a rough price for the structure.

Well this is a very tough one to estimate. Depends on the size of the space, stair design, insulation (trust me that soon racks up). Saying a price 'just for the structure' is a lot more than you would think. If you're doing it yourself then costs can come down a lot, but otherwise you need to get soem quotes from builders. The builder should work from your plans - and they have to be pretty water tight, so once you have decided on a plan, keep a rough sketch of it (before agreeing to having the drawings - remember you're just shopping around for quotes on everything at the moment). Then use that to explain to the builders. At a guess I'd say in your location maybe £15 - £20k? Again that's a pure guess. Have a read around on here and see that people have paid double that amount.

3. Anyone know a good architect in the london area?

Sorry, can't help on that one afraid. What you could do is call teh local council building officer and just ask which planners they deal with. They might not be allowed to recommend you someone - as that's a different thing, but they might give you a list of a few people. Ideally you want someone that does lofts a lot as they will be savvy on all the current regs.

Obviously money is a issue, hence shell only but i am pretty good at DIY so will deal with majority of internal work myself.

Ah - well that being the case, maybe less than I'd already quoted for. It really does depend on size and layout. A bog standard staircase may cost around £400 pre made, though you may need a custom built kite winder jobbie that may cost £1400.

As I say, shop around. Think wisely over your decision. May I just say though, if the measurement you have given is anywhere near the length as I initially thought I think you'd struggle to get more than a comfortable bedroom in there, let alone both beds and a bathroom. Of course these days a lot of planners will tell you anything is possible, and it may fit on a lovely drawing, but in reality it can look quite different.

Regards to all you peeps and a happy and prosporus new year!

And you ash. Best of luck with it all!

ash0786_2

Thank you very much for all this valuable information. You are a top star! :T
As im currently at work , ill measure up tmrw and get back to you.

Thank you once again.

Ash

typeractive

No worries Ash,

You really did come to a great place. There are LOADS of people on here that have helped me out along the way, and I'm just happy to try and do the same.

The key is in the planning. Shop around with everything. Once you have a price for the building work (as that's the thing that has most liklehood of gorwing), add anouther 15% or so on the price as contingency.

Oh, and one other thing - if you do go ahead with the conversion be prepared for the rest of your house to become the dustiest of dusties! There is a serious amount of dirt and dust that no matter how well you try to prevent it gets about the house!

fluffpot

Hi Ash

I did exactly what you're planning. The building work was separate and came in around £29K (S London). This included scaffold, all structural work (eg steels, dormer), new roof, 3 big veluxs and blinds, 3 wooden sash windows to rear and a skylight over the stairs, the stairs and all external waste/drainage, architects and planning fees. I went with a loft company as this is bread and butter work for them and they could organise all this part.

As I'm an electrician, I organised the all rest. I didn't charge for my time (although the electrics weren't a huge part) but I did spend a pile on lighting (£5K - ouch!) and went for a top notch bathroom. I reckon the overall spend for everything was about £50K.

Ours is a big conversion - finished ceiling height 2.3m and scope to spilt one huge bedroom into 1 single and 1 double (which is what our neighbours have done). We have a wider/longer than average Edwardian terrace - the available footprint for the loft was 20 feet wide x 30 feet long (although some of this is lost under the front eaves, so the actual front to back length of the room is 25 feet).

Hope this is of some help

Fluff

Oh and by the way you will need to gen up on insulation - I thought I knew about it, but oh, no - luckily my BC officer was very helpful.
Oh and another thing to bear in mind is the fire regs which generally require you to replace all doors onto the stairs/landings/halls with fire doors. We have odd sized doors and managed to get round this by fitting interlinked mains smoke/heat detectors in every habitable room, plus stairways. IMHO a better solution anyway.

peediedj

WERE THINKING IN 2-3 YEARS time getting our loft convertred,its a long loft the length of the house and just want a large master bedroom in there,but as its a bungalow would need a staircase put in also,this is so we can have someone stay over downstairs to look after our disabled son,havent had prices,but our bungalow was built in 1993 so not sure how hard/easy it is making a large room up there with the way the rafters go? also not much room downstairs for a small staircase,how small can you get them? can anyone help please

typeractive

Hi peeddiedj,

Sorry, though I'm not sure what you want help with really? You have pretty much answered your own questions just by airing them - yes it depends on what style raftes you have (well not solely) but it helps to know what you have - can ya poke ya head up in the attic and hve a look? If you want to know of the stairs, well there are some pretty strict rules on stair case design, IIRC 220mm tread depth, 200mm riser height (I should know all of this off the top of my head!!), maximum pitch of 42 degrees. However, I don't know if there is a minimum of step width? Tho naturally you want something easy and safe to get up and down. Remember if you're moving furniture up there it could be tough on small stairs. It is possible to get space saving stairs which look scary to walk up! (Will see if I can find a pic for you).

Have you thought about an extension if there's enough space outside to build onto?