Loft Conversion Quote, Fair?

SJshah

We've just received a quote for a loft conversion in our 3 bedroom semi-detached house in London. The quote includes supplying and fitting a new roof, staircase, windows, lights, bathroom and plastering/painting.

Excludes the archetectual plans and council fee's.

We have been quoted £30,000.

Is this quote fair?

fluffpot

Does it include all the electrical works? Sockets?
Also check what is included under 'bathroom' as it's more usual for the customer to supply all sanitary ware (bath/loo/sink/taps/shower) and tiles

Don't forget to add in the cost of the new flooring to your budget and probably the redecoration of the landing and entrance hall as it won't match in to the new bit.

Sounds like a reasonable price for London, but the only sure fire way to find out is to get other prices

SJshah

Thanks for the reply

Includes the bathroom suite which is the shower tray, toilet, basin and extractor fan, but we may need to pay extra for tiles if we want more expensive ones than what they can provide within cost. Includes all electrical works, 4 double sockets, etc. and includes radiators.

Flooring for the main room, landing and staircase isn't included - we'll be sorting out carpet fitting or laminate/wooden flooring after.


Sorry, I should've mentioned we're in Greater London, not sure if thats any difference when it comes to avg. prices.

cattie

I would say the cost in London suburbs averages £30-£35k for a loft conversion in a standard 3 bed home. Friends of mine were considering getting one done last year & quotes were around this mark.

In the end they extended over the garage as it worked out a bit cheaper.

SJshah

Thanks for the reply

I wish we had a garage to extend over, actually if we did have a garage I doubt we would need the extra space.


Also forgot the mention that we are also planning other work with the same builder so he has given us a stightly discounted rate (I assume so we give him the other jobs w need doing).

Brenster

Sorry just reading and noticed your last comment regarding the discounted rate. Make sure he isnt expecting any more money if you choose not to proceed with this other work !

Also, loft conversions are difficult to give a budget price for £ / m2 , £ / bedroom etc. They are all very much individual design to meet the needs of the house, unlike many lean extensions which are pretty much standard. £30k sounds ok, but I would be interested to hear the additional floor space you are gaining for this?

Good Luck

SJshah

I think we're gaining between 30-40 sq. metres.

The way the drawings and structual works have been done, we are going from wall-to-wall and are gaining the maximum space possible.

The main room in the loft will be the biggest room in the whole house, when completed.

Roaming

We were quoted 38K (inc. VAT) for a loft conversion in Cambridge. It would have given an en-suite room of about 4.8m x 4m I think or slightly larger. The idea was to have a dormer to the south facing wall (can't remember size of it though), and make our hip ended roof a gable ended one to make room for loft access from first floor. It included all windows, radiators, and 1000 pounds was quoted for a bathroom fittings. They also included replacing 5 doors in the house to fire doors to help comply with regulations and the staircase access.

The only thing this didn't cover was final decorating which I think means flooring and paint.

Sounds like you have a good quote there but its definitely good to check around a bit more and compare on a like for like basis in terms of how much area they will add and by what means.

Also, don't get sweet talked in to adding X% value to your house through a loft conversion, check the ceiling for property in your area. We were told it can add up to 20% value or that if you invested 30K in the loft you could add 60K to the value of your house etc. But i don't think its a straight forward as that.

Good luck!

muggers1_2

make sure you have all the electrical work included, especially the linked smoke detectors on all levels!!
Just make sure you have checked everything is included, and this agreed in writting before any works starts, so you dont end up with a list of extra charges - which you assumed was included!!!
Also beware about paying to much in the deposit and staged payments.