Is it me, or are loft conversion prices somewhat extortionate these days?!

bmthmark

£13k + VAT seems too good to be true!! or it could be one of these companies that basically board out a loft area.

I had a loft conversion done last year. It has a very big bedroom and an ensuite in the dormer. We also had 2 velux windows put in.

The cost of mine was £28k this included:
Structural engineer
Dormer
2 x velux windows
Insulated with celotex and also tlx silver (expensive stuff)
Electrics (including smoke alarm to the main circuit)
Stairs
Bathroom suite (Shower, sink & toilet)
Tiling in bathroom
Plastered and painted

All carried out in accordance with building regs and signed off with certificate.

We then paid extra for fitted wardrobes and carpet.

A year later and we love the room, it was the best move we have done.

I would say just keep getting quotes, but make sure they follow building regs.

Price would vary on area as well. I'm down south

zoothornrollo_2

Alex.T wrote: »

We have a 1930's semi, in Hertfordshire. Plans are ready, PD granted, and we are ready to hand over our money, but we can't find any sensibly priced companies to provide a quote!

We are after a hip to gable conversion, containing one main bedroom, a shower room and a walk in wardrobe room. We also need all soffits, fascists and guttering replaced at the same time. Nothing major or drastic really!

So far our quotes range from £50-70k!! We have a budget in mind, but not that much!

Can anyone recommend any companies in the South East to try?

Thanks.

Ok so first of all I am just in the process of getting our conversion done, nearly finished, by a Herts loft co, although we are in Twickenham.
It has cost us £33.5k incl. Vat plus some extras that have cropped up, some our choice, some 'unforeseen' costs.
This is for a small dormer (we are a flat so have no PD, had to get PP, and you get less as a flat), including architect costs and pp fee, but not including building control. The space houses a small double bedroom and a small ensuite.
Plumbing in of bathroom suite is included as are 6 spots and 4x double sockets.
Overall, so far, we are pretty happy, and were quoted more by several companies, much more in some cases, 45-50k. But that is Southwest London for you.
If we were to it again, we might have gone the route of getting plans drawn up by an architect and tendering it out to various builders and loft co.s.
I think that way we might have avoided getting stung with a few extras that fell outside the detailed loft quote.
Should add that they did us this quote two years ago and honoured the price even though work only started 6 weeks ago - the hiatus being largely our doing. I believe building costs have gone up quite significantly in the last two years.

Alex.T

Hoploz wrote: »

Thanks I've done this and got a couple of new leads, including one specialist loft co who say on website they're happy to do a partial job and leave the finishing I've found a couple of people recommending them locally on other sites so have dropped in an email tonight

Any details of the company? May be a bit far to cover our area, but worth a try.

Plumber90 wrote: »

I'm in the process of getting a loft conversion. I'm only getting the shell done and no second fixing so it will be -
*8 metre dorma extension down one side with two windows
* 1 velux window
* new stair case
* steels
* upgrade joists
* Upgrade trusses and remove old ones no longer needed
* architect drawings and building control taken care of

All for the sum of £13000 +VAT

That's a great price.
I'd like to do the 2nd fix myself. Any details of who has quoted yours please?

bmthmark wrote: »

£13k + VAT seems too good to be true!! or it could be one of these companies that basically board out a loft area.

I had a loft conversion done last year. It has a very big bedroom and an ensuite in the dormer. We also had 2 velux windows put in.

The cost of mine was £28k this included:
Structural engineer
Dormer
2 x velux windows
Insulated with celotex and also tlx silver (expensive stuff)
Electrics (including smoke alarm to the main circuit)
Stairs
Bathroom suite (Shower, sink & toilet)
Tiling in bathroom
Plastered and painted

All carried out in accordance with building regs and signed off with certificate.

We then paid extra for fitted wardrobes and carpet.

A year later and we love the room, it was the best move we have done.

I would say just keep getting quotes, but make sure they follow building regs.

Price would vary on area as well. I'm down south

That's much more like the price we'd like, and similar in the details of the conversion. Would you mind sending me the details of the company you used, so I can message them please.

Alex.T

zoothornrollo wrote: »

Ok so first of all I am just in the process of getting our conversion done, nearly finished, by a Herts loft co, although we are in Twickenham.
It has cost us £33.5k incl. Vat plus some extras that have cropped up, some our choice, some 'unforeseen' costs.
This is for a small dormer (we are a flat so have no PD, had to get PP, and you get less as a flat), including architect costs and pp fee, but not including building control. The space houses a small double bedroom and a small ensuite.
Plumbing in of bathroom suite is included as are 6 spots and 4x double sockets.
Overall, so far, we are pretty happy, and were quoted more by several companies, much more in some cases, 45-50k. But that is Southwest London for you.
If we were to it again, we might have gone the route of getting plans drawn up by an architect and tendering it out to various builders and loft co.s.
I think that way we might have avoided getting stung with a few extras that fell outside the detailed loft quote.
Should add that they did us this quote two years ago and honoured the price even though work only started 6 weeks ago - the hiatus being largely our doing. I believe building costs have gone up quite significantly in the last two years.

Pretty good price for London that is! Would you mind sharing details of the company? We've had quotes from a couple of Herts based ones.

Alex.T

Any more recommendations please?

zoothornrollo_2

The problem is with loft companies, they are usually offering the architectural service and tech drawings as part of the package, so you've already paid a deposit before plans are drawn up - you can't then tender the plans around to other builders to compare quotes.

I went with my loft company because a) had a recommendation, b) their quote was the lowest out of 3-4 loft companies, c) I thought the blokes who came round were quite genuine and d) I thought they would look after the project v closely.

The last didn't really turn out to be correct - it was firstly the architect and then the builder / carpenter (obviously just one team out of several contracted by the loft co.) that I've dealt with direct - you just get the bills from the loft co! Not much oversight, help with tricky choices, etc.

In that sense I may as well have just contracted the builder.

Alex.T

Sounds like that company is a bit like a franchise then? Where they farm out the work to their local contractors. I definitely would rather it were all done in house, so to speak!

snowcat75

bmthmark wrote: »

£13k + VAT seems too good to be true!! or it could be one of these companies that basically board out a loft area.

I had a loft conversion done last year. It has a very big bedroom and an ensuite in the dormer. We also had 2 velux windows put in.

The cost of mine was £28k this included:
Structural engineer £1000
Dormer £1800
2 x velux windows £600
Insulated with celotex and also tlx silver (expensive stuff) can be bought for around £13 p/m for 100mm board
Electrics (including smoke alarm to the main circuit) £1000
Stairs less than £500 with balustrade
Bathroom suite (Shower, sink & toilet) pay what you want unlikely to be over £1k though
Tiling in bathroom £1000 to £1500 depending on size
Plastered and painted £5p/m

All carried out in accordance with building regs and signed off with certificate.

We then paid extra for fitted wardrobes and carpet.

A year later and we love the room, it was the best move we have done.

I would say just keep getting quotes, but make sure they follow building regs.

Price would vary on area as well. I'm down south

There's still money in the 13K quote without taking the unforeseen, quite frankly any firm quoting 50k plus is chancing there arm.

zoothornrollo_2

Alex.T wrote: »

Sounds like that company is a bit like a franchise then? Where they farm out the work to their local contractors. I definitely would rather it were all done in house, so to speak!

I think a lot of loft companies work that way, with more than one building team working simultaneously - you'll have two or three people running the show, getting business in etc, maybe keeping an eye on the trickier / most lucrative projects, then several carpenter-builders who run each job.