Cost of a Loft conversion

msn

Hi all,

I'm in the throws of buying a house and finding it tricky to get quotes on prospective work.

I'm wanting to find the current ( rough) price of a hip to gable loft conversion on a 1930's semi ( I'm in Yorkshire)? The conversion would be to create one large bedroom & ensuite, full length dormer to rear and two veluxes. The roof is shot so would also be requiring a full recovering at the same time.

Has anyone done similar recently?

Thanks,

buzcheva

hey
I have done a few of these and I will give you a rough breakdown of what to expect but as a ball park, and a lot of this depends on size etc, you can look at around £20k for the conversion with 4/5k for the new roof.

a few things to consider
check you have the right headroom - a dormer can help with this however unless the building is very wide with a very high ridge then the converted space may not be usable. The ceiling joists may all need replacing. Loft joist loads and ceiling joist loads are different and all the ceiling joists may need replacing as well as the roof timbers.

architecture fees, structural fees and building regs fees will have to be factored in and maybe a party wall surveyor if any structural work is to be done to the party wall if its a semi or a terrace.

Staircase up to the loft location needs thinking about and the heights involved, chances are you will lose a room to fit this in.

Insulation is expensive these days and conversions of an existing building require insulation between and under joists to meet the regs. Check the kingspan website (K7 roof board from memory) and have a look at costs. its not cheap.

If I was budgeting for a loft conversion to my house (3 bed semi) I would want to put aside £30k in order to do it and include for fixtures and fittings. It might sound on the high end but speaking from experience and watching too many episodes of Grand Designs you can pretty much add 30pc on to any approximate figures.

Hope this helps

Matt

sevenhills

https://eco-lofts.co.uk/

msn

buzcheva wrote: »

hey
I have done a few of these and I will give you a rough breakdown of what to expect but as a ball park, and a lot of this depends on size etc, you can look at around £20k for the conversion with 4/5k for the new roof.

a few things to consider
check you have the right headroom - a dormer can help with this however unless the building is very wide with a very high ridge then the converted space may not be usable. The ceiling joists may all need replacing. Loft joist loads and ceiling joist loads are different and all the ceiling joists may need replacing as well as the roof timbers.

architecture fees, structural fees and building regs fees will have to be factored in and maybe a party wall surveyor if any structural work is to be done to the party wall if its a semi or a terrace.

Staircase up to the loft location needs thinking about and the heights involved, chances are you will lose a room to fit this in.

Insulation is expensive these days and conversions of an existing building require insulation between and under joists to meet the regs. Check the kingspan website (K7 roof board from memory) and have a look at costs. its not cheap.

If I was budgeting for a loft conversion to my house (3 bed semi) I would want to put aside £30k in order to do it and include for fixtures and fittings. It might sound on the high end but speaking from experience and watching too many episodes of Grand Designs you can pretty much add 30pc on to any approximate figures.

Hope this helps

Matt

Thanks Matt, really useful for an upto date figure. Have you done these as in homes you've lived in or are you a builder?


The ridge is high and the house is fairly wide (roughly 8x8m), a neighbour's done this exact same thing which is peace of mind.

I'll be losing a small box bedroom and putting the stair case above the main stairs, with a gable end installed there should be enough height here. I'm hoping I can squeeze two rooms up there, but probably a bit optimistic - will await the architect's verdict.

sysadmin

2 years ago, I did what sounds like exactly the same as you, but in the Midlands.

1930's Semi
Hip to gable
Full width dormer across the back
2 velux windows
New roof (flat bit obviously and sloped bit to the front, + a bit at the back)
New sofets, facias and guttering
en suite
small walk in wardrobe

We didnt need to loose the small bedroom either as our landing had the height and width to place the staircase as is. So the small bedroom remained at the same size.

Cost was approximately £34k all in.

msn

sysadmin wrote: »

2 years ago, I did what sounds like exactly the same as you, but in the Midlands.

1930's Semi
Hip to gable
Full width dormer across the back
2 velux windows
New roof (flat bit obviously and sloped bit to the front, + a bit at the back)
New sofets, facias and guttering
en suite
small walk in wardrobe

We didnt need to loose the small bedroom either as our landing had the height and width to place the staircase as is. So the small bedroom remained at the same size.

Cost was approximately £34k all in.

Thanks that's great , and actually I'd presumed I was doomed to lose the box room but there's some hope I'm not! It's right on the line as to whether it's a justifiable expense looking at the house value - making a 4th bedroom would make it absolutely worthwhile.

naf123

Wow these are really cheap . But then I'm in London . Where it probably costs minimum 75k

msn

naf123 wrote: »

Wow these are really cheap . But then I'm in London . Where it probably costs minimum 75k

That's more than our houses cost

buzcheva

Hey
Im an architectural technologist based in Leeds and do private jobs on residential stuff such as loft conversions while working on large industrial units for the day job.

i have done planning and building regs drawings for at least 3 from memory and as part of my scope of works sent out to tender and got prices back from contractors.

8x8 is a very good size. Ridge height minimum needs to be about 2.5 - 2.8m high really. Once the insulation is on with plasterboard you can lose 100 - 200mm of headroom! If its a shallow pitch then you should be quids in.

I have done one conversion on a roof with about 2.2m of head height to the ridge but they put a dormer in to counteract this so there was about 2m clear in the usable part of the room.

Hope this info helps

Matt