Conservatory roof conversion

grahamlindsay

Im looking into a conservatory roof conversion. My property has an existing poly carb roof and I want to swap it for proper insulated roof. The room is completely useless at the minute

The conservatory is quite big (roughly 3.5m x 5m). Ive had a few quotes so far all in the region of say £12-16k.

It seems like a lot of money for the work being carried out.

Has anyone had much experience with this. Is there a way to bring the cost down? I just want a bog standard roof. No fancy glass panels, just an insulated plasterboard roof. 

WaywardDriver

Our conservatory is approx 50% larger with a poly carb roof like yourself. We were quoted £k5 for an internal insulated plasterboard ceiling and from £k10-12 to additionally replace the roof with lightweight tiles.
Note, if done properly, the latter will probably require building control approval re foundations, although the builder may not mention this.

TELLIT01

The lower price doesn't seem too far off if the existing roof is pitched.  I've just had the glass pitched roof replaced on a 14' x 10' conservatory and that was £8.5k.  I'd had other quotes, using exactly the same roofing system, of over £15k so shopping around is essential.  The guy I used is a small business and had done the same job previously for friends so we were aware of the quality of the work.  New roof complies with building regs etc and was a complete roof replacement i.e. all rafters etc removed.  It's 'Guardian Roof' and all the construction info regarding the roof is on the website.

Is your existing roof pent or pitched?

grahamlindsay

TELLIT01 said:

The lower price doesn't seem too far off if the existing roof is pitched.  I've just had the glass pitched roof replaced on a 14' x 10' conservatory and that was £8.5k.  I'd had other quotes, using exactly the same roofing system, of over £15k so shopping around is essential.  The guy I used is a small business and had done the same job previously for friends so we were aware of the quality of the work.  New roof complies with building regs etc and was a complete roof replacement i.e. all rafters etc removed.  It's 'Guardian Roof' and all the construction info regarding the roof is on the website.

Is your existing roof pent or pitched?

The roof is pitched. My quote was £9800 (plus tax so about £11-12k) thats for the guardian roof fully plastered with 6-8 LEDs. Ive had another quote of about 15-16k for the same roof from a mainstream windows/doors place. Sounds pretty much identical to you. 

grahamlindsay

WaywardDriver said:

Our conservatory is approx 50% larger with a poly carb roof like yourself. We were quoted £k5 for an internal insulated plasterboard ceiling and from £k10-12 to additionally replace the roof with lightweight tiles.
Note, if done properly, the latter will probably require building control approval re foundations, although the builder may not mention this.

Im aware of the building regs involved.

Did you just use a builder/roofer?
So far of all the roofers/builders ive contacted only one has said they do conservatories and they still havent got my quote back to me yet. 

WaywardDriver

grahamlindsay said:

WaywardDriver said:

Our conservatory is approx 50% larger with a poly carb roof like yourself. We were quoted £k5 for an internal insulated plasterboard ceiling and from £k10-12 to additionally replace the roof with lightweight tiles.
Note, if done properly, the latter will probably require building control approval re foundations, although the builder may not mention this.

Im aware of the building regs involved.

Did you just use a builder/roofer?
So far of all the roofers/builders ive contacted only one has said they do conservatories and they still havent got my quote back to me yet. 

We got quotes from 1 builder and 2 specialist conservatory roof conversion companies. We went for the builder as he was local with a showroom and had the lowest quote. This was a mistake as although the work was OK, he didn't conform to BC regulations and we had to get retrospective approval at extra expense. We successfully sued through small claims but the company went into administration. Fortunately we had paid the deposit by credit card and made a successful section 75 claim.
So my advice - get everything in writing about BC conformation and pay the deposit at least by credit card. 

Rosa_Damascena

Do you not need decent foundations to support the weight of a good roof?

Having just had my conservatory demolished I was surprised at how pitiful the "foundations" were!

grahamlindsay

Rosa_Damascena said:

Do you not need decent foundations to support the weight of a good roof?

Having just had my conservatory demolished I was surprised at how pitiful the "foundations" were!

As far as I'm aware its a fairly decent build. Solid concrete floor, one full height brick wall and dwarf walls all around. From the quotes ive had so far it doesn't seem to be an issue and they all seem to think its decent

Rosa_Damascena

grahamlindsay said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Do you not need decent foundations to support the weight of a good roof?

Having just had my conservatory demolished I was surprised at how pitiful the "foundations" were!

As far as I'm aware its a fairly decent build. Solid concrete floor, one full height brick wall and dwarf walls all around. From the quotes ive had so far it doesn't seem to be an issue and they all seem to think its decent

So was mine.

I'm having it rebuilt with a flat roof and huge lantern and that required structural engineer calculations.

grahamlindsay

We got quotes from 1 builder and 2 specialist conservatory roof conversion companies. We went for the builder as he was local with a showroom and had the lowest quote. This was a mistake as although the work was OK, he didn't conform to BC regulations and we had to get retrospective approval at extra expense. We successfully sued through small claims but the company went into administration. Fortunately we had paid the deposit by credit card and made a successful section 75 claim.
So my advice - get everything in writing about BC conformation and pay the deposit at least by credit card. 

That's worth considering. 
Ive had a few quotes for one called the guardian and approved installers automatically conform with regs because its a lightweight frame. 

WaywardDriver

grahamlindsay said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Do you not need decent foundations to support the weight of a good roof?

Having just had my conservatory demolished I was surprised at how pitiful the "foundations" were!

As far as I'm aware its a fairly decent build. Solid concrete floor, one full height brick wall and dwarf walls all around. From the quotes ive had so far it doesn't seem to be an issue and they all seem to think its decent

But you may need to convince BC of this (foundations). Advise you discuss this with them rather than take builder's word.