Can you give me your opinion of this Loft quote…

[Eastie77Returns]

…if you have had a loft conversion in the last few years? I'm new to this and not sure if there are any glaring misses in what is included. I have estimated that the non included items will be about £20k. Does this seem realistic?

Quote includes the following (shortened for brevity):

• Architectural drawings and Structural calculations.
• Scaffolding
• Windows to the bathroom, bedroom and gable wall
• 2 x velux windows
• Insulation fitted to walls, sloping parts of roof and floors
• Dormer flat roof
• Staircase Construction
• Electrics: 13 LED spots; six double sockets; smoke detectors
• A light to the eve’s storage area
• Two way switches to the new stairwell
• An extractor fan to the shower room.
• A new consumer unit (fuse board) to serve the loft conversion only
• Shower suite, radiator and towel rail fitted
• All plastering
• Second fix carpentary: supply and fix of doors, skirting boards,
• Five replacement doors (fire doors)
• Pebble dash or render gable wall
• All skips

= £56,000

Not included:-
Building Inspector fees
Floor coverings .
Decorating
Tiling
Aerial or satellite repositioning.
Wardrobes
Replacing the front roof.

Spot on I think, our quote was £72k

we got a loft extension in 2022 and paid a similar amount. We went with a company who specialises in loft extensions so they kind of build them to their spec, but it was a one off fee, so we don’t get any extra surprises an they project managed the whole build. we could have got it cheaper, but we would have been responsible for finding some of our own trades folk for some jobs plus getting the Building control sign off and i didn’t want to do that.

a few tips from me:
we needed replacement fire doors throughout the rest of the house, which was included in the price. Bathrooms aren’t covered, so we ended up having to pay them extra to replace the bathroom door so it matched the rest of the house.

5 plug sockets don’t seem enough. our company fitted 10, which included a shaver socket in the bathroom. We upgraded to usb ones so paid the difference.

they fitted us 3 large velux windows. Many loft extensions i’ve seen fit 2 slightly smaller ones, but i love having 3 as it means the sloping wall lets loads of light in.

for our eves storage, they put in two doors at opposite sides. would recommend this as it’s much easier to get to things stored in there.

the trades folk were contractors and they told me they get paid a day rate, by the lift company so it didn’t matter to them how many plug sockets they fitted, which is why you may be able to haggle on some of the extras.

the only tricky thing was the bathroom as whilst they would install it, they wouldn’t tile the shower. their recommended tiler let us down, we we had a few months or not being able to use the shower.

we decorated ourselves as OH is a competent decorator. We also had to pay for flooring plus the bathroom suite.

the final thing is to make sure you get your party wall agreement in place if you need one. our company had a last minute slot as a scheduled build was delayed due to party wall issues and they offered ut to us, which meant they got started right away.

Our was similar but remember to add VAT though ours included the roof and no bathroom.

Thank you, this is really helpful. We are also using a loft specialist company.

The have included replacement fire doors in the quote. I think this includes the bathroom door but will double check.

Note taken re. the sockets. I haven't fully envisaged the layout so I'm still working out where and how many sockets etc...

Tiling and decorating is not included. They have said they will give us quote on site as they have contracted tilers and decorators but I think we will use our own guys for this.

Have mentioned the party wall to our neighbours as we will need an agreement. We get on well and fingers crossed it will be quite straightforward as they said it is all fine. They recently did their loft.

We paid similar in late 2020 in a fairly pricey part of the SE. That’s one main room with an en-suite (and dormer) and a smaller front room with 2 large velux windows.

We didn’t bother with plans though. My husband did those as there weren’t really many options of what could be done. We are in a terrace which did make life a bit harder - no skips etc. Obviously not the structural calcs though.

I’d also get more sockets than you think.

That’s excellent value. I assume you’re not London? We are in London, and got a quote last year which was £72k for similar from a loft conversion company who we had used in our previous house, and were the cheapest company to quote.

We are (just about) in a London borough. Within a 5 minute drive from our house you are in Essex. We were previously in East London, close to central London, and our neighbour's conversion cost £120k(!)

we live in a victorian terrace and had an l-shaped dormer. we ended up with 2 rooms and a bathroom in our loft extension, as opposed to one big bedroom and one big bathroom (same price -just an extra dividing wall) i think most people go for the later, but i said would give us more flexibility eg it could become a bedsit for us/children when older, or the second room could be an additional bedroom for guests or a home office.

our builder told us that for the purposes of building regs, fire doors are only required on habitable rooms and bathrooms don’t count. it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we couldn’t change the bathroom door, but given that every other door was changed, we wanted it to look the same.

Going back to the plug sockets, it’s handy to have lots of them in case you move your furniture around. luckily, you don’t have to decide the location of them until they are going to fit them, but i’d definitely negotiate more than 5.

out builder also built a little nook in the shower for toiletries. not something i had thought of, but really handy.

Rather than creating an onsuite, which was accessible from the main bedroom, we had a separate bathroom with entrance on the landing so the whole family (and guests) can use it without going though our bedroom. Again, i feel this was more flexible for us as a family.

one tip i forgot to mention was go on rightmove and search for similar houses to yours and see how others have done their loft extensions. i got some great ideas as to things that i felt did and didnt work.

Thank you, this is really helpful. I was thinking of asking for the bathroom on the landing rather than in the bedroom for the same reason (guest accessibility). We currently only have one bathroom for all of us and no downstairs loo. I’ve been able to see a couple of the loft extensions in houses on my road so I have a few ideas of what I do and don’t like.

The architect is coming to measure up tomorrow. I’m trying to think of questions to ask him!