Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Garage conversion companys

9 replies

mamatomany · 23/09/2010 12:19

Can anyone recommend a national one ?
Or any advice ?
I cannot cope with the local builders half finishing everything to a shite standard and then charging the earth.

OP posts:
Fizzylemonade · 23/09/2010 14:43

That really depends on the builder. My garage conversion has just been finished today by a local builder. I saw him working on a friend's property so chatted to him extensively over several weeks and he had also done 2 other friend's extensions.

He and his team of electricians, plasterer, joiner and corgi guy for the heating were all here on the days they were meant to be here, on time from either 7.30am or 8am and stayed till 4.30pm and hoovered up every night.

Mine was a double garage conversion. Have you asked in the school playground if anyone knows a builder? We call it the Mum Network.

National companies charge more than a local builder would, so I suppose it depends if you are willing to pay more.

I chose my builder because of the standard of finish I had seen in my friend's houses.

mamatomany · 23/09/2010 14:53

Where about in the country are you Fizzy ?
I would prefer recommendations but we used a dad from school last time for our bathroom and he charged a fortune and it's frankly not to a great standard :(

OP posts:
Jackstini · 23/09/2010 15:35

Fizzy - how much was it? Am considering turning garage into home office...

Fizzylemonade · 23/09/2010 22:13

I'm in Leeds, I had a double garage converted, we retained the back 6ft (1.8m) as a store room, front part had doors taken out, new windows in front, new electric consumer unit (mine was crap) 2 radiators, laminate flooring laid in the conversion plus door knocked through from hall, door from conversion into store room at the back, having laminate laid in my hall and into the dining room, so skirting ripped off and new skirting on (are you keeping up Grin )

My home was the ex-show home so already had a lintel in the middle of the garages so was a huge open space anyway. The current room is now 5.4m wide by 3.9m.

Cost was 11.5k. For a single garage it would have been around £8k. That is for a fully insulated floor and insulation in all the walls. It is toasty warm.

Fizzylemonade · 23/09/2010 22:15

mamatomany - awful about your bathroom. I was petrified of having my garage done. Builder was fab though, gave him money every Friday so he worked all week, we saw the work and paid him accordingly.

mamatomany · 23/09/2010 22:35

Ah we're about two hours away :(
We have a long thin double garage so I think i'd like to use all of it knock through the current study and living room, then put a huge storage thing at the bottom of the garden.
Has it changed your life Fizzy ? We've had quotes of £20k today so I want it to be life changing in terms of living space, I have 4 DC and just a study, living room and dining kitchen at the moment. I hope a huge living room will mean people aren't so on top of each other.

OP posts:
mrsgboring · 24/09/2010 08:07

We used The Garage Conversion Company which has franchises in lots of places it would seem. They did an excellent job, converting the back half of our garage into a utility room for about £7k. It took just over a week during the time of torrential snow.

Fizzylemonade · 24/09/2010 12:08

It will be life changing. In our last house we used a 10' x 10' conservatory to stash all the children's toys (they are 7 and 4) mainly in a Trofast Storage system from Ikea.

We moved and gained a bedroom but that is now DH's office so we have no playroom anymore. The double garage is going to have 4m of storage along one wall opposite where a sofa bed will be going.

This is hopefully going to mean that the lounge is more of a grown up space.

All their toys, books and games can be stashed in the new room, I am literally taking a break from painting it as it was only finished yesterday Grin

Make sure that any company tells you what they are going to insulate the room with. I was lucky that I am a sahm so was here for the whole thing, plus as I already knew the builder I could ask lots of questions.

We had jablite (like a polystyrene) floor with a chipboard top then a foil backed underlay then laminate. The walls were insulated with a foil thing on the single skin of brick walls, then timber framed which was stuffed with loft insulation stuff.

Just think about where things will go like sofas, tables, what do you want to use the room for? Make sure there is enough seating for everyone, sofas or beanbags.

By the sounds of it with 4 DC utilising the space will work well. Although we have retained some storage at the back we are putting a shed in the garden too.

Get loads of quotes and go and see some of the work they have done. As you know some people's standards differ vastly.

Good Luck!

petshopboyfan · 26/07/2012 19:10

Hi,
i am also thinking of a garage conversion, at the moment the garage just has a flat roof, what do they normally do, make it pitched? Anyone know any good builders in Newcastle upon Tyne & surrounding areas then please let me know.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page