Loft conversion costs

[Gonzo33]

I know this is like asking how long is a piece of string but I need to have a ball park figure because we are thinking of buying a three bed with the view of converting the loft instead of buying a 4 bed. I know that sounds daft but the 3-bed has very big space (much bigger than any of the 4-beds we have looked at). If the loft has the room to convert it we would like to do it.

Also can I assume we need planning permission to do so? If I am honest it would not be the end of the world if we couldn't but hubby would like to.

So can anyone give me a "worst case scenario" cost and also tell me if we'd need planning permission.

If you were in Bristol then £30k would get you a decent loft conversion with ensuite and I think would include dormer windows, but you could pay upwards of that. We didn't need pp for ours (without dormer)

As you said it all depends on what you want to do upstairs and how it is going to fit into your house.

We got planning permission (about £800) , we had a bedroom, walk-in cupboard and an en-suite upstairs. We used a loft company who did the loft up to decorating standard and this cost us £45,000 about 5/6 years ago (we live in SE so things could be more expensive here).

The build took 6-8 weeks - we had scaffolding and we couldn't use the top floor of our house because of the build. The planning and everything else beforehand took a good 3 months.

As before, it really depends on who, where, what and expectations. Our quotes we got were all over the place and lots of contradictory advice.

HTH

Bathrooms/plumbing really adds to the cost

Thanks everyone.

Sounds like I will be better off buying a 4-bed and living with slightly less space.

My sister's just had a loft conversion - bedroom with en-suite with 2 velux windows (on dormer) and it came in a c.£25k.

You need to talk to the Duty Planner at your local council - it may well be Permitted Development that doesn't need planning permission, but you'll need to prove that at some point.

Our loft conversion in London is two bedrooms and a bathroom and was around £40k, though when the builder fucked off and MrNC recruited his workers and managed it himself, we upped the spec quite a lot so it's been more in the end.

We needed a whole new roof though which was a large part of the cost (which is why we thought we'd put the loft in at the same time). If you don't, it could be 10-20k, depending on access and plumbing and how much insulation you're squeezing in.

Oooh you lovely people have given me hope! I might buy that huge 3 bed after all and go from there. It will be our forever house, so hope at some point the kids will move out!

if you have the time to break down the different parts then could cost a lot less. you will need building regs and plans etc. The main problem is fire-proofing EVERYTHING!!! We have done it ourselves and cost about £4,000!! Crazy what some builders charge. A friend did it using a builder to put in steels etc, carpenter to do stairs and plasterer all seperately. As long as they all work from the plans to the nearest mm! As building inspectors VERY strict! Good luck - it is so worth it, having a whole floor to yourself is lovely!

I've just had a quote of £10,500 to convert our loft, so the prices vary hugely. Our house is tiny though.
We are getting a dormer (no PP needed where we are), but no en suite.
The end price will be higher because we have to get the first floor doors replaced.