Anyone sold a house after converting the garage?

[PugwallsSummer]

...and if so:

Did it increase the property value? Were buyers put off? How much did it cost?

Also interested to find out anything you learned from the process or wish you'd known before you started.

We are considering converting our integral double garage into a playroom, we have plenty of off-road parking and we're thinking if keeping a third of the garage (the back third) as a storage room accessed from our utility.
I guess we don't want to spend too much more than £15k. We do have a few contacts that will give us a good deal on elements of it, but certainly not the main building work.

Any of your thoughts / experiences will be a huge help!

Thank you

We bought our first house having had a conversion from garage - it was around 2K less than properties that had kept the garage. Now we're selling and it's still 6k less that a near identical house that kept a garage. We dismissed buying a couple of houses that had converted utility areas from garages badly/poor finishes (as in no plaster, no flooring). Now we're moving again and houses with full garages where we're looking are at a premium as so many were converted into stores/rooms/1/2 garages

Oh wow! That's really interesting - thank you. Worth giving it more thought.

We're the only house on our street with a garage - it's part of an extension by the previous owners and I think it makes the house look a bit "flat fronted" I had hoped that a nice bay window might add some interest. But lots of people value a garage I guess. I would prefer an extra room but I also want to increase value so not willing to do anything that could de-value or make it less appealing to buyers...

If there are no other garages in the street, then I don't think it can de-value a house as buyers looking there will not expect a garage.

It could increase the value of the property but depends on the rest of your accommodation. Would be particularly useful if there are many bedrooms upstairs (e.g. a loft conversion) but the living area is relatively on the small side. Other factors to consider are the ceiling price for the street - if your house ends up double the size of other houses, you might not get double the money as better off buyers will just go to a street where all houses are bigger.

Have you considered all the costs? We converted one of our garages last year. We did shop around and got good prices but didn't do any work ourselves. There was no bay to build but a flat front with a big window + insulation, different layers of the floor, electrics, plumbing, plastering, painting and it was a fair bit over 15k for labour + materials. It's quite a big space, though (about 25m2 with high ceilings).

This is interesting to know! We’re looking at a house tomorrow that has an integeral garage and my first thought was to convert it as personally I’d rather have extra living space & the garden has a large shed for storage

It has a drive way so still plenty of parking, I didn’t think about it possibly devaluing the house compared to others that kept the garage

We're looking to move and would rather have the proper garage than have it converted. I don't mind too much but my partner pretty much won't consider a house without a garage.

Justfred if a house didn’t have a garage but had a big built shed instead would that be the same to you? We’ve never had a garage before so I reckon we’d just fill it with junk

I'm house hunting. I wouldn't want the garage converted unless the living space is really very tiny and even then I would want a large drive for at least 2 cars.

I would definitely offer less if the garage was converted as I would want to turn it back into a garage and that would cost a good chunk of money.

My DM converted her garage and although the house is not for sale there is no doubt that it increased the value of the house and btw the quality of living space. She does , however have a decent sized drive and plenty of room for sheds ( she has three) so storage space is ensured. She is also the n a sheltered spot in the southeast .

Our street has some single garages (old houses built when no one had a car) built after the houses. No one uses them as garages and they are junk stores, laundry rooms and workshops.

We nearly bought a house that had converted half of the double garage. They had kept the front of the garages, including the doors, which would have been an ideal set up for us as we'd want the space for kayaks and camping stuff and bikes etc. There was a large shed in the garden for the mower etc and masses of parking at the front.

If the storage was at the rear I would want very easy access to get to it for the above things - it would put me off if i had to bring them through the house. Massively.

Could you convert one side of it and keep the other side as a garage? That’s what my parents did, it increased the value of the property.

Sarsparella, a shed in the garden isn’t the same as having a garage. Same as tentative, we have bikes, kayaks and all sorts of equipment that you wouldn’t want to carry around to the front of the house unnecessarily. Integral garages are also a lot more secure- we just park a camper right in front of the door so it’s virtually impossible to break in. Expensive kit stored in a garden shed would be easy to nick (happened in the last house where our ‘garage’ was more of an oversized shed and DH got targeted by professionals for his pricey kit.

I also noticed that in my area a lot of men use garages for hobbies such as vintage cars or little workshops of sorts.

So really depends on someone’s particular needs.

Some really useful perspectives - thank you all! It's good to read because I don't see the garage as a necessity, but clearly thus isn't going to be the case for all future buyers.

In terms of parking, we have an unusually large drive which can fit 6-8 cars depending how they're parked.

Storage wise, we have 2 decent sized sheds (room for another, or a brick out-building if needed by a future buyer, but not needed for us in the here & now). The inner third of the garage that we would keep as a storage area has a side door that opens on to a side passage, which runs from the driveway to the back garden. Would be big enough for bikes, but not kayaks or other larger leisure items. Our plan would be to put some decent shelving etc in there, hang bikes on wall and get as much out of the space as possible.

In terms of reception room size, we do have a large sitting room leading to a living kitchen, quite open plan, which can sometimes feel a bit "too" open as it's a large space. We don't necessarily NEED another reception room, but can see a benefit in having a dedicated smaller space for the children to play - then in future a snug or home office. Certainly not a necessity though.

Bedroom-wise we have 4 doubles. No loft conversion and no plans to add one, but lots of additional storage up there.

Interesting to know we'd need to spend a lot more than £15k, which is a bit of a deal breaker - although we have other building work planned (rendering the facade, adding a porch, changes to the rear extension), so could possibly negotiate a better price if doing all work at the same time, maybe...?

It’d be good to have a separate reception room given 4 bedrooms.

With the 15k on converting, it might depend on your location. We’re in outer London so even shopping around for individual trades and being frugal adds up. It seems that no basic handyman will consider less than equivalent of £150-200 per day and it’s more like £250-300 for a plumber or electrician. But other parts of the country are cheaper or you might gets mates rates if you’re friends with tradespeople.

PS on the garage front, I also thought of people running small businesses that use theirs for storage (eg builders or Etsy/EBay traders etc). So actually, quite a few people require a secure, dry garage overall. But the space that would be left after your work sounds like sufficient for many families.

We did exactly what you are thinking.

Our drive has room for 4-5 cars and there is no way you could have fitted a car into a single garage if we had retained one garage for storage due to the brick pillar in between the 2 garage doors.

To make it fit in we matched the two new windows with the other window at the front downstairs rather than just fill the holes left by the garage door removal.

As the boiler was in the back of the garage and there is a door to the back garden, we retained the back 6ft across the entire back of the garage for storage. We had a wall built with an access door into it so we can gain entry without going outside. This is now lined with storage units meaning all gardening stuff ie lawn mower/strimmer/leaf blower and all power tools and bits and pieces such as plumbing stuff/electrical is kept in this storage bit.

The garden shed houses the children's bikes/garden games and plant pots.

It has given us a 5.5m long (ish) playroom/study for the children and has a huge run of storage units along the back wall which the property didn't have before that houses everything from shoes/coats/games/TV/xbox/lego etc.

It is also capable of being turned into an annex with its own access. The storage bit would be a kitchenette and an en-suite with the main parts becoming the bedroom and a lounge. It was even praised by the building regs chap who said lots of people still want the storage.

Most people these days do not park a car in a garage, but they do want the storage. You are still providing that.

Should have said it is a 4 bed detached with separate lounge, dining room, kitchen, utility and downstairs toilet.

Unless you are a property developer, I think this is irrelevant. Assuming you want to do the garage to improve your personal living space, a potential minor difference in the long term sale value should not be a consideration. It's only worth considering if you're planning to sell in the next year or two.
If the house usually increases by approximately 5% every year (totally made up figure, obviously) and you live there for another 10 years, the fact that it might only have increased 4.5% is a minor detail when considering the benefit of living in a house that is fit for purpose for those 10 years.

Again, thank you for replying - great to gain some different views, and info about costs etc.

@TamaraDrankMyMilk - great to hear you've successfully achieved something similar. We are in the same boat in being unable to convert half and keep a single garage. In our case, although it's double sized , you couldn't really fit two cars in so half the space would defeat the object, which is a shame as this would have been a perfect compromise. Thanks for your reply!

@WorkingBling good point. I guess I'm thinking about future buyers because I don't see it as our "forever home" (hate that phrase! Sorry!). But yes, I see what you mean, it would enhance OUR lifestyle to have that extra, smaller room that can be closed off (I'm currently surrounded by toys that can't be escaped from due to the open plan layout and I personally feel more relaxed in a tidy, orderly environment).

Being able to leave out complex train track configurations, lego construction and have a lounge free of toys was a godsend.

Now they are 15 and 12 so that room is now a study plus a gaming room. It also means if we have guests round the children are in the playroom and the adults are in the lounge.

I am a firm believer that bedrooms are for sleeping in and play happens elsewhere, but only if you have the space obviously. We had a playroom in our last house so Ds1 was 18 months when we finally had a playroom for all his toys.

We had a double garage which was basically an integral single and an adjacent attached single that was interconnected - both too narrow to accommodate a modern car.

We converted the integral garage to a family room and removed the garage door and matched the full size window on the other side of the house. We kept the attached single garage for bikes etc.

The rest of the downstairs was a large open plan lounge / diner and a large dining kitchen (upstairs 4 double beds and a study) , so with teenagers a separate living space was a godsend. It did add some value I think, but mostly made the house much more saleable when we came to sell. We had a driveway for 2 cars.

We have recently submitted plans for a garage conversion. We live in a commuter town in the SE where sq footage of living space is at a premium. Many people on our road are like DH and myself - self employed, free lancers, mostly working from home to achieve that elusive work/life balance. Lots of my neighbours commute into London 3 days per week and then work from home for 2 days. So home office spaces are very desirable.

All 120 houses on my road were built with internal garages in the 50s. Many of them have now be converted to create habitable rooms. All houses have off street parking for at least 2 cars. The only people who actually park in their garages are the elderly residents.

I know that you've said you're thinking reception room rather than extra bedroom, but I thought I'd post a quick note on our experience in case you considered adding anything else like a sink or washing facilities. We bought our house nearly six years ago. It's a three-storey townhouse and the previous owner had converted the ground floor garage into an extra room with a WC and shower closet next door. Two weeks after moving in we were notified that the property, having changed hands after a conversion, needed to be reassessed for council tax purposes. They came round, took one look and told us it qualified as a separate dwelling, and we needed to pay Band A on it as well as the Band C change for the rest of the house, to the tune of an extra grand a year. Completely blindsided us. We fought it and eventually won (after two years and a high court battle) but only because it was too small for a proper cooker; a larger space would've had to be paid for.

As I say, it may not be relevant, but if it did occur to you to add anything that may be assessed as a separate dwelling then that would put potential buyers off, I imagine. It's not something that shows up in the searches they do but not all buyers are as unaware of potential pitfalls as we were as first-timers!

I had my garage converted into an office by putting in a window at the front and cutting a door from the back of the garage into the kitchen. but it could be a bedroom or a dining room or a junk room or a gym or a playroom. I'd hope it's added value to the house as it's been done properly. It also has a cupboard for my tumble drier/ironing board etc The garage was a junk hole full of spiders and filled a skip when it was emptied. There's no way you'd get more than a mini sized car in there either. Much nicer now

Been thinking of doing same conversion. Interesting to hear the different perspectives.

Good grief @AlmostStace. That is awful! Definitely not going down that route, but a good heads up for anyone else who might consider it.