Loft conversion - experiences, tips, and did you make the money back? :)

[Faith84]

We are about to embark on a loft conversion. I’m half excited, and half petrified of the upheaval!! We’re in a three bed, 1950s (or so) terrace. We’re adding a dormer with 1 bedroom and an en-suite.

Would love to hear of any experiences and tips :)!

And also, am having a last minute panic about whether it makes financial sense... Did anyone get their property valued after - and did it make the money back?

Thanks so much!

Depends on your area, but we doubled our money.
Tips - use the lower head height for things like storage, cupboards, toilet. Leaving full head height for bedroom, shower. Velux give you added head height in ceilings on sloping area so could place a toilet below and win extra head height.

Spotlights, which dim will limit other lighting you'll need. Don't be persuaded to use local authority building regs, get your own or use loft company's. They won't make you change all existing doors etc, whereas local authority are lacking in common sense / perspective.

I'm about to embark on one but haven't started at all yet. Do you need to get drawings done by an architect first or are you using a loft company? If you don't mind me asking how much is it costing?

I'm in a similar position. 1950s house too! Moving costs are horrific so I think it makes sense. 8 houses in my area have already done it appearing to add a couple of hundred thousand where also extending at ground level and refurbishing. Viewing plans on the council website is great for ideas.

I got a great loft company in to do it. The advantages over an architect was that they could build the space and then you could see it / decide where everything was going rather than having it all drawn out and decided before you'd seen it. Cost us about £35 - not London or SE.

Other tip - go for as big a dormer as you can across the whole back.

We had ours done a couple of years ago. Don't regret it at all.

Think carefully about number of lights plugs and windows before you start. These really affect cost but I didn't take them on board as much as I should hVe when comparing quotes.

We have a bedroom and shower room. I had property valued and we made our money back. Although that was a bonus - we mainly did it because the cost of getting an extra bedroom that way was about half that of moving.

It's weird but I kind of missed it when it was done - i loved seeing it happen and what new bits would be done when I got back from work each day etc. It helps our builders were great and we had no major issues.

Don't be persuaded to use local authority building regs,

As far as I understand you have to comply with local authority building regs. They will apply some common sense. For example we live in a very old house. The gradient of the stairs does not comply but they will overlook this due to the age of the house. But they will not overlook fire safety issues etc.

Don't be persuaded to use local authority building regs,

Sorry - bold fail. Quote above from pp should have been in bold.

We used a loft company, about 15 years ago niw, it was 16k which sounds cheap now especially as we had a strut roof and needed a crane to bring in the steel beams. No dormer or bathroom, just a p,sin conversion with two velum and staircase to match all the way down.

We are in the north.

It has without doubt been the best home improvement we have ever done. Worth every penny, we didn't do it to make a profit, but I'm pretty sure it's easily paid for itself.

Thank you everyone for your responses and tips!!

Really appreciate all of the comments and experiences, very helpful.

We are indeed going with a full dormer. My neighbour has one that isn’t full width and it really does impact space - she says she wishes she’d gone full width, so am learning from that!!

Thank you for all the building reg advice, and to think about plug sockets and light fittings (hadn’t even THOUGHT if that!).

Westansoupermare we are going with a loft company for the exact reason someone pointed out here - they can build the space and then we can decide where we want things as their architect etc. can be involved at multiple points. That, and it’s much easier to go with one firm and have a project manager!!

We are in London. After some haggling we are paying £41k (inc VAT). This covers the architect/project manager/the build/windows/skips etc etc.
We have to pay for the bathroom suite (but it includes installing it).
We have to pay for tiles and the cost of the tiler. Then we will pay for decorating/carpets/and any survey fees so I am budgeting £50k. (Yikes!).

It sounds like everyone made their money back. PlumsGalore much like you we are not doing it as an investment, but so we can have the space (for hopefully another baby!) without moving house - which would be a huge expense in our area. But, it’s not our ‘forever home’ and we do plan on moving in a few years - I guess I just want to make sure I wasn’t going to lose that £50k!

It sounds like everyone has been really pleased to have it done - it makes me excited!! :)

One other thing worth thinking about - cupboard under the stairs (to the loft) we got one and it's huge! Access sits behind daughters bed so We cannot get to it all the time but it's great for stuff we wanted to keep but didn't need daily access to. We use the eaves for that.

Thank you for the ball park figure (I'm yet to start getting quotes) - it is really useful. What sort of lead time is there for the loft company?

We have had a loft conversion to add a bedroom and en suite. We didn't need a dormer as it was already tall and spacious. The build cost was £36k and then we have paid for fitted wardrobes (worth doing to maximise space), carpets, decorating and bathroom suite on top.

Would recommend considering air conditioning, built in storage areas (planned at the architect stage) and solar powered windows and blinds if they are out of easy reach. Don't underestimate the amount of 'making good' you will need to do to the rest of your house where the stairs go in and where utilities need to be accessed.

We've made our money back and more. My only reservation is that our house is now very top heavy with 4 great double bedrooms and three bathrooms on the top two floors, but just a small kitchen and a sitting room/diner on the ground floor - which I think may limit us when we come to sell.

Thanks for the cupboard under the stairs idea! Think that could work for us too.

Rollercoaster1920 so, we started talking to the loft company about two months ago, and are planning to start mid August. Luckily we don’t need planning permission so that meant we could move forward fairly quickly. They have estimated 7/8 weeks for the build (I envisage this will go over!) then obviously we need to allow time to do the decorating etc.
As long as it’s all done way in time for Christmas I will be happy!

lifewillfindaway good tip on the aircon, I had been thinking about that for summer! And for the making good. We also have had many discussions about making the house too top heavy. At one point we were considering two smaller bedrooms up there instead. But that would make us a 5 bedroom house which would have been really top heavy as although we have a kitchen extension (done by previous owner) our downstairs is not huge by any means and would be too small for people that were looking for a 5 bed. I think yours sounds great!! 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms = heaven! Next owners could always use one of the bedrooms as an extra living or playroom if they wish.

Thanks for all the tips and money numbers. It helps to have a ball park figure. I called a few companies today to start the ball rolling.

Oh good luck westonsoupermare! Hopefully it goes smoothly for us both!!

Interesting...we have plans for an extension but quotes are coming in at £160k !! Way more than we anticipated or budgeted for. A friend suggested a lift conversion instead so may look into.
Will watch with interest!

We're about to have loft extension with full former at the back and front on our 1930s semi.

The front dormer requires planning permission so we're just waiting to hear back from the local authority.

We live on the fringes of London and it's costing £31k. It us going to be a huge space with en suite and small office. Can't wait to get started!

That is such a low/cheap/good quote?! Who did you go with?
I was going to get a loft conversion last year and they were all around £60k - £100k all in when pricing them in London.

For that money we decided go a bit further and got a rear extension on the house instead, which is currently underway, we've used APT Renovation for that, and they were the best quote for what we wanted. Some of them were absolutely outrageous - on both ends of the scale! It's crazy how different quotes can be!

We went with a local builder who was recommended by friends and has a good reputation in the area but we are on the outskirts of London so I reckon if we were nearer wed be paying an extra £10k.

We did a loft conversion a year ago.
My top tips are....

Get a light installed in your under eaves storage....we forgot to do this!

Consider where your access and doors will be placed for this under eaves storage!

Visit neighbours who've had it already done so you can get a feel for how it will be. I found deciding where to put sockets/lights/radiator a bit overwhelming!

Have USB connectors in your sockets.

If you're having a velux,get a top hung one. Then you have two options for opening it.

I recommend the Velux Duo blackout blind,great for getting changed with privacy.

Buy an illuminated demisting mirror for the bathroom( with shaver point),the electritian should install it on the job.

Don't underestimate the cost of the Tiler,ours was £900,he was bloody good though. (We're in SE London).

Thanks SarahBeeney - that’s brilliant! Great idea about USB plugs.

I’m also scared about what the tiler cost will be . That’s why the loft company don’t include it as they say it can be a fortune!

Think our builders charged £55 sqm for tiling. That was for basic tiles - it was more for certain types.

We opted just to have the shower cubicle tiled and nothing else!

Oh and think where you will have the bed as that drive the sockets....