£75k for a one-room loft conversion???? Am I being mugged off?

[DeeplyMovingExperience]

Modest-sized Victorian 3 bed terrace house. We've just been quoted 75k for a loft conversion and I am shocked at the price. It's just a single room loft conversion - no bathroom.

Does this sound reasonable or am I being taken for a ride?

Maybe I'm massively out of touch but I seriously need to go and have a lie down after reading the quote.

Which general area are you in?

You don’t say where you are but that’s bonkers.
When we did ours in London it was a big conversion plus a bathroom and in total I think it was 46k. That was maybe 5 years ago but given you’re just getting a bedroom it sounds way over the odds.

That sounds expensive

Too expensive. Get some more quotes.

I suspect they don't want the work.

That's insanely expensive. The people opposite us had one last summer a new bedroom and bathroom and it was approximately 30,000 all in.

I heard London builders have a tendency to quote based on the increase on value you are adding to your house, which is pretty frustrating if you have no intention of moving. Also some builders have a minimum price they will work for, so the smaller the job the worse the value. Definitely get more quotes, and if you have slimmed down plans to make it cheaper ie no bathroom you may find the quote for extra work is not much more.

Sounds very steep loft conversion done properly are expensive . being terraced and on 3 floor there will be a lot of fire protection on both sides . 2 party wall agreements your middle floor fireproofed and floor should be suspended on steels to meet building regs .
At a VERY rough guess I would of thought 40-50 k

I’m in the north west I’d expect it to Be slightly less than £30k. £75k is ridiculous

Too expensive. I was quoted £40-45 for a large loft including bathroom in London though I had to supply bathroom ware and a windows separately.

We are in the midlands in a nice market town. All we wanted was an extra bedroom and some storage space - the attic is quite generous in size. And a staircase obviously going up (there is currently a loft ladder).

We will need scaffolding and stuff but still, I couldn't believe the price quoted. It's mind boggling.

And the loft floor has already been strengthened as the previous owners made a start then ran out of money.

What does it work out a square meter? I think it’s about £2k per square meter around where I live - south east.
Also you need to take into account-
Were they recommended to you personally from someone?
Do they do a more high end finish? Is this something you are looking for?

DH is a builder, everything is word of mouth and he is high end - so his price is about more than just bare minimum.

There is a lot to take into account when deciding if a quote is high or not.

Get at least 2 more quotes. That seems high. Im in South east, outside London but close enough that builders working round here also work in London.

We paid around £70k for a loft conversion with a bathroom, moving one of the walls and door on the 1st floor (to make space for stairs), a new boiler and hot water tank added at the same time. And that included dh picking an expensive to fit shower and the bathroom tiling.

@DeeplyMovingExperience

And the loft floor has already been strengthened as the previous owners made a start then ran out of money.

That won't make any difference - the floor will have to come out to put the steels in.

We paid around £20,000 5 years ago for a few new bedroom in loft. They had to extend the roof to make it the right height with a dormer extension on the back. It needed a new staircase and a wall moving to make space. I think they under charged as they were here for ages. £75k is way too much though.

Just get more quotes OP.

🤣🤣 you could buy another terrace for that and use it as a weekend retreat

Sounds pricey - we've been quoted about 70k for a 2-room conversion (in London - bedroom & bathroom), plus roof renovation and that's by two recommended contractors who we were told were not cheap but well worth the price.

I think I’ll start doing loft conversions and retire next year

Just buy a flat for that price.
Thats ridiculous.

Sounds a little expensive to me. Last year I was quoted £50k for a one bed loft conversion with dormer, flooring and bathroom units on top. Standard SE London terrace house.

All your comments are very helpful. Thank you. The price we were quoted was just for a single room - no bathroom included.

Dealing with builders is a total minefield. This company comes highly recommended but still, it just doesn't make sense. We might as well have bought a bigger house in the first place!

I'm in the expensive south and they are about 25-30 for one room. 75 would be a 2 bed and bathroom. We had a garage conversion , new kitchen and new garage with upstairs built for £80k last year !

That is a lot. Ours was 2010 admittedly but it was £30k (excluding tiling, bathroom stuff) which included scaffolding, custom built staircase and all the plumbing for the bathroom.