Loft conversion, Home Counties - how soon can one get one, and approximate costs?

[housenovice]

Hi, looking to buy a house where we'd need to do a loft conversion before moving in, to have sufficient bedrooms.

Can anyone tell me if the long waiting times to get hold of builders and building materials for extensions/loft conversions that were reported last year still apply now?

Would I have to wait months before being able to get anyone to start work? Or can one now get someone reasonably quickly?

We're just on the very edge of London.

Also, can anyone advise on current prices for hip to gable loft conversions? Have they shot up from the figures reported on various check a tradesmen websites for 2022?

Thanks everyone.

We were quoted £43k for a hip to gable loft conversion that would result in a double bedroom and en suite shower room in the SE in 2018/2019. 1930s semi. That would have included everything apart from sanitary fittings. I understand my neighbours had this done in late 2021 and it had gone up by about 25% so would have been £54k or thereabouts. I would be assuming the price was similar now but that might be naive.

I’ve got no idea what the lead-in time is and I guess costs would also depend on the size of the loft and what you wanted doing to it.

We're in the midlands and had a quote of £47k including bathroom installation for a large en suite bedroom. But the earliest the builders were available were November 2022.

The price of Steele has doubled in the last few months, all materials have shot up huge percentages over the last 2-3 years

Would you need to go to planning? If so that takes around 8 weeks and if you need an architect or similar to prepare drawings this will also take time, firstly to find someone with availability, then to draft plans.

We're in the South East and were quoted 54k for a velux loft conversion (no dormer). Builders are not able to start until around Sept/Oct.

Zone 3 London here - our dormer conversion (bedroom + bathroom) plus a couple of other bits (stairs replacement to ground floor and refurb of existing bathroom) is around 60k inc VAT but excluding cost of the bathroom fittings. We agree terms last Oct or Nov i think? Work is starting in the next couple of weeks.