An ultimate guide to loft conversion costs and budget planning for your dream new space.
Fighting for one more room? Converting your loft into a beautiful living area or a bedroom will bring your life back on track.
Loft conversion is a superb alternative in case you are planning to shift to a new home just for the sake of space. It will cost you much less than switching to a new home.
Since most of the loft conversions fall under the category of permitted developments, usually you don’t go through the lengthy cycle of taking permissions.
The best part is that you don’t have to sacrifice your garden area or undergo a side extension to add another room to your abode.
Here’s a guide that helps resolves all your apprehensions, queries and doubts regarding the cost of loft conversion, all the hidden costs and is it worth or not.
Loft conversion is a process by which unused space of the attic is converted into suitable living space by following all the guidelines.
The new area can be used as your new gym, hobby area, workspace or office. Infact, some loft conversions can allow you to have a master bedroom with an en-suite.
Depending on the type of loft conversion, materials and existing roof, the cost of lost conversion may vary from property to property.
Importance of Loft Conversion
As the real estate market continues to rise every year, buying a new home does not sound like a rewarding option when you have your attic space unused. Home extension is always affordable and effective than shifting.
Bring a new quirk to your space with attractive loft conversion plans that come with a plethora of benefits.
There is no size-fits-all approach for all types of loft conversions. Many factors come into play while deciding the cost of loft conversion.
It depends on the size, materials, how much alteration to structure is required, the staircase placement and type of conversion. Apart from this, your location in UK and other technical constraints
The basic loft conversion cost starts from £20,000 and can go up to £60,000. The average cost of loft conversion comes out to somewhat between £30,000 and £50,000.
Let’s break the loft conversion costs further and understand what will be the cost of loft conversion depending on its type.
This is one of the best, simplest and most affordable amongst all loft conversions. Rooflight loft conversion requires minimum alteration to your roof.
Here special windows known as roof lights or skylights are installed in the roof to illuminate the attic space with natural sunlight and to aid better ventilation.
Generally, the process followed is:
For Rooflight loft conversion, also known as Velux Loft Conversion the average cost can be anywhere between £15,000 and £25,000. This comes out to be generally around £1,150 – £1,350 per square metre.
If you are looking to add a good headspace and floor space to your abode, then go for dormer loft conversion. Here a dormer is added to the pitched roof along with rooflights on the opposite side of the converted roof.
A box-shaped structure known as a dormer is added to one of the sloping roofs. This gives a flat roof space in your loft allows you to install full-height furniture and convert the space into your favourite living area.
Most of the dormer loft conversions come under the Permitted Development rights with the exception to a few areas such as conservation and similar zones.
The cost of dormer loft conversion is a bit higher than rooflight loft conversion as it involves rebuilding the entire roof along with other works.
The average cost of loft conversion dormer starts from £20,000 for a basic one. But, normally the cost ranges between £25,000 – £50,000.
For more complicated conversions such as constructing an L-shaped Dormer, the cost can shoot upto £40,000 to £75,000. It will cost you around £1,250 to £1450 per square metre.
Semi-detached or detached properties are best suited for this type of loft conversion, having hipped roofs.
Here, the hip is extended vertically from the ridgeline to create a vertical wall known as a gable. Mostly, Hip to Gable loft conversions are followed by the addition of dormers to the rear of the property to maximize the space.
One of the hipped roofs is replaced by a vertical brick wall.
Here much of the portion of the roof is altered. The loft conversion is complicated unlike dormer and roof light loft conversions.
The cost is pretty higher than dormer loft conversion as a major part of the roof is altered. The loft conversion cost starts from can £30,000 and can go upto £60,000. Price per square metre varies from £1,500 – £2,500.
Mansard loft conversions give you the maximum living space in your loft area. You can even get a master bedroom with an en-suite that will completely solve your space issues.
Here the roof is completely alerted, so you may be required to take planning permission. Also, the roof is altered from the rear of the property.
The conversion most likely delivers you a flat roof with a 72 degree sloping walls.
The cost of Loft conversion starts from £40,000 and can go up to £70,000. The average cost of loft conversion per square metre ranges from £1,500 to £2,500
Apart from these, many readymade loft conversions are made on-site and transported directly to the location to be renovated. This significantly reduces labour costs. These can cost around £55,000.
There may be chances that you need to change your roof structure completely. Rebuilding requires additional costs such as designer fees, permission fees and costs incurred from labour and materials.
This type of conversion may cost above £40,000 or starts from £1,550 per square meter.
There are no fixed or standard prices for the building works, the same thing reflects in cost. It has been noted that loft conversion costs are higher in busier and expensive property areas.
On the other hand, you may see a significant decrease in prices in the areas where property prices are lower.
Here are some of the reasons for why loft conversion cost is higher in metropolitan and busiest areas of the city.
In metro cities, the space for parking, scaffolding and machinery is very less. So, more experienced labour and specialized machines are required to handle all this, which increases the cost.
In the areas where the cost of living is high, the daily wages and salaries of labourers are high as well.
The production plants are mostly located outside the city. So, due to space constraints, a good distance from the production plants and delivery cost all sum up to increase the overall cost of loft conversion.
While planning to undergo any building work, you will have to pay the professional fees apart from your construction costs.
Your property may fall under Permitted Development but you need to follow building regulations. For that, you need to produce the drawings of loft conversion to the building regulation officers.
To ensure that drawings are perceived professionally and to reduce the chances of rejection, you need to approach a professional designer.
Submitting unclear or hazy information can lead to miscalculations and will result in either delaying or rejection of your application.
You may or may not require the planning permission but you will need to file for the Certificate of Lawfulness from your local council. The fee is somewhat around £86 – £100.
If planning permission is required, the expected fee is £172 but could vary.
All the details, procedure and fees for loft conversion are mentioned on the Planning Portal. The fee may differ from project to project and depend on the amount of work and complexity
Generally, most loft conversion companies include the design fee in their quotation. It would be around 3%-7% of the total construction cost.
But, in case you’ve hired an architect to design your loft, expect a minimum fee of £2,000 for the planning drawings.
If you’ve also hired a structural engineer to analyse and inspect your joists, ceiling and roofs stability and determining feasibility scenarios for loft conversion, expect a fee of around £1000 to £1,500.
Combining all these costs, it may not sound like a better option to hire every professional individually. Rather you can choose to hire a loft conversion company that will do all the work for you professionally and in the right way.
You may need to get a party wall agreement signed if you share a common wall with your neighbours.
This agreement states that your structure/construction works will not damage or harm your neighbour property in any way.
The cost of the fee is around £700 – £1,000 per neighbour.
A building Control certificate is required and can be obtained after completion of the work. The average cost is about £500 plus taxes that turns out to be somewhat around £750.
You can liaise with a government-approved inspection company or approach your local authority for the same. They will inspect your property and on verifying that all the works are carried out in compliance with the rules, the certificate is issued at completion.
You may find your loft conversion cost much higher than you expected. There may be a possibility that you haven’t considered other hidden costs.
There are other costs such as insulation, sanitary ware, basic lighting, fire and waterproofing, installation of windows that add up and raise your budget.
It’s always recommended to discuss all the points with your contractor or company and be very clear on the costs.
Apart from the above-stated factors, some other things can raise the cost of a loft conversion. These are:
Loft Conversion is one of the best ways that not only add space to your home but also increase the value of your home by a minimum of 20%.
Whether your family is growing or you are looking to add new space for your office, gym or study, loft conversion offers a plethora of benefits.
To be on the safer side, make sure that the cost of loft conversion shouldn’t be greater than the new value of your home. Grab a pen and paper and do a little maths calculations.
Make a note of the selling price of properties in your area and an expected price for your property before and after loft conversion. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Always go for a trusted loft conversion company in the UK as they’ll ensure that work gets completed on time and at high standards thereby adding good value to your home.
How much should you spend on a loft conversion?
Planning to undergo a loft conversion but are a bit confused that how much to spend and what are your limits?
The best way to do this is to connect with local real estate agents or property consultants. Get a broader perspective of property rates in your area and find some homes that have already undergone loft conversion.
After understanding the increase in value of your property after going for loft conversion, use this figure to draw good estimates and other decisions to support your project.
There is no point in investing a higher amount if that does not meet your return on investment.
Planning a Loft conversion is not an overnight activity. You need to get everything right from paperwork to permissions and from feasibility to accessibility of your newly constructed loft.
A slight miscalculation can put your dreams on hold.
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