Owning your own home

All our houses have matching hand-painted numbers, ours was faded so I recreated it in vinyl, thinking of doing it for the other numbers and flogging them for a tenner a pop, could make millions! (hundreds)

It's a potential for our flat in the future. We aren't in a conservation area but I haven't seen any conversions with dormers on my road. We would need them to make the conversion worthwhile.

Interesting. I'm gong though the pre-planning process at the mo. Modest Terrace Compromise (TM) requires a loft conversion in a section 4 restricted conservation area too. I'd love to be able to have dormers but fear we are restricted to velux roof light windows.

I accidentally looked at the brochure for the one that got away last night and got jilted ex pangs of despair and regret all over again. Especially when combined with the underwhelming pics on the brochure for MTC (TM) coupled with the six months worth of work required to get it done. Hnnnnnnng....

Must stay positive.

As @SCS says, that seems spendy. We had ours done 3.5 years ago and paid around £35k for it. That included removing the previous conversation which was a total bodge job that didn't meet building regulations.

Which companies have quoted for you?

One was a recommendation from the architect (70k), the other was a fella that my brother contracts to occasionally (110k).

I've another builder meeting this week - let's see what they come back with, otherwise I'm going to start calling on random internet loft builders.

I'm going to be really disappointed if the actual price is that high, as it would make the whole conversion uneconomical and we might need to move.

Or we could double down and knock down the rear kitchen / bathroom ground floor extension, and build a double / triple height extension out the back, and add another 60 m^2 to the house.

There are some advantages to living at the north end of a terrace up against a rail track.

@TW I was quoted £22k for a one room loft conversion (no dormer) over the phone recently. Am sending out request for quotations today. Will let you know what I get back.

what did you send out in terms of spec btw?

I've written this three page scope doc that requests quotes for new gas central heating, to knock though a bedroom to install a bigger bathroom, put in aloft conversion and renovate the basement.

Wondering if it's overkill?

keep us up to speed. i am going to look into this, even if only to get pp

Congrats dude.

Whereabouts in texas?

what did you send out in terms of spec btw?

Architect's plans, structural engineer's plans, and a full schedule of works.

filling the infill below the Juliet balcony

To be within permitted development, doesn't it need to remain set back 20cm?

£41k is within the ball park I was expecting - maybe up to £55k for a highly specced build.

Are any of you people converting lofts in leasehold flats? Curious to know what effect that has on the whole process. I know planning permission is required, rather than it being permitted development if you own the whole house.

I did mine 2 years ago, stood a hipped roof up to a gable, big boxy dormer, about 5.2m x 6m with one shower room and fiddling with a few walls on the first floor to get the stairs in was <£40k.

Like you say, 50-60k should get a high spec job done.

Mind sharing your schedule of works?

I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment as we need a loft conversion but also a full gas central heating installation, electrics checked and modernized, some remodeling of the first floor layout, a new bathroom installed and the cellar fully renovated.

Any thoughts about how to package that up?

I had my architect put it together - PM me your email address, and I'll send it to you this evening

Potential stupid question.

People who are buying a house then spending what I assume is in the region of 20-50k "doing it up", does the doing it up budget come from your mortgage? If so, is that totally normal? How do you run that past the mortgage company?

They would separate into Loft extension/Basement/First Floor Layout, Electrics, Gas CH, Bathroom Install. You could get experts in each area, so Builder, Electrician, Gas Fitter, Bathroom fitter. Run and synchronise all the contracts yourself and you will save some money while adding a lot of hassle, if you go for one firm they will organise all the trades for you and share you for the pleasure.

Have periodic inspection of the electrical system and it will tell you in detail what's not compliant with current regs. Research the best boiler/heating combination for your needs and get prices for an installation that you specify. Pick your bathroom suite/tiles taps etc avoid one stop shops as they just underpay their fitters and provide shoddy fittings, get a bathroom fitter to quote.

Doing it piecemeal will probably take a little longer as you will need to synchronise trades but you get more control over the process.

I would have thought the money would be taken from the increase in value of property (well, in London at least), then having it revalued afterwards and remortgaging with the new valuation.

I've heard that mortgage companies are happy to lend on house renovations that will increase the value of the property greater than the cost of works. In the case of adding a bedroom on a flat (for example) the works would usually pay for themselves and more.

Have you checked the loft is part of your lease?

Nope, but am aware that would add cost. The owner of the downstairs flat has mentioned the possibility of us obtaining and sharing the freehold (I think she's let the lease run down to something silly like 70 years) which would no doubt make the whole thing simpler. Been meaning to post on that subject as well, I can't decide how the pros and cons stack up against each other.

Thanks man. Will do.

Not sure the level of work we're doing warrants an architect. Essentially we're moving a stud wall, installing a staircase and a couple of windows. Nothing structural needs doing as far as I can tell.

@NurseHolliday, for us we're essentially downsizing (buying bigger but cheaper) by moving out of London. We're one year into a three year mortagage which we'll retain at the same level for now. The excess cash from the sale will fund the renovation of the new place and any leftover will go reduce the debt when we remortgage in 2 years.

would i be out of order to use the drawings from the neighbour's planning app to obtain initial costs from contractors? their house is identical to ours and the work would be similar.

Collective enfranchisement. This is a good place to start.

http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=11

There is a cost calculator online somewhere. I had a look and it estimated £10-12k per leaseholder total costs. I think that wouldn't be much more than what I would cost to extend our lease (currently 94 years) so is well worth investigating.
My ground rent is pretty low and we don't pay a service charge, however the management company charges £110 twice a year to collect our ground rent which is rather annoying.