How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Cheers! Yeah I kinda think the same, there is a lot less you can do with a loft so prob don't need the crazy 5 stage process of proper architect work.

But then I still want it considered.

Architects will say they are needed in this task but we do work with one company that specialise only in loft conversions and they know what they are doing and get all the stuff thats needed without architects most of the time. Saving the customer money but also adding onto there bottom line too which is fair enough.

When I did it about 8 years ago it was 40k for a loft conversion and an extra 10k for a hip to gable, of which we had two. Very similar prices from 3 different loft firms. That was for the building work, windows, electrics, plumbing etc but didn't include decorating or bathroom suite.

crazy 5 stage process

I don't know what the 5 stage process is but some bits of my loft conversion annoying me for lack of thought. There are lots of details that could have been better for no or negligible extra cost if we had thought about it before hand. Too many "By the way, what kind of lights do you want in the bedroom - the electrician is here and you have 5 minutes to decide" kind of things.

Yeah this is what I want to avoid.
The 5 steps I am referring to are here: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/riba-plan-of-work as 0-5, and usually cost around £1K each step.
I feel the need for a proper plan (full spec) and a holistic concept but don't really fancy a feasibility study when every other house in the area already aha loft.

fs I thought a loft was like 15/20k

My uncle built his own, over about 5 years, and it cost him about 15k.

thanks, I'll take one

1. cozey
   

Mine cost £50k a couple of years ago, although I think about £5k of that was for extra work to the roof. That included party wall and building control stuff and all installation and tiling (but not bathroom suite or tiles).

We used the loft firm's architect, he was a bit shit coming up with stuff so we ended up just finding similar ones that we liked in the area, sending him the links and asking for something like that.

Loft conversaion chat continued. I've been look at options but struggle to find plans on builders/architects websites for comparison.
My house is a small typical two up,two down with a badly converted loft and downstairs bathroom
Red box shows ground-first floor stairs
Green box shows first-second floor stairs
In a couple of years I want to do a master/ensuite or even separate bathroom if we can carve out the space in the loft. Ideally velux at the front and dormer at the rear. A couple of houses along my road have this but no sales (and attached floorplans) online. Where's a good place to look for floorplans for inspiration? I've spent a while looking and haven't fund anything really.

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We didn't really need an architect, we needed a project manager who thought a bit further ahead. Our experience might have been better if the company owner/MD hadn't died 2 weeks into the build.

Check out your local council planning permission site, they should have all plans filed there. I have been through all my neighbours.

This is the bathroom in our old house which is a very similar size to yours. It cost £5k with us doing none of the work (though I wish we did as our tiler was awful)

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We're also in the process of planning a loft conversion.
Did think about going down the architect route and got in touch with one that our neighbours used but found out their build cost £90k all in! I think it makes more sense to find a good company specialising in lofts and who will care about the detailing etc. I've been looking at examples of previous work and quizzing them on how they approach things. So far I've got 4 rough quotes of between £50k - £65 for an L shaped dormer with 2 bedrooms and a seperate shower room. Those quotes don't include the bathroom suite or decorating either.
Still waiting on some more detailed costs and the thing that is giving me a headache now is Fire regs as we have more of an open plan layout on the ground floor which might be a problem. Hoping that connected smoke alarms everywhere will be enough but trying to get hold of someone at Lewisham's planning dept is proving to be tricky

Your local council should have some kind of online planning portal (this is Haringey's for instance http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet ).

I searched for local streets on there and also wandered around the neighbourhood looking for dormer windows in houses that looked nice to give some others to search.

Keep us updated on that one... sounds super relevant to what I will in the end do.
I really don't want ours to cost over 60.

I've also dug through all my neighbours plans on the local planning portal. Good place to start in terms of seeing what's possible given the space and layout of similar houses.

For my fire alarm chat I spoke to one of the private building control companies (I was already in the process so this was the building control company that were signing it off) and they could give me some detail on what I could manage with (connected smoke alarms all over due to no fire doors).

I think @brokenbetty had a similar issue re: open plan layout.

The quote I got for £65 was super detailed, itemised right down to buckets and screws! I was hoping it was going come in less than that though as their previous work looked really good with a focus on quality. Also a smaller team so not loads of sub contractors. Once you factor in bathroom suite, flooring and some carpentry for built in cupboards its going north of 70k very quickly which might a bit too much of a stretch.

Interesting, do you have a contact?

This was the company that my builders used https://www.assentbc.co.uk/

I also had a chat with them about other stuff a few years later and they were pretty helpful given I'd just randomly phoned them. Don't have a specific contact.

We have open plan ground floor. The key thing is whether you still have the hallway to give a protected corridor between the bottom of the stairs and the exit, or the stairs just open into the open plan area.

We have the latter, so our options were (1) put the hallway wall back in, or (2) a mist/sprinkler system to provide a virtual protected corridor. (Or more dodgy (3), put the hallway back in, get sign off and remove it again - not for us but seems to be a common approach round here)

We went for a mist system: costs etc as at 2019 are in this post https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15713550/ . Plus we also had to reinstate a wall and fire door between the living area and kitchen

We got an L-shape conversion with one room and bathroom on a small Victorian terrace.

Builders quote for the build, electricals, plastering, bathroom plumbing and installation but not the bathroom fixtures:
£35K + vat for the basic work
£3K + vat for roof replacement - needed doing so made sense to get it done at the same time

What we actually paid:
42K + vat (50.4K with VAT) to the builders - extra cost was replacing the main beam which was too bowed give the headroom (they warned us upfront that was a risk)

4.2k for the mist system, firedoor etc (excludes redecoration which we still have not done... so if you want to see how disruptive the the mist system installation is I can do some pics)

5K for the bathroom fittings and tiling

2.5K for carpets and decoration

So basically 64K all in including a new roof, mist system and decoration, North London terrace 2019 prices.

I'm intrigued by your bath mat. All my guesses of what it says end up with terrible centering. Please provide more information.

Thanks yes that's looks v similar size.
And with those tiles and grout it really highlights anything not 100% straight :-)

Get naked

Can read most on the floor and the rest in the reflection on the door