Basic 'garage conversion' costs 2024/25?

[funk]

After having yet another conversation with my ol' man today about replacing the garage door, and partitioning the garage etc. To my surprise he's got me to go down the route of looking to just get it converted instead without the garage door.

I've zero skills to DIY it and a few life developments of late have sped the need up a little, whilst also making the wallet a little tighter

Zero idea what's right or wrong, but it's a single integral garage, so as far as I understand it, I'd be looking at brickwork for where the garage door currently is, possibly a window there or on the external wall, then a door from inside the house into the garage

Anyone in the trade here that would guess at a range of costs for that? Or even better someone who had had it done in the last couple of years?

 

[TheDaddy]

How bizzare , we gave just decided to do ours. No clue on price yet with ours. Its finding someone reliable to do the work is what i am panicking about. Dont want to geg ripped of or get shit work done.

Dave.

 

[John Bennett]

If you're going to put arcade machines into it, it's all about controlling the temperature and humidity.

I use my garage as a garage and it's depressing how water droplets form on the underside of my old car. It literally rots indoors. It is external to the house though, with no heating.

 

[TheDaddy]

If you're going to put arcade machines into it, it's all about controlling the temperature and humidity.

I use my garage as a garage and it's depressing how water droplets form on the underside of my old car. It literally rots indoors. It is external to the house though, with no heating.

Mine is integral so I am hoping with a rad it will be all good !

Dave.

 

[RygarR]

After having yet another conversation with my ol' man today about replacing the garage door, and partitioning the garage etc. To my surprise he's got me to go down the route of looking to just get it converted instead without the garage door.

I've zero skills to DIY it and a few life developments of late have sped the need up a little, whilst also making the wallet a little tighter

Zero idea what's right or wrong, but it's a single integral garage, so as far as I understand it, I'd be looking at brickwork for where the garage door currently is, possibly a window there or on the external wall, then a door from inside the house into the garage

Anyone in the trade here that would guess at a range of costs for that? Or even better someone who had had it done in the last couple of years?

Couldn't tell you what it would cost these days (beyond lots). But if you're looking at bricking up the entrance, and changing the use of the space, you'll probably have to get building regulation approval. And if you do, plans / drawings / specs will be essential to show you'll be complying with building / insulation / wiring etc. standards. Your local authority's website should reveal the numbers for the building control officers. Worth having a chat with them first...

 

[funk]

Cheers guys, I may come full circle back to the door but we'll see!

 

[Retroman839]

I do this shiz for a living I will help you 👍😁❤️

Home Page| Marlow | Marlow Building & Carpentry

Building and Carpentry Services based in Marlow servicing surrounding areas including Maidenhead and High Wycombe. Our commercial services include home improvements, extensions, attic conversions, bespoke garden buildings, kitchen installations and property maintenance.

www.marlowbuildingcarpentry.com

Recent home I built.


65 bricks to a Sqm Try to get a brick less than £1 each

If your only doing the garage door area
Look for reclaimed bricks …
Also you can get reclaimed windows as you can build your wall around the window size …..

So source a good surplus te requirement window ( could be a brand new window but the owners miss measured ) .

Then source reclaimed bricks .
Same with the insulation .

You can build the walls ( internal + external up on concrete lintels ..
Therefore exculpating the need to dig a complete foundation from side to side .

We call this a concrete pad and a pier with lintels .

Saves time / money / sweat /tears / usually some blood 🩸/ and the removal of spoil! Which also requires normally to go into a skip more money!

If you think you can find your damp course to the house …. You match it !

Set up a string line from your house damp course across front of your garage door area to build wall..

Then work all you measuremts fom that line.


Foundation pad of concret normally 1m dig down from the damp course line .. with 600 mm of concrete for the pad .. pad norammaly in this case

600mm wide ( this is the cavity wall direction ., and 600 long .+ 600 deep .

WATCH OUT ⚠️. GAS /‼️ELECTRICITY⚠️. Not only do I normally find gas & electricity in the garage door area just under the ground .. it often has your neighbours too ! ….. so. Super extra precaution needs to be taken here !

This requires the CAT scan tool from the hire shop . You need to use this tool to detect for services of gas and electricity in the ground where you are doing any digging .. and then because gas is in a plastic pipe you cannot assume your ok anywhere ..!‼️⚠️…

So this means you need to dig it by hand only and slowly .. even if you know where your gas and electricity comes into your home . You don’t know if they sneaked the house next doors in to you same Chanel in the ground … And yes they always do share the trenches they dig ..

If hard solid concret to get through first .. you need to be so careful of using a kango concrete breaking drill
Your services could be just underneath !
One trench can have all the services in it ! For two house .. maybe even three !

If your ok with everything I have just informed you of ,

And your prepared to roll up your sleeves and with a friend or two !


Sometimes having a friend help you is also because if you get into difficultly & require help
They can ring 999.

Like being electrocuted .

I will guide you further on your adventure if you want to proceed.

 

[funk]

Just saw this as I was running out the door @Retroman839 will have a proper read in a bit, amazing cheers 👍

 

[Vorbis]

I learned years ago (after an attempt to wall mount a tv saw me drill though a power cable) that the best way of me doing any home renovations or diy projects is to go earn enough money to pay some one else to do it 😁

 

[Retroman839]

Iv always dreamed about being the person with a job where I can put in a suit get into a clean car in the morning that allows me not to be The person doing this dirt job!

 

[Vorbis]

I’ve worked in the city since I was 17, and can honesty say it’s the most boring unfulfilling existence you could possibly imagine. Nothing created, nothing made, no lives saved. The day I retire will be the last day I ever set foot in the fucking place.

oh, and no one wears suits anymore so can send a few your way 😁

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

I’ve worked in the city since I was 17, and can honesty say it’s the most boring unfulfilling existence you could possibly imagine. Nothing created, nothing made, no lives saved. The day I retire will be the last day I ever set foot in the fucking place.

oh, and no one wears suits anymore so can send a few your way 😁

At 48 I've just sacked off 25 years of self-employment sat behind a computer as a graphic designer/illustrator at home to work as an apprentice deck fitter on yachts. Eight mile cycle in the pissing rain and wind for a quarter of the pay. Fitting and sealing windows, doors, wet bars, hot tubs etc., working with fibre glass and mouldings. Fakn love it!

 

[Retroman839]

Magic
Always fancied my self as a trader in the bull pit!

 

[Flyback2021]

I do this shiz for a living I will help you 👍😁❤️

Home Page| Marlow | Marlow Building & Carpentry

Building and Carpentry Services based in Marlow servicing surrounding areas including Maidenhead and High Wycombe. Our commercial services include home improvements, extensions, attic conversions, bespoke garden buildings, kitchen installations and property maintenance.

www.marlowbuildingcarpentry.com

Recent home I built.

View attachment 31630
65 bricks to a Sqm Try to get a brick less than £1 each

If your only doing the garage door area
Look for reclaimed bricks …
Also you can get reclaimed windows as you can build your wall around the window size …..

So source a good surplus te requirement window ( could be a brand new window but the owners miss measured ) .

Then source reclaimed bricks .
Same with the insulation .

You can build the walls ( internal + external up on concrete lintels ..
Therefore exculpating the need to dig a complete foundation from side to side .

We call this a concrete pad and a pier with lintels .

Saves time / money / sweat /tears / usually some blood 🩸/ and the removal of spoil! Which also requires normally to go into a skip more money!

If you think you can find your damp course to the house …. You match it !

Set up a string line from your house damp course across front of your garage door area to build wall..

Then work all you measuremts fom that line.


Foundation pad of concret normally 1m dig down from the damp course line .. with 600 mm of concrete for the pad .. pad norammaly in this case

600mm wide ( this is the cavity wall direction ., and 600 long .+ 600 deep .

WATCH OUT ⚠️. GAS /‼️ELECTRICITY⚠️. Not only do I normally find gas & electricity in the garage door area just under the ground .. it often has your neighbours too ! ….. so. Super extra precaution needs to be taken here !

This requires the CAT scan tool from the hire shop . You need to use this tool to detect for services of gas and electricity in the ground where you are doing any digging .. and then because gas is in a plastic pipe you cannot assume your ok anywhere ..!‼️⚠️…

So this means you need to dig it by hand only and slowly .. even if you know where your gas and electricity comes into your home . You don’t know if they sneaked the house next doors in to you same Chanel in the ground … And yes they always do share the trenches they dig ..

If hard solid concret to get through first .. you need to be so careful of using a kango concrete breaking drill
Your services could be just underneath !
One trench can have all the services in it ! For two house .. maybe even three !

If your ok with everything I have just informed you of ,

And your prepared to roll up your sleeves and with a friend or two !


Sometimes having a friend help you is also because if you get into difficultly & require help
They can ring 999.

Like being electrocuted .

I will guide you further on your adventure if you want to proceed.

Great write up , loads of top tips

 

[Pharo]

I'm a brickie myself and do loads of garage conversions, I've actually got 2 sets of drawings on my desk just now for garage conversions to be priced so if you have any questions just ask.

 

[Alpha1]

I can share what I did and my costs. It all came in at around 22k. My garage was 380sq ft and I chose to convert all but 1.5 metres of it so I still had a small garage for bikes and the lawnmower and other crap.

However £2800 was a decent Daikin heat pump and air conditioning unit. I could have spent £1300 for a 3.3kw wall mounted system, but upgraded to a 5kw ceiling cassette unit with WiFi and upgraded controller. I could have obviously spent nothing to heat at all but I felt it super important and it was the best thing I did. Warm in the winter and a crisp cool 21 degrees in summer with all 17 machines on and 8 people inside.

£5600 was 3 metre bifolds, again could have done it for £1500, (or put a cheap £200 side door in) but I used an Origin system with fancy internal blinds in the glass which pushed the costs up. I wanted the access for larger machines as well as making it look nice.

£1100 was boarding the actual loft space for additional hoarding room. Again could have skipped this.

£1350 was a fancy electric insulated garage roller door. Could have skipped this or made it cheaper but wanted something decent.

The rest was the garage conversion costs.


Things to watch out for:

1. Get a few quotes and references, some people don't know what they're doing. You need reassurance.

2. Ensure they include the costs of the council cost for the application of change and the checks they will want to ensure built to regs.

3. Ensure they build it to regs! The right insulation depth etc and the floor is correctly put in.

4. By getting them to build to regs and the insane insulation depths the room will be less wide and long. Get them to explain this to you as it won't get as big as it is now. This helps you plan and understand what you are getting.

 

[Hurray Banana]

Lot's of great advice there Ol

 

[John Bennett]

Maybe not so important to many, but I'd want it to look appropriate.
There's too many home 'improvements' that ruin the look of a building or even a street.
Bricking up a garage door hole and sticking in a token window could easily look a bit cack, plus you might want to sell one day.

 

[ExZX]

After having yet another conversation with my ol' man today about replacing the garage door, and partitioning the garage etc. To my surprise he's got me to go down the route of looking to just get it converted instead without the garage door.

I've zero skills to DIY it and a few life developments of late have sped the need up a little, whilst also making the wallet a little tighter

Zero idea what's right or wrong, but it's a single integral garage, so as far as I understand it, I'd be looking at brickwork for where the garage door currently is, possibly a window there or on the external wall, then a door from inside the house into the garage

Anyone in the trade here that would guess at a range of costs for that? Or even better someone who had had it done in the last couple of years?

My advice:

Set yourself a budget first which you can do by asking yourself these questions:

What's the use? Am guessing a mini arcade?

Consider access for machines so maybe replace the garage door with an insulated one?

Power? How many machines will you have?

Insulate, insulate, insulate. Floor, walls and ceiling.

Heat.

Ventilate.

Get some simple plans / sections drawn up by a local designer / student / technician for pricing purposes. Use that for contractural purposes with your builder when agreeing a price. Go with a fixed price contract so no surprises down the line. Everything in writing and never use cash in hand.

Any tradesmen you use go by word of mouth from friends / family to find a builder and get multiple quotes. The builder usually brings in all the separate tradesmen. When I was doing the research for my extension / garden office the Mrs was sending me all kinds of links to tradesmen from Facebook. I knew what to look for after 25 years in design and build / Architecture. They were all fucking useless / didn't know what they were doing from examples of their work.

Hope that helps and good luck.

 

[Retroman839]

Maybe not so important to many, but I'd want it to look appropriate.
There's too many home 'improvements' that ruin the look of a building or even a street.
Bricking up a garage door hole and sticking in a token window could easily look a bit cack, plus you might want to sell one day.

Yeh architecture it’s important.