Good Houses
Garage conversion quotes
Converting a garage into living space. It is often the best alternative to an extension, particularly on a smaller budget, because you are using space the house already has and your garden stays the size it is.
Integral and attached garages are the strongest candidates. A single garage becomes an office, a gym or a bedroom. A double garage opens up more: a large bedroom with an ensuite, a living room, a games or cinema room, or an indoor gym, which is a use growing in popularity.
An integral garage with a bedroom above it is one of the best matches of all. With matching windows and brickwork or render, it can be made to look as though it was always part of the house.
Is your property suitable?
Start with the question most people skip: what will you do about storage? Most garages in the UK are too narrow for a modern car, so they end up holding garden tools, bikes and everything else. Converting works if you have a good driveway, or parking is easy where you live, or you can put up a shed. If none of those is true, you may be solving one problem by creating another.
The other test is whether it can be made to feel like part of the house rather than a converted garage. That means raising the floor to the same level as the rest of the house, and checking you have the ceiling height to do it. Proper heating, whether radiators or underfloor, and proper lighting are what turn it from a cold room on the end into a room that adds value.
If you dislike how the front of the house would look without a garage door, you do not have to remove it. The door can stay in place, with a proper insulated wall built behind it.
Typical cost range
£9,775 – £23,000
Excludes VAT, and includes a 15% contingency allowance for the unexpected.
The cost turns on two things people do not expect.
Many UK houses with an attached or integral garage have no door into it from inside. If you want one, that wall is probably load bearing, so a structural engineer has to assess the opening and specify the support. That work is done first and signed off by building control. If there is an electricity box on the wall where you want the opening, that has to be dealt with before anything else, and it adds cost.
Everything else follows the specification: floor build up and insulation, heating, lighting, windows, and whether the outside is being matched in brick or render.
What to ask before hiring
Ask whether the floor is being raised to match the house, and what that leaves you for finished ceiling height.
Ask how the room is being heated and insulated, including the floor and the old door opening if it is staying. Ask whether a structural engineer is involved for any new opening, whether building control sign off is included, and who is arranging it. Ask how the outside will be finished so it matches the rest of the house.
Red flags
A quote that leaves the floor at garage level. That one decision is what makes a converted garage feel like a converted garage forever.
Anyone offering to form an opening in a load bearing wall without a structural engineer or building control. Anyone who has not asked what you will do with whatever is stored in there now. No mention of insulation or damp proofing.
Get quotes
Enter your postcode to see what's available near you.
Garage conversion
When the quotes come in
Common questions
What do I do about the storage I lose?
This is the question to settle first, and it usually has an answer. If your garden or driveway has room for a shed, that solves the outdoor items, the garden tools and the bikes, and loft storage takes care of what needs to stay indoors. Converting works well once you have somewhere for both.
Do I have to remove the garage door?
No. The door can stay in place with a proper insulated wall built behind it, which keeps the front of the house looking as it does now.
Do I need a structural engineer?
If you are forming a new opening from the house into the garage, yes. That wall is usually load bearing, so the opening has to be assessed, the support specified, and the work signed off by building control before anything else happens.
What makes it feel like part of the house rather than a converted garage?
Raising the floor to the same level as the rest of the house, having the ceiling height to do that, and putting in proper heating and lighting.