How we work
Get in contact
Congratulations, you are ready to convert your loft and transform your home!
Call us on 0203 603 9777 or email sales@surreylofts.co.uk to get started.
Book Your Project Kick Start Meeting
Weather you’re a ‘design and build’ or ‘build-only’ client, we arrange a Project Kick Start Meeting over Zoom with you to discuss your requirements and needs. This gives us a chance to take a ‘virtual’ look at your property, discuss any specific details and gather some information so that we can prepare you a Cost Proposal
Follow Up Home Visit
Once you’ve reviewed your provisional cost proposal, we arrange a convenient time to visit you at the property to discuss the project in more details and answer any questions you might have. We also use this as an opportunity to check the proposal costs are accurate and make any tweaks if needed. Following this once you are ready to give us the go ahead, you can sign the cost proposal!
Prebuild
Once you have signed the proposal and given us the go-ahead, we will pass you over to our design team. Your full measured survey will be booked and then you will work with our architect to produce a design for your project. We will then present you with clear, professional drawings, detailing the build.
As most loft extensions will not require a Full Planning Application, the architect will advise you as to how to best approach the Local Planning Authority (LPA). If you live in a listed building or a conservation area, that you would need to go through the Full Planning Application process – we are able to give full advice on this. However, you are more likely to have to make a Building Regulations Application. This is if your loft conversion is intended for use as new accommodation, for example a bedroom, study or office. Building regulations are used to ensure that any building or alteration work meets the set standards for the design and construction of buildings, mainly to ensure the health and safety for those living in or around the building.
A building owner proposing to build a Loft Conversion has to give adjoining owners notice of their intentions in the way set down in the Act. Adjoining owners can agree or disagree with what is proposed.
The Party Wall Act 1996 provides a framework for preventing and resolving disputes in relation to party walls, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings. This may include:
- Work on an existing wall shared with another property
- Building on the boundary with a neighbouring property
- Excavating near a neighbouring property
Our team will be able to advise on the best route forward when trying to gain your neighbour’s consent for the project.
When converting an existing roof space into a loft, it is often necessary to add additional fire protection in the existing parts of the house. For example, a typical loft conversion to a two-storey house may result in the need to provide new fire-resisting doors and sometimes partitions to protect the stairway. This is because it is too dangerous to escape via windows from floors above first floor level.
Your Build
Once all necessary permissions have been sought and given, we confirm your start date and arrange for your pre-start meeting with your Project Manager.
The actual building work usually takes around 8-10 weeks, depending on the project. Your dedicated project manager will co-ordinate the various skilled tradesmen needed to make your space come to life and make regular site visits. For ease of communication, a WhatsApp group will be set up between yourselves, your Project Manager and the office.
Final Completion and sign-off
Once the loft conversion reaches its final stages, the building control officer will make his final inspection and report. The loft conversion will need to be signed off by Building Control.
Aftercare
Once the loft conversion has been signed off by building control, we compile your completion pack, which includes a 5-year structural guarantee. In the unlikely event that you have any problems, simply give us a call and we will get the issue rectified.