Kevin Lewis

Hi Mark, Yeah, was thinking that may be the case. All of them who have turned up have said it's an easy enough job as the garage is only about 6 years old, complies with buidling regs for the structure (not insulated, but cavity wall, proper roof trusses, pitched & tiled roof etc), even the electrics were inspected and signed off against. Pretty straight forward as far as I can; bathroom, bedroom and one open plan living space with a kitchenette. Yes it needs fully insulating and a couple of stud walls putting in, but nothing out of the ordinary. Will see if any come back in the next couple of weeks (not looking for it to be started this side of Christmas) but if they can't be bothered to come back with quotes when they say they will you start wondering about how they'll be when it comes to the job! Cheers.

Hi all, First post, so please be gentle!!! Just about to start a detached garage conversion into a one bed annex for an elderly relative. Had confirmation from the council that full planning isn't required and I've now applied for a Lawful Development Certificate to cover the change of use. Had a number of builders out to look at the proposal, but to date, only one has come back with a quote (estimate). Is this normal? Are other people experiencing issues with builders seemingly being interested in the job but then not following up? Looking at the amount of work involved, I'm tempted to have a go myself (qualified sparky although no longer do it for a living and I'm generally pretty handy with most DIY type tasks), is this something anyone else has done? What are the potential pit falls? Got someone who can do the ground works for the services but will obviously need a plumber to make the connections for the gas and water at the mains, apart from then meeting building regs, seems pretty straight forward. Any and all information greatly appreciated