Ryan Turner

Hi all, Context is we are having our garage converted to 2 small office rooms and a porch built on the front. Here is the floor plan: Here are the full building reg drawings: BR drawings.pdf The garage is in a good condition, structurally completely fine with power and a fuse box capable of handling the extra load. My question is, what do you guys think of this quote? Does it seem reasonable to you? Do any bits seem particularly cheap or expensive? Would love to hear some opinions. Quote: Thanks, Ryan quote pdf 2.pdf

A fair comment but ignoring value, we don't need a garage but we would benefit greatly from a large room. Also I'd hope that effectively going from 2>3 bedroom would offset the negative associated with going from semi-detatched to terraced.

@DevilDamo I see your point but it's a small house and the porch's only purpose is to act as an entry/ passage to the garage so i think we are satisfied with it being small. The length is also likely closer to 2.1/2.15m, so width is closer to 1.1m internally. Thanks for your help!

@DevilDamo Haha yeah sorry I feel like im spamming this forum at the minute. Can't recall what dimensions I posted previously but the porch dimensions we have decided on will not require planning permission so was hoping to keep it all under permitted development.

@joe90 Do you think there is any risk of not being granted retrospective planning permission?

@kandgmitchell No such condition regarding the garage needing to exist from what I am aware, also read somewhere that you typically require a number of parking spots to be available for houses of a certain size but this house is only 2 bedrooms so 1 parking space (the drive) is theoretically enough. What do you think?

@DevilDamo It's an attached garage, see pic below. Want to mirror next door, unfortunately I can't use them as a reference because they did their garage work as part of a larger extension that did require planning regardless so they did it all in one go, I haven't moved in yet so haven't had the chance to ask them any more details. The house isn't in a conservation area or AONB, i'm not aware as to any planning conditions that restrict its conversion, where would I look into this more? Although based on next doors conversion I'm pretty confident about no restrictions. Just a bit lost as our house surveyor told me it will not need planning permission, Architect #1 told me it would need planning and Architect #2 was unsure but was edging towards it not needing PP.

Hi, I understand converting a garage is typically allowed under permitted development. The garage conversion we would like to do involves changing the current garage up and over door into brick work and a small window. I have had 3 different people tell me different things as to whether changing the up and over door into a window is under permitted development or whether it requires planning permission. Can anyone help me clear this up with any certainty?

@torre Thank you, good point. I agree that actually planning shouldn't be needed, how would I go about finding building reg applications of neighbours? I can find planning permission submissions but not building reg applications, thanks!

@ETC Thanks so much, very useful. To clarify a few points: "Are the drawings you posted accurate?" - These drawings are just the floor plans provided to us when buying the house on the estate agent's listing. " 2D design drawings only. No need for. 3D drawings." - Could you explain to me why I don't need 3D drawings? Just curious. I don’t think so - I’m not in your jurisdiction but you may be able to pay the fee based on an estimated cost of the works although I do see an example where fees are reduced for multiple works in different fee categories. - This is the jurisdictions website: https://maidstone.gov.uk/home/primary-services/planning-and-building/building-control/applications-and-applying , would be interested to see how you interpret what I need from the list, assuming its full plan > extension up to 40m^2 and garage conversion under 40m^2, both inspection and submission. So £317 + £589 +£216 + £401 or am i completely lost? I see that your next door neighbour has converted his/her garage. Speak to them and get an idea of cost. They might even be able to recommend their agent. - Good idea, we haven't moved into the house yet (expecting exchange to be around 1 or 2 months time) but might be worth trying to reach out to them. I would think a reasonable fee from an architect shouldn’t be more than a few grand plus VAT plus planning and BC fees. - How does the attached quote seem? Attached was this note "We do also offer a service for supplying Construction Drawings (include heating/electrical layouts and construction specifications for the builders to quote/build from) plus Structural Engineers calculations for any steels that will be required that the builders will also, need to price/build from and this service that can be quoted for following our completion of the planning stage." So would I need more drawings than this, i'm assuming there are no building reg drawings here? Thank you so much again for your answer, so useful.

Can someone please explain exactly what this means to me? It's in relation to building a porch and one of the conditions for not requiring planning permission is: "A porch can be constructed outside an external door of a house providing that no part of the porch is within two metres of any boundary that fronts a highway." Written in other places as: "No part of the porch is within two metres of any boundary of your home and the main road." "or is located within 2m of the property boundary and highway." Can someone translate this for me please? Does it mean that it can't be within 2 metres of the boundary with a road? Or within 2 metres of any boundary with other houses? I'm confused.

We are looking to convert a garage into a liveable area and build a porch on the front of the house. Pictures attached for reference. What are the expected costs to reach a point where work can begin? This is the list of things I think we need: On site survey (is this mandatory? Every architect i've talked to has mentioned we need this) Produce existing drawings Proposed design drawings, 2D and 3D architectural drawings. Planning management (i.e. they liaise with the local authority for you) Planning fee itself Building reg drawings (or are these the same as the above drawings?) Structural engineer calculations (do i need these?) Building regulations (Local authority says £809 for extension of this size/ £551 for garage conversion, would I need both?) What should I budget for all of this?

Hi, Could anyone help me out with an approximate ball park figure on the cost of the following work. We want to convert a garage of size 5.4m by 2.74m into a habitable space with a dividing wall. We want to build a small extension the width of the garage (2.74m) at the front of the house of size approximately 1.5m (so 1.5m by 2.74m) to encase the current front door and act as a porch/entrance room. I have attached current floor plans and a terrible piece of MS paint work to show the new idea as well as pictures of the house and inside the garage. This will also include fitting of a window at the back of the garage and a window and door on the new extension, also seeing no alternative to get light into the front office it will also include an internal window between the porch area and office space 2.