Mazter Homes

In simple terms, a standard single garage is around 14m2, while a double garage is around 28m2. How you use this extra space depends on your needs and the layout of your home. For example, if your garage adjoins your living room, consider using it as a home office, a home cinema, a playroom or even a guest bedroom with a small en suite bathroom. Or, if it’s attached to the kitchen, you could knock through to create a larger, open-plan space.

Alternatively, you could dedicate the extra square metres to a utility room with storage and space for laundry appliances. You might even be able to devote half of a large garage to living space and leave the other half for a car.

Is my loft a useable space?
You’ll want to start by assessing whether your roof space is suitable for conversion. Most are, but there are three main things to check:

Internal height. Measure from the top of the ceiling joist to underneath the ridgeboard in the apex. It needs to measure 2,500mm to suitably convert.
Roof pitch. Measure the angle of the roof. The higher the pitch angle, the higher the central head height is likely to be.
Footprint. As a minimum rule of thumb, internal rules should measure 5,500mm side to side, inclusive of chimney, and 7,500mm front to back.

Whilst it is possible to attempt a DIY conversion, with expert help for some of the trickier aspects, the large amount of work involved often results in many people choosing to contract a specialist loft conversion company to undertake the task.

1. Appoint Pro Architects Architects/technician or building surveyor. They will prepare drawings and designs for your proposal, obtain the necessary Approvals and if required they will also help you find a suitable builder and manage the project for you. See do I need an architect? and find a local architect here.

2. Appoint a Mazter Homes company. These companies offer a one-stop shop for loft conversions: their design department will prepare the necessary drawings and obtain the necessary approvals and their construction departments will translate the designs into reality.

3. Use an experienced builder. Some builders have experience of loft conversions and may well be able to offer you a package similar to the loft conversion companies.

Make sure they visit the site and quote based on accurate measurements. Knowing how you want to use the space will be essential to getting a few good quotations.

Do I need planning permission, building regulations or party wall agreement?
Planning permission is not normally required, unless you are extending the roof space or exceed specified limits e.g. any dormer is higher than the current highest part of the roof or you live within a conservation area.

Building regulations apply to loft conversions to ensure, for example, that the structural strength of the new floor is sufficient, the stability of the existing structure is not endangered, there are safely designed stairs to the new floor and reasonable sound insulation exists between the conversion an the rooms below. There are also fire safety regulations with which you may need to comply.

You will also need to consider whether your loft conversion project is subject to The Party Wall Act 1996 under which you must give adjoining owners notice.

So just to recap:
Do an initial assessment of your existing loft space
Think about how you want to use the space
Consider who you would like to do the work and get quotes based on measurements
Consider the planning, party wall and building regulation requirements of your conversion
Pre-empt the pitfalls with your chosen contractor
Get a contract in place for the works with your contractor/builder/loft conversion company and architect so you know who is responsible for what

Once you are ready to commence works, be sure to inform your insurer that you are undertaking building works to ensure your cover is not affected

We have over 30 years of industry experience with a highly skilled in-house workforce.

Mazter Homes provide a 6-month workmanship warranty, but in addition to this as we are members and affiliated with The Federation Of Master Builders, we can also offer extra insurances at your request.
We also have some products that we use that come with their own guarantee.

The construction industry is very rewarding as we get to see the finished project that we have started from scratch. We love to talk to each customer to discuss their ideas and visions for their project, helping them to create this vision and working with them throughout the project is very satisfying. Building relationships with customers, communicating daily with updates is something that we pride ourselves on, we provide fantastic customer service which we believe is key to providing a professional and efficient service to complete the project to a high standard, whilst eliminating stress for the customer.

We feel that we offer something slightly different to other companies. We can off the whole experience from start to finish, Our team is completely in-house so we know that the job in hand is by trusted contractors. Every client is treated as an individual, not a number. We sit down with the client and find out exactly what they are planning to do, we then take on the role of communicating with the local authorities to check that the project in mind is permitted. We have our own in-house architectural designer, structural engineer and a member of staff that is dedicated to submitting the planning applications making the whole experience stress free, as we realize that carrying out a project no matter the size can be stressful.

Dealing with one company for the whole project is more beneficial to the client, no hidden costs, everything explained from the beginning and importantly a relationship of trust formed with one party/contractor as opposed to numerous ones.

When providing an estimate, we meet with the client to present this so we can explain and show the breakdown of the build through labour versus materials costs, so the client knows exactly where their money is being spent and then can adjust accordingly if needed to meet their budget.

Each individual client has a dedicated customer service and project manager assigned to them throughout the whole process which they can contact at any time throughout the project, again this eliminates any communication problems and enables the client to know daily the progression of their build/project.