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Whether you’re a closet rock star or a budding photographer, it’s hard to indulge your hobby without some space. Unless your extremely lucky, most of us can’t spare a room in the main house, which is where your garage could come in.

Studio space is expensive to rent so converting your garage to a music studio not only gives you the facilities to be creative literally on your doorstep but you lose the hassle and the expensive of booking rehearsal studios.

Equally you might want to turn a long term hobby into a burgeoning business. It may be sewing, crafting, photography or running an internet shop. We can create a bespoke space to facilitate this and help you on your way. To have everything on hand but away from the dining room table is invaluable when you’re trying to keep costs down and time is tight.

We’ve created hundreds of spaces for all sorts of activities, so you think of the idea and we’ll make it happen.

With a recent increase in flexible working and self employment, more people than ever are working from home. For the price of a single year of rented office space you could create your own office from unused space in your garage. In addition to the rental saving, you will also add more value to your home than the initial outlay, making a garage conversion a shrewd financial investment too.

Ideally you want to ensure your working environment is warm, with good lighting and comfortable. We can remove the garage door and replace it with a large window, perfectly matching your existing ones, which gives you plenty of natural light to work in. We insulate the floor, ceiling and walls, in line with the latest building control guidelines so the room will be the warmest in the house. We can work with you to design the best layout. Usually this means an access door through to the kitchen or hallway to provide access to facilities while you’re working. Again, we’ll match the door and level the floor so the look is seamless.

Other considerations are location of sockets, lights and switches, cabling and internet connection. You may need to take into account storage or security. We can tailor make solutions for all those eventualities including a separate entryway.

Creating a separate home office enables you to close the door at the end of the day and separate your home/work life. Something we can all benefit from.

On average a garage conversion will add around 10% to the value of your house.  This is comparable to an extension but the average cost of a garage conversion is around £15,000 compared to the average cost of an extension at £30,000.  Therefore a garage conversions is a cost effective, simple and fast way to add value to your home as well as enjoying your new space.  

It is important to check you still have adequate parking as this will be important to future buyers but most modern houses benefit from a substantial drive as well as a garage. 

The other consideration is the time it takes to complete the work. Our conversions are usually completed within two weeks. This is considerably shorter than the average time for an extension so any interruption to family life or work is minimised.

In a word, yes. Curb appeal is one of the most important aspects of your home and we make your home look beautiful inside and out. All our windows are bespoke and are made to the exact specifications of your existing windows. This means your home looks like there was never a garage there. The window also create natural light from inside and brings the room together, no matter what you are using it for. We’ll also adjust the size of the opening if necessary to ensure it matches your existing windows.

We also ‘tooth out’ the existing brickwork on every conversion. Rather than take the short cut of bricking up with a straight line where we removed the garage door, which shows you’ve had a conversion, we use the toothing out method. This involves removing every other brick below the window and blending in the new bricks seamlessly so you’d never know there was a garage door there. It’s a small detail but it will completely transform the appearance of your home.

If you are converting your garage you will no doubt want to create a living space with plenty of light. Our recommendation is to brick up the lower half of the opening and add a large window at the front of the conversion. We match the bricks and windows perfectly to your existing home. By doing this you not only create curb appeal but you allow plenty of natural light into your new room.

Evidence suggests natural light contributes to an increase in productivity at work and a reduction to the risk of seasonal affective disorder. It is also easier on our eyes, giving us a healthier environment to work or live in. If you convert into a living area or bedroom it enhances the space enormously to have plenty of natural light flowing in. Not only does it make the room look bigger and more airy but it adds significant value on resale. We therefore highly recommend creating a matching window at the front of your garage to achieve all these benefits.

A recent study by the RAC stated that at least half of Britons never use their garage to park a car. Anecdotally we estimate the figure to be higher. Four in ten said they could not get their vehicle in because it was so full of junk.

The RAC considers one of the reasons to be the nature of modern cars. They are no longer so prone to rust from the elements and rarely do we have problems starting them in the morning anymore. With that in mind, most people just end up filling their garage with the overspill from their home and garden.

When making the choice between a beautiful extra room and finding another home for their clutter, most people will make the effort to have a clear out. Tools and bikes can go in a garden shed or outdoor storage cabinet. The rest is usually nothing we really need. With that in mind of you told most people they could add somewhere between 10 and 20% value on their home by converting their garage it seems a very sensible option.

A garage conversion usually falls into the category of permitted development. Permitted development rights allow householders to improve and extend their homes without the need to apply for planning permission. While the vast majority of our clients fall into this category, you will need to check there are no planning conditions attached to the use of the garage before you proceed. You will also need to check you are not in a conservation area or a listed building. Finally, if it is a stand alone garage you may need to apply for a change of use. 

Permitted developments still fall under the remit of building control and as such you will need to meet the building control criteria. This includes making a building control application, building to all current regulations and passing inspections to achieve final certification. We take care of all this for you and we ensure your project is certified at the end. This is all included in our quotation price.