Loft Conversion in Shoreham, Littlehampton and all Locations in the Worthing Area
Choose SD Building & Roofing for a loft conversion and, as well as increasing the amount of habitable space in your property, you also add to its value. A conversion is smaller in scale than an extension as far as the amount of work required goes, but homeowners in Worthing and the Littlehampton and Shoreham areas, as well as those across West Sussex, should still do their homework and build a clear understanding of what the project entails.
With some loft conversion designs, builders and contractors will need to make major modifications to increase the amount of headroom and floorspace.
The amount of modification needed will naturally have an impact on overall job completion times. The project scope, the planning and design elements, and factoring in any relevant parts of the current UK Building Regulations, will also make a significant difference to the eventual project timeline.
Although loft conversions are less disruptive than building house extensions, you should always go into a project knowing what to expect.
Keeping Loft Conversions Neighbourly
Based on the property type you own in Worthing, Littlehampton or Shoreham, you need to consider any impact a project might have on adjacent homes and neighbours. We believe that the way you interact with your neighbours is as important a part of the timeline as the construction of loft conversions. On completion of the design work, give neighbours a minimum of two months of notice prior to our builders, tradespeople and contractors arriving onsite.
Should a loft conversion involve work on any wall that you share with another property, the Party Wall Act comes into play. If you fail to notify a neighbour of upcoming work, it could delay the project timeline by several months.
The rest of the timeline will typically play out as follows:
Planning – We survey your property and hold a consultation with you to gain an understanding of what you want from a loft conversion. On accepting our quotation, we will return to take measurements and evaluate whether the job needs planning permission or not. After signing the contract, we agree a start date for the conversion and order in any materials we may need.
Week 1 – Materials arrive onsite, and we construct a scaffold to access the roof from the outside. We remove the roof (if it is part of the specification) and build the structural skeleton for your new loft conversion.
Week 2 – Electricians, plumbers and heating engineers complete the first-fix phase of the project, while our builders and roofers erect the staircase which grants access to the loft and connects it to the rest of the home.
Week 3 – Our tradespeople install the windows and rooflights before moving into the loft space, insulating it and completing the plastering work.
Week 4 – The electricians, plumbers and gas engineers return to site to finish the second-fix stage. This ends their involvement in the project.
Week 5 – Our team completes the last of the roofing work on loft conversions before moving on to tackle any decorative or tiling work.
Weeks 6 to 8 – As the end of the project nears, we apply the finishing touches and liaise with local building control departments in Worthing, Littlehampton, Shoreham and the surrounding West Sussex area to obtain a seamless sign-off and to have the required completion certificates issued on time.
Not all loft conversions will follow the same path. A minor rooflight conversion may only take our builders a few days to complete, whereas a mansard loft conversion which requires major structural changes could easily run over the timeline above by several weeks. We will, of course, give you an accurate breakdown of the expected timeline when we present our quotation.
Having a loft converted with good planning in place will result in smoother project delivery and keep relationships with your neighbours healthy.