Measured at your home, drawn to scale, priced item by item.
Then built, inspected and signed off by Building Control.
(Guide prices)
Choose the kind of garage you have and what it should turn into. The card shows the UK guide range at once; a free visit to your house then replaces it with one fixed figure.
(Garage types)
Shirley’s 1930s semis, Chandler’s Ford’s 1970s detached houses and the new-build streets of Boorley Green each came with a different garage. This is how each one turns into living space, with its UK guide range.
A one-car garage at the side of a semi or detached house, like those beside many of Shirley’s 1930s semis, becomes a study, bedroom, playroom or gym. A footing goes in where the door was, then a wall and window chosen to suit the front of the house.
UK guide price£8,000 – £15,000
Built inside the house, often under a bedroom, as on many 2000s and 2010s homes in Boorley Green, Hedge End and Woolston. The shell is already heated space next door, so the work is mainly the new front wall, an insulated floor and fire-resisting linings overhead.
UK guide price£10,000 – £14,000
Two bays, as found on larger 1970s detached homes in Chandler’s Ford: a family room across the full width, two separate rooms, or a room at the front with storage kept behind it.
UK guide price£15,000 – £25,000
(Design visualisation)
(Room ideas)
Each card starts with the bare garage and lights up as the finished room. Follow any of them for layouts, the Building Regulations points that apply and what pushes the cost up.
(Design visualisation)
01 · Bedroom
A downstairs bedroom for a teenager, a visitor or a parent who finds the stairs hard. The new front window is sized to work as an escape route, so it is planned from the first drawing.
Bedroom conversions explained
(Design visualisation)
02 · Home office
Work gets its own room and its own door. Decide where the desk, sockets and a wired data point go before the walls are lined, and the daylight from the new window does the rest.
Home office conversions explained
(Design visualisation)
03 · Home gym
A level, insulated floor that copes with dropped weights, fresh air for hard sessions and sockets placed where the treadmill and bike will stand.
Home gym conversions explained
(Design visualisation)
04 · Living room
A snug, playroom or TV room that moves the noise out of the main lounge, heated from the house system like any other room downstairs.
Living room conversions explained
(Design visualisation)
05 · Kitchen
Open the kitchen through into the garage and gain space for a table. Where a wall comes out, a steel beam is designed and approved first, and the sink and extractor routes are checked at the survey.
Kitchen conversions explained
(Design visualisation)
06 · Shower room
A shower room beside a garage bedroom keeps everything on the ground floor for guests or an older relative. How the waste reaches the drains and where the extractor vents are settled on the drawings.
Ensuite conversions explained07 · Your idea
A studio, a music room or an annexe for a relative. Tell us how the space will be used and the layout is planned around that.
Ask at a free survey(How it works)
Step 01
We measure the garage and look at what the room will be built on: how much lower the slab is than the house floor, the damp course, the ground under the door opening, the walls and the drain runs. Then we talk about how you want to use it.
Step 02
Plans of the new room arrive with a quote split into separate items, from the footing and window to the sockets and decoration, so every pound is accounted for before you decide anything.
Step 03
We confirm whether your address needs planning permission, then submit the Building Regulations application to Southampton & Eastleigh Building Control, Test Valley, New Forest District Council or a registered Building Control approver.
Step 04
The garage door comes out, a footing and new wall with a window go in, the floor is insulated and lifted to the house level, walls and ceiling are lined, then wiring, heating and plaster follow, each stage managed by us.
Step 05
The Building Control surveyor visits at set stages and issues a completion certificate at the end. Keep it with the deeds: a buyer’s solicitor will ask for it when you sell.
(Illustration)
(Planning & Building Regulations)
Most conversions here need no planning application, every one needs Building Regulations approval, and some estates carry conditions that change the answer. We check your address before anything is drawn.
Have mine checked for freeMaking an attached or integral garage into living space is normally permitted development: the work happens inside a building that already exists, and swapping the up-and-over door for brickwork and a window is a small change to the front.
A condition on the original estate permission may have removed permitted development rights, listed homes need consent, and conservation areas such as Old Woolston, Botley, Hamble or central Romsey call for care with the front. A householder application in England costs £548.
For 2026/27 Southampton & Eastleigh Building Control lists £454 (full plans) or £452 (building notice) for a garage-to-habitable-room conversion. Test Valley charges £498 or £506 including VAT; New Forest District Council quotes each job individually.
Southampton’s parking guidance counts a garage as a space only if it measures at least 6m by 3m inside. Eastleigh’s parking standards, adopted September 2025, let the council condition new homes against garage conversion. We read your planning history for both.
Unauthorised work once became safe from enforcement after four years; for breaches from 25 April 2024 that is ten years. If you want written proof that no permission is needed, a Lawful Development Certificate for proposed work costs £274.
(Where we work)
From the semis of Shirley and Bitterne to the estates of Hedge End, Chandler’s Ford and Totton, we work across four council areas: Southampton, Eastleigh, Test Valley and New Forest. Choose a place for its local page.
Southampton · Romsey to Hamble
(Questions)
Costs, fees, council tax, planning and which council is yours, answered for homes in and around Southampton. Anything else, ring us.
Call 07930 368740Cost
UK guide figures: a single garage £8,000 to £15,000, an integral one £10,000 to £14,000, a double £15,000 to £25,000. Where yours lands depends on the floor and walls you start with, whether the room needs water (a shower room or kitchen costs more than a study) and the finish you pick. After the free survey you get one fixed figure, broken into items.
It depends on the council. Southampton & Eastleigh Building Control’s 2026/27 schedule lists £454 for a full plans application or £452 for a building notice to turn a garage into a habitable room. Test Valley, which covers Romsey and North Baddesley, charges £498 or £506 including VAT. New Forest District Council, for Totton and Marchwood, quotes each project individually. The fee is a separate line in your quote.
Council tax bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not by us or the council. A garage turned into a room that stays part of the house does not normally change the band on its own, because improvements are generally only taken into account when the home is next sold. A self-contained annexe with its own kitchen and front door can be assessed separately, so ask the VOA before planning one.
Planning
Usually not: turning an attached or integral garage into living space normally counts as permitted development. An application is needed if a condition on your estate took those rights away, if the home is a listed building, or if a conservation area setting means the new front needs consent. Letting rooms is a separate question: Southampton’s city-wide Article 4 direction, in force since 23 March 2012, means turning a family home into a small HMO needs planning permission.
It can. Some estates were approved with a condition that keeps garages for parking or removes permitted development rights. Southampton’s parking guidance treats a garage as a parking space only if it is at least 6m by 3m inside, and Eastleigh’s parking standards from September 2025 allow conditions against converting garages on new homes. We check your property’s planning history before any drawing starts.
Southampton City Council covers Shirley, Bassett, Bitterne, Woolston and Sholing. Eastleigh Borough Council covers Eastleigh, Bishopstoke, Fair Oak, Chandler’s Ford, Hedge End, West End, Botley, Hamble, Netley and Bursledon. Test Valley handles Romsey and North Baddesley, and New Forest District Council handles Totton and Marchwood, though planning on their rural western edges can fall to the New Forest National Park Authority. Southampton and Eastleigh share one Building Control service.
Build and value
We don’t give a one-size answer, because it depends on the approvals and the room. The order is always the same: survey, drawings and price, approval, then the build with inspections at set stages. If you use a full plans application, the law gives the council five weeks to decide, or two months if you agree to more time. Your quote lists the build stages in sequence so you can plan around them.
In most cases, yes. Nearly everything is done within the garage itself and at the old door opening, so the kitchen and bathroom carry on as normal. Before starting we agree where materials and any skip will go, who parks where on the drive, and the working hours.
Often, because it adds a habitable room, but the effect varies by street and house, and losing a garage counts for more where parking is tight. A local estate agent can give a view on your property. Either way, buyers’ solicitors will ask for the Building Regulations completion certificate, so a properly signed-off room is the one that helps a sale.
Working with us
We do, start to finish. The survey, drawings, approvals and every stage on site run through one point of contact until the completion certificate is issued, so there is always someone who knows your job.
The city itself (Shirley, Bassett, Bitterne, Woolston and Sholing) and the towns around it: Eastleigh, Bishopstoke, Fair Oak, Chandler’s Ford, Romsey, North Baddesley, Totton, Marchwood, Hedge End, West End, Botley, Hamble, Netley and Bursledon. Just outside those? Send your postcode and we will tell you.
Ring 07930 368740 or fill in the form below with your name, number and postcode. We’ll phone back to find a visiting time that suits you.
(Free survey)
Send a few details and we’ll ring to arrange a visit. There’s no charge and no obligation to go ahead.
