Question 1

Why Choose Wigan Builders?

Accepted Answer

Here at Wigan Builders, we know that when it comes to your new building project, whether it’s a loft conversion or a kitchen renovation, you’re after a specific set of skills. You need professionalism, value-for-money, friendliness and efficiency from your building team. That’s why we pride ourselves on making those our core business values. We want to do such a good job for each of our customers that they work as our marketing team and recommend us to everyone they know!

We charge you what our quote says, we take as long as we tell you we will, we use builders that are approachable, can communicate well with you and don’t bother you and we do whatever we can to make your dreams come true!

We believe we have the skills, knowledge, experience and customer base to back up our claims when we say we are one of the best building teams in the north-west and definitely the best in Wigan.

Question 2

How much does a loft conversion cost in Wigan?

Accepted Answer

While it’s impossible to give an exact figure on each type of loft conversions, due to each individual job’s requirements, sizes, types, materials etc. we’ll give you a range to expect for each type of popular conversion available, but you’ll usually be looking in the early to mid £10s of thousands.

We’ll start with the most expensive type of loft conversion in Wigan: Dormer loft conversions. These will require a lot of construction to create an effective, beautiful loft, so they typically cost the most. This is due to the extra labour, skills and materials needed to build the structure into your roof while keeping it secure and safe. Dormers will usually set you back £35,000 - £60,000.

Hip to gable conversions usually don’t require much construction due to mostly making use of the existing space available in the loft and along the roof, which makes them relatively cheap. These will typically set you back to the tune of £30,000 - £35,000 but will of course increase in price if you’d like to add a dormer or double dormer at the same time to your conversion. It is worth noting however, it is much cheaper to do it all at the same time if you know you’d like it all, as some of the cost of materials, labour and skill will already be factored into the price. For example getting a seperate hip to gable, then seperate dormers would cost anything from £100,000 to £155,000, while getting them at the same time would usually cost below £100,000, saving you tens of thousands by planning ahead!

Mansard loft conversions. These typically cost £35,000 - £50,000, depending on the size of the roof, the type of materials you’d like to use and the fittings and furnishings you’d like us to install, if any. Similar in price to dormers as the final product is fairly similar and they require similar levels of construction. The price saved is usually in the cost of the smaller windows a mansard needs compared to a dormer.

Finally, the cheapest kind of loft conversion is a Velux conversion at £12,000 - £20,000. This is because velux conversions don’t require any construction other than installing a velux skylight window, and insulating and reinforcing the floor of the loft (as well as installing an entrance or stairs into the loft and any internal walls).

Question 3

How long does a loft conversion take in Wigan?

Accepted Answer

Loft conversions are typically the quickest type of house modification in Wigan apart from garage conversions. This is because it doesn’t require building any new structures, just modifying existing ones into liveable spaces. Velux conversions are the quickest conversions if you’re looking for a new room as they can usually be done in less than 4 weeks and very rarely take more than 6.

Hip to gable conversions are the second fastest, as they don’t require much construction work beyond flattening the end slope of the roof. They will usually take 4 - 6 weeks with 5 being the typical average. Dormer conversions are the next fastest with 4-8 weeks, with 6 weeks usually being the typical timeframe, depending on the way you would like the conversion furnished. Finally Mansard conversions take the longest out of all conversions due to the complexity of the construction required at 6-12 weeks to completion, with 8 weeks being the normal speed at which one is built.

Question 4

How long does an extension take to build in Wigan?

Accepted Answer

While extensions are usually cheaper than loft conversions, the drawback is in the time it takes for an extension. As extensions require a fair amount of construction, foundations laying and closing up, they can take a few weeks longer than loft conversions. On average a one storey extension in Wigan will take 6 - 12 weeks, with the average being 8 weeks from start of works to completion of the extension. If you’re looking into building a two-storey extension, you can safely add another 6-8 weeks on to the projected completion date.

Question 5

How much will an extension to my home cost in Wigan?

Accepted Answer

While some may believe extensions are very expensive to add onto their homes, they’re not that costly and add a lot of value onto your home, at times as much as 3 times the cost of the extensions, turning an £18,000 investment into £54,000 extra value!

Most of the cost of an extension goes into the cost of materials, labour and construction required for a new wing to your property. There’s also the cost of decorations and fittings that you’d like for your new room. All this adds up to an average of £1,600 - £2,600 per square meter. This means it’s usually a much cheaper option than going for a loft or basement extension and is usually more likely to gain planning permission. As we have decades of experience performing extensions all over the north-west, give us a call if you want to talk about how we can help you out!

The final cost of an extension in Wigan usually turns out to be £19,000 for an average home’s extension with one storey. Of course if you know you would like a two-storey extension, it’s much more efficient to ask for that straight away than try to add another story at a later date! Getting a two-storey will cost around £29,000 - £30,000, whereas trying to change it later on will be closer to £40,000 as the existing extension would need the roof broken down in such a way to keep the structure of the extension itself secure which is fairly complex and challenging!