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Serving Essex & London
- 07441 343232
- Contact@foxconversions.com
Owner-led loft conversions across Southend, from Westcliff to Shoeburyness. No deposit on the build, and you deal with Chris from survey to sign-off.
A Velux conversion on a loft that already has the height starts from around £28,000. All figures include VAT, and they are for a finished, signed-off conversion, not a starting price that climbs once the work begins.
I'm Chris. I run Fox Conversions from Benfleet, twenty minutes along the A127 from Southend, and we've been converting lofts round here for over 15 years, trading since 2012 and as Fox Conversions Ltd since 2014. I do the survey myself, I sort the drawings and building control, and I'm on site through the build until it's signed off. The figures on this page come from jobs we've actually done, not a price list. Along the seafront we also cover loft conversions in Leigh-on-Sea.
Most of what we do in Southend is a rear dormer on a 1930s semi in Westcliff, Prittlewell or Eastwood, or on a Victorian terrace in Southchurch and Shoeburyness. The gap between the two figures isn't about size. It's about structure.
A semi or a terrace
The 1930s semis and the Victorian terraces already have a roof with usable volume under it. We work with the existing rafters, add steel where the calculations need it, and build the new floor into a structure broadly meant to carry weight. On a terrace, a redundant chimney often sits where the stairs want to go, and taking it out from the roofline down is part of the job, as at Trafalgar Road below.
A bungalow
The bungalows in Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness usually need the hip taken out to a gable as well as a dormer, and the ground floor ceiling joists were never sized to carry a bedroom, so the new floor has to be built up to take the load. That's where the cost sits.
Access is the Southend extra. Tight streets, no front garden, permits for the skip. We plan it before we start, and where there's nowhere to store materials we build a loading bay into the scaffold so the garden stays clear.
Rear dormer
The most common choice on the semis in Westcliff and Prittlewell and the terraces in Southchurch. Full head height across the back of the house, with room for a bedroom and an en-suite.
Hip-to-gable
For semis and bungalows with a sloping side roof, which is most of Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness. The sloping side is built up into a vertical gable wall, usually combined with a rear dormer.
Velux
Roof windows fitted into the existing slope. The lower-cost option, but only if the loft already has good height.
Roof type
A hipped roof usually needs more structural work than a straight gable end. Hip-to-gable adds cost, but it often adds the most usable space.
Head height
Where head height is tight, we can often lower the ceiling below to gain it. Raising the ridge usually isn't an option, because it takes the roof above its existing height, which permitted development doesn't allow. I measure this at the survey because it's the biggest single factor in how straightforward a job is.
A bathroom or en-suite
Plumbing, tiling and waterproofing add to the figure.
Finish
A plastered shell costs less than a fully fitted room with joinery and flooring.
These figures assume the job is done properly, the structure is right, and it's signed off. If a quote comes in a long way under them, ask what's been left out. The structural work on a bungalow especially isn't something you want done cheaply.
The figures above are for the whole job, not just the build:
You pay in stages as the work goes up. No large deposit up front.
Most loft conversions fall under permitted development, so you won't need full planning permission. You will need to apply if your house is in a conservation area, if the design goes beyond the permitted limits, or if earlier extensions have used up your permitted development allowance. Southend isn't a blanket permitted development zone: Prittlewell and Warrior Square are conservation areas, and there's an Article 4 Direction at Undercliff Gardens where some permitted development rights have been removed even though it isn't a conservation area. I check your address against the council's designations before I quote.
Southend comes under Southend-on-Sea City Council for planning, and we handle the application if one is needed.
Every conversion goes through building control, whatever the planning position. That's the part that signs off the structure and fire safety, and we manage it from submission to the final certificate.
A recent job
An end of terrace Victorian house on Trafalgar Road. The family needed a bedroom with its own en-suite and did not want to move. Two things made it awkward: no room at the front to store materials, and a redundant chimney sitting exactly where the staircase needed to go.
Before: a Victorian terrace with a loft used for storage and a chimney in the way. During: the loading bay on the scaffold, the chimney out, the steels in and the dormer framed across the back. After: a bright double bedroom and en-suite, the garden untouched, signed off by building control, and a Victorian terrace that still looks like one from the street.
Photos below. Tap any photo to see it full size. The full write-up is on the Shoeburyness case study.
We work across Essex. See every area on our Loft Conversions Essex page.
Velux from £28,000, rear dormer from £45,000, hip to gable from £55,000, all including VAT, drawings, structural calculations and building control. Every quote is itemised so you can see where the money goes, and your fixed price comes after the free survey.
Usually not. Most loft conversions are permitted development. The exceptions are the Prittlewell and Warrior Square conservation areas and the Article 4 Direction at Undercliff Gardens. I check your address at the survey, and we handle any application with Southend-on-Sea City Council.
Rule of thumb: if you can stand at the ridge and reach up without much room to spare, you've usually got the head height. Around 2.3 metres at the ridge is the comfortable mark. I measure it properly at the survey and tell you honestly whether it works, whether a dormer or hip to gable would gain you the space, or whether it isn't viable. I'd rather say no early than take a job that shouldn't happen.
The build itself typically takes six to eight weeks, longer where access is tight. Before that, allow time for drawings, building control and any party wall notices, which matter on a terrace. I run one job at a time, so there are no weeks where nobody turns up.
Yes, across the whole of Southend-on-Sea, including Westcliff, Leigh-on-Sea, Prittlewell, Eastwood, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness, and out to Rochford and Rayleigh.
The survey is free and takes about 45 minutes. I'll look at the roof, check the head height, tell you honestly what's achievable, and follow up with a fixed written quote. No obligation.
Call or WhatsApp Chris: 07441 343232
contact@foxconversions.com
Also see:
Loft Conversions Leigh-on-Sea, Loft Conversions Rayleigh
Fox Conversions Ltd
Specialists in high-end home transformations for over 15 years.
Office: 9 Dorothy Gardens, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 3AD Phone: 07441 343232
Email: contact@foxconversions.com
Registered in England & Wales: Company No. 09270847
