Our FAQs.

A basement, loft, or garage conversion doesn’t usually require planning permission but there are certain circumstances when it is required. A loft conversion can usually be done under permitted development rights without planning permission, although a house in a conservation area or a listed building may require planning permission. A basement, loft, or garage conversion in a listed building would require listed building consent.

No deposit is required before the work starts. We will set out a payment plan which starts when the work starts and then payments are spread over the period of the work until completion. After completion we send you the final invoice and you hold back 5% of the original total for a month so you can check everything is working correctly.

All our conversions are checked and signed-off by a building inspector, we will take care of registering the job, organising the visits and getting the work signed off.

Yes, we are covered by the relevant public liability insurance policies and will provide you with copies of these documents.

Our work is covered by a 10 year workmanship guarantee.

There can be some dust in the air created by the work. Before any work is started all the affected areas will be covered with sheets, doors will be sealed, and floors will be protected. We will inform you if there are items that need to be removed so they don’t get damaged. If the ceilings in the 1st floor bedrooms are lowered to create the desired head room in the loft, the bedrooms will need to be vacant while that part of the work is carried out.

Yes. There may be aspects of your existing loft that make it less straightforward such as reduced head height, trusses, chimneys, purlins, awkward staircase position, and conservation rules. We can deal with all of these.

For the basement to be considered a habitable part of the house yes. To meet the required standard a basement needs to provide a waterproofing system that can deal with water being present in the floors and walls regardless of the current conditions. All our basement conversions include a sump pump, draining channels, and cavity drainage membrane on the walls and floors to manage any water that may come into the basement.

A correctly designed and installed waterproofing system can cope with large amounts of water ingress. We can discuss how this is achieved during a visit.

This type of work can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the project.

A dormer will drastically increase the size of the loft and enable a larger area of the loft to be used. It will provide natural light and ventilation. It is sometimes the only option to enable a staircase up to the loft. It isn’t a requirement but is definitely worth considering.

Some aspects of a conversion can require a party wall agreement. If the work involves a steel or timber beam supported on the party wall, or the party wall needs underpinning then yes. We will take care of obtaining a party wall agreement. Drilling holes in a party wall does not require a party wall agreement. At the start of the work we will let the neighbours know the work is due to start and reassure them and answer their questions.

Any basement can have its head height increased by underpinning the brick walls or building a retaining wall, underpinning must be carried out by an experienced underpinning team with insurance that specifically covers underpinning in basements, we can discuss this with you during our site visit.

If you have sufficient head room in the floor below the loft, we can lower the ceilings to increase the head height in the loft.

It is very common in Victorian and Edwardian houses for the existing basement to only consist of 1 or 2 rooms, and there be additional areas underneath the other rooms of the house where you have a crawl space. In these circumstances we often create new rooms in the basement by digging these rooms out and either underpinning the walls or building retaining walls as set out by a structural engineer. Underpinning must be carried out by an experienced underpinning team with insurance that specifically covers underpinning in basements, we can discuss this with you during our site visit.

Any basement or loft can have a bathroom or kitchen even if there is currently no existing plumbing.

We specialise in the installation of cinema rooms including the installation of soundproofing the walls floors ceilings, please let us know your ideas and we can advise you of what is required to achieve them.

The trades men/women working on your basement/loft conversion will be Robison Conversion staff, this is something extremely important to us, because all the individual trades men/women are the most important aspect of delivering an amazing conversion that looks stunning and works perfectly for you for you.
Our team of highly skilled joiners, plasterers, tiles, plumbers, electricians all share our passion to deliver a high quality finish for all our customers.