Garage Conversions & Outbuildings in Dorset

Converting an integral garage is the least expensive way to add a proper room to a house, because the foundations, walls and roof are already there and paid for. A garden room or annexe is the next step up, and both have become a great deal more common since home working settled in.

We build both across Poole, Bournemouth and Dorset – insulated, damp-proofed, ventilated and signed off properly, so it counts as habitable floor area when you come to sell.

Getting the sign-off right

A converted garage is only worth what it adds if it is a legally habitable room. That means insulation to current standards in the floor, walls and roof, a damp-proof membrane properly lapped to the DPC, adequate ventilation, and building control approval.

Plenty of conversions get done without it. They then show up on a buyer's survey and knock more off the price than the conversion cost to do correctly.

Garden rooms and permitted development

A garden room is usually permitted development if it is single storey, under 2.5m high within 2m of a boundary, and not used as separate living accommodation. The moment it has a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom and someone lives in it independently, it is an annexe and needs planning permission. We will be straight with you about which one you are actually asking for.