Garage conversion ideas
The rooms that suit a single garage are a bedroom, a home office, a playroom or family room, a gym, and a room for a parent with its own shower room and small kitchen. A bedroom costs €15,000 to €25,000 at a standard finish, VAT included. What changes from one idea to the next is the extras and the rules: a bedroom needs a fire escape window, and a shower room depends on where the drains are.
What a garage can become, what each room costs, and what each one needs before it's built.
Free and no obligation. Your plan goes to one builder, not a list.
- €15,000–€25,000a bedroom, standard finish
- 5rooms that fit a single garage
- 0.33 m²escape window for a bedroom
- 6–10 weekson site
Five rooms that fit a single garage
| Idea | Standard finish | Mid-range | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A bedroom | €15,000 to €25,000 | €20,000 to €30,000 | A window to escape through, mains smoke alarms, and the drains if it gets a shower room |
| A home office | €15,000 to €25,000 | €20,000 to €30,000 | Sockets, a network cable and daylight, planned before the walls are boarded |
| A playroom or family room | €15,000 to €25,000 | €20,000 to €30,000 | A door to the hall or an opening into the house |
| A gym or hobby room | €15,000 to €25,000 | €20,000 to €30,000 | A floor that takes weights, and air: an opening window and a vent |
| A room for a parent | €24,000 to €43,000 | €35,000 to €58,000 | A shower room and a small kitchen, so the drains and the layout lead |
National prices for an attached single garage, VAT included; the room for a parent includes its shower room and small kitchen. The planner on this page works out your county, finish and extras.
Plan your garage conversion
Four quick taps, and your plan fills in as you answer: the cost in your county, the planning position for your kind of garage and how many weeks it takes. Contact details come last, and only if you want a builder to price it.
An attached garage made into a playroom or family room, mid-range finish: €20,000 to €30,000, including VAT.
How the estimate is worked out
A garage conversion is priced as one job, because the walls, roof and floor slab are already standing: insulating the floor, walls and roof, building up the door opening with a window, wiring, heating, plastering and the finish. The range for your finish is adjusted to your county the same way building rates move between regions of Ireland, VAT at 13.5% included. A shower room, a small kitchen or a steel beam into the house go on top. Totals are rounded to the nearest €1,000. Use it to plan with. It isn't a quote: a builder prices your garage after seeing it.
Ideas that make a garage room work
- Swap the door for a wall and window. The room gets daylight and looks like part of the house: garage door to window.
- Open it into the house. A steel beam in the wall between turns the garage into part of the kitchen or living room. The opening is an extra, from €2,000 to €4,000.
- Put a shower room against the house wall. Near the soil pipe the waste run is short; at the far end, the floor may have to be dug for a new drain.
- Raise the floor to the hall. An insulated floor on a damp-proof membrane brings it level, so there's no step down into a cold room.
- Keep the front as a store. Convert the back of the garage and keep the door and a strip of storage behind it, for bikes and bins.
Which ideas need the most rules
Every garage conversion has to meet the Building Regulations, exempt from planning or not: walls, floor and roof insulated to today's standard, a damp-proof floor, ventilation, mains-wired smoke alarms and, in a bedroom, a window big enough to climb out of. An exempt conversion of 45 m² or less needs no commencement notice.
A bedroom or a room for a parent is somewhere people sleep, so it needs the escape window and smoke alarms on the mains, linked to the rest of the house. An office, a playroom or a gym still needs the insulation, the damp-proof floor and the ventilation.
An attached garage at the side or back of the house can be converted without planning permission under Class 1, as long as the garage isn't made bigger and the conversion, added to every extension built since 1 October 1964, stays within 45 m². A garage at the front, one built into the house facing the road, or a detached garage isn't covered by Class 1: get a section 5 declaration (€80) from the council first, and expect to apply for permission to make a detached garage somewhere to sleep or live.
Questions before you convert
What can I turn my garage into?
A bedroom, a home office, a playroom or family room, a gym or hobby room, or a room for a parent with a shower room and a small kitchen.
Which garage conversion costs the least?
An office, playroom or gym at a standard finish, with no plumbing. A shower room, a small kitchen or an opening into the house each add to it.
Can I convert half my garage?
Yes. Converting the back and keeping the front as a store with the door is common. It still needs insulation and a proper wall between the two.
Does a garage gym or office need planning permission?
An attached garage at the side or back of the house can be converted without planning permission under Class 1, as long as the garage isn't made bigger and the conversion, added to every extension built since 1 October 1964, stays within 45 m². A garage at the front, one built into the house facing the road, or a detached garage isn't covered by Class 1: get a section 5 declaration (€80) from the council first, and expect to apply for permission to make a detached garage somewhere to sleep or live.
Every guide and county page
Conversions
Costs, rules and help
The room you need is already built
Pick the kind of garage, what it becomes and the finish to see the cost in your county. When you want a firm price, your plan goes to a single vetted builder for your area.