How long does a garage conversion take?
Most single garages take 6 to 10 weeks on site, once the drawings and the price are agreed. A section 5 declaration or a planning application comes before that: allow about 12 weeks for planning permission.
From the first drawing to the first night in the room, step by step, with the waits that come before the builder.
Free and no obligation. Your plan goes to one builder, not a list.
- 6–10 weekson site for most single garages
- 0commencement notices for an exempt conversion of 45 m² or less
- 12 weeksextra if it needs planning permission
- 14–28 dayscommencement notice, where needed
Before the builder starts
Most of the waiting happens before anyone lifts a block. For an attached garage at the side or back that is exempt, it is drawings and prices: a simple layout, a builder's visit, and a written price to compare. Two to four weeks is common if you move quickly.
For a front, built-in or detached garage, ask the council for a section 5 declaration first. If the answer is that you need permission, a planning application takes 8 weeks to a decision and 4 more to the end of the appeal period. Where a commencement notice is needed, it goes in 14 to 28 days before work starts.
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 bedroom, 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.
Week by week on site
- Week 1: strip out and set out. The garage is emptied, the door taken out, and the opening and the floor checked against the drawings.
- Weeks 1 to 2: the door opening. A footing for the new wall, blockwork up to the window, a lintel, and the window or door fitted.
- Weeks 2 to 3: the floor. A damp-proof membrane, insulation and a screed or timber floor, raised to the house level. A screed needs time to dry before flooring goes down.
- Weeks 3 to 4: roof and walls. Insulation in the roof or a new warm roof, and insulated lining on the walls.
- Weeks 4 to 6: first fix. Cables, heating pipes and any shower room waste run before the walls are boarded.
- Weeks 6 to 8: plaster, second fix and finish. Skim, sockets and lights, radiators, doors, skirting, paint and flooring.
- Extra weeks: a shower room, a steel beam into the house or a new roof add time; a plain office or gym can finish inside six weeks.
The order changes from job to job, but the floor drying and the plaster drying are the parts no one can rush.
What makes it take longer
- A flat roof that needs replacing. Stripping and rebuilding it adds days and needs dry weather.
- A slab that comes up. Breaking out and relaying a floor adds a week and more drying time.
- A shower room. Drainage, tiling and a second visit from the plumber.
- Opening into the house. Propping, a steel beam and making good on the house side.
- Choices made late. Windows, flooring and tiles ordered after the start can hold the job up for weeks.
Questions before you convert
How long does it take to convert a garage?
Most single garages take 6 to 10 weeks on site, once the drawings and the price are agreed. A section 5 declaration or a planning application comes before that: allow about 12 weeks for planning permission.
Can I live in the house during a garage conversion?
Yes. The work is mostly inside the garage, with a few noisy days when the door opening is built up and if a wall into the house is opened.
How long before I can use the room?
Once the plaster and any screed are dry and the electrics are signed off. Painting and flooring go on last.
Does a garage conversion take longer than an extension?
No, it is usually much quicker. The foundations, walls and roof are already there, so the slow early weeks of an extension don't happen.
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.