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A Family Company established over 30 years. Econoloft has built over 8,500 successful conversions across many parts of the country. Econoloft offers a bespoke service. We evaluate every property and advise on merits and costs of a whole range of options. Visit our website for further information.
Econoloft carry out all aspects of your loft conversion from plans to final plaster. If you are considering a Velux conversion or a hip to gable we are a specialised company who only carry out Loft Conversions Nationwide and everything is worked on in house. We manufacture our own steels with our in house drawing office.
Econoloft are members in the following bodies.
Guild of Master Craftsmen. Fair Trades Advisory Bureau. The League of Professional Craftsmen. Federation of Master Builders. Government endorsed Trust Mark.
We had a pretty straight forward loft conversion with dormer. Overall we are happy with the loft conversion, it has created a lovely large bedroom and en-suite and has improved the house no end. However the whole process was not without its negatives. Our joiner was Kem, or as we called him the Scarlet Pimpernel (always dissapearing). He had about 5 seperate jobs on the go (not all from Econoloft) and was very disorganised unfortunately which meant he never turned up when he should, wasn't around to co-ordinate deliveries, other workmen etc and this resulted in work having to be re-done because of mistakes made and delays to the build. I didn't expect this from Econoloft as this is the main reason why we chose this company as we thought we would be dealing with Econoloft employees not contractors... After completing the first 80% of the work in about 3 weeks it took another 6-7 weeks to complete the remaining 20%. Thankfully Duanne (the plumber) was great and basically took over the site management from Kem and answered my questions and concerns. One further negative is the plastering. Jon Bailey was the one given our job and unfortunately he does not have a steady hand... The quality of his work was quite frankly awful. Without Kem around I had to take photo's of his work and send them to Econoloft to show the poor workmanship. To their credit they got someone round to sort it, unfortunately they asked Jon Bailey to do it... I think he must have done the minimum required as he filled in the hole's but without any care or attention. Talking to some of the other workers this is not the first time that they have seen this. His poor plastering work has become more apparent now we have had our decorating done and it really has left a bad taste in the mouth as we are more than likely going to have to get some walls re-plastered and then re-decorated again. Overall we are happy with the work, it has improved our house no end but a couple of people have let us and Econoloft down I feel which is a great shame. I did have quite a few conversations with the office and on the whole they were helpful, sympathetic and dealt with my issues, but I can't help feeling still a little annoyed by our experience. I would actually recommend this company to others, but just ensure that the Joiner chosen for you is focussed on your job alone and hasn't got numerous jobs on the go and the plastering is done by someone other than the forementioned... Thanks. Dave Moss (conversion completed end of July 2012).
Hello – We have just had a loft conversion done by Econoloft on our maisonette and are thrilled with it. Our initial contact with Paul who came round on numerous occasions to go through ideas and plans was great and we never felt like he was giving us the hard sell. Adam and Jim were our head joiners and were very professional throughout keeping us updated with all aspects. Despite having the worst weather possible during the majority of the build it only overran by a couple of weeks and this included having a new roof which we hadn’t asked for at the start. As we only had the shell done Adam was great in giving us advice on how to complete it, which we are currently doing. We would be more than happy to use Econoloft again if we ever had to do another conversion.
We recently had our loft converted by Econoloft. Overall we are extremely happy with the result. We found Econoloft to be helpful, punctual and the overall conversion is exactly as required. A big plus was the professionalism of the craftsmen who undertook our conversion, a special mention should go to Kevin, Tim and Nick the joiners on our job. We have had a few queries and issues, all have been dealt with efficiently and satisfactorily. Would I recommend Econoloft to others.... A definite Yes!
Hi - we used Econoloft very recently for our loft conversion and are absolutely thrilled to bits. Adam and Jim, the head joiners were fantastic, always respectful of our house, answered my hundreds of questions on my ever growing list and their finish is superb. I can honestly say we had no problems during the build, and everything ran to time. We made some changes as the build went on and that was not a problem in anyway, and the plumber and electrician were also fantastic too and again not one single. I would absolutely recommend them without a shadow of a doubt and happy to show anyone round who wants to look at their finish (we are in Beckenham, Kent). We felt we really got value for money and that what they promised they really delivered on.
I am very pleased with Econoloft. They converted our loft last year. The whole process went smoothly. the workmen were hardworking and polite. The office staff have been extremely helpful in providing replacement paperwork that I had mislaid but need to sell our house. I would use the company again and recommend them without hesitation.
We are very disappointed with Econoloft’s poor customer relations. When Terry came to see us in June he promised the earth and assured us that nothing was a problem for Econoloft and that work could be started in September after your workers annual holidays so that our loft would be completed well before the end of the year. As soon as you received our money, it was a different story. We told him we had no experience in this field and wanted a company to handle everything for us.
Here is our list of complaints:
1. Howard, your surveyor, did not tell us that extra supports would have to be put in our two bedrooms. Yet the letter you sent us stated, "as discussed". There was no discussion with Howard or anyone else and that was the first time we became aware of this. We had no idea of what that would entail in terms of disruption, work etc. He had telephoned us to ask if the upstairs wall was breezeblock or cavity brick wall. He was clearly put out when we did not know the answer for certain. We are not surveyors. He should have checked on that during his time in our property, or returned to ascertain the facts. We have now found out that any good surveyor can tell cavity walls by the placement of the bricks. We also had to fit in with Howard’s time schedule and not ours. We have since consulted with a structural engineer who has confirmed we do NOT need extra supports. A major mistake by Econoloft.
2. Nobody took into account the steel beam in our stair-well ceiling until I brought it up with Mark in your planning department. This despite the fact that I had asked Terry what was under the box (surrounding the beam). He tapped on it and said that it was empty! I went to the loft myself and saw that there was indeed, a beam. As a result, new plans had to be drawn up to reflect the fact that the beam was there. You were unable to confirm that this beam could be removed until your team was on site. This is another reason we lost trust and confidence in your company. We needed to know one hundred percent that this beam would be able to be removed before proceeding because putting the staircase in one of the bedrooms as an alternative would reduce space significantly. This would not be an option.
3. When Terry came to see us he informed us that our loft conversion is a very easy one and would be allowed under permitted development. I understood that, but I advised him that I would like a certificate of lawful development so that if we sold further down the road we could pass that on to the people buying the property. Paul North told me that Terry has no expertise in this area. In that case, please tell Terry to tell his potential clients to check that information out with head office rather than misleading people. He does claim to be a surveyor with over 30 years experience in loft building.
4. We had to send a further cheque for £75 despite the fact you already had a £1500 deposit. The other problem is that at no time did he mention the possibility that the glass in the dormer at the rear of the property would have to be frosted glass. Furthermore, Howard had the land registry plan of this house and area, which we gave him on the day he came to do the survey. We showed both Terry and Howard the position of the house and both said there would be no problems under permitted development. You are the experts, not us. They were also both aware that the original house had been developed in 1977. Should you not have checked with Hillingdon to see if there were any potential problems?
5. As you were fully aware that we needed the loft done by the end of the year, and knew that we requested a certificate of lawful development from day one, why did nobody inform us that it had to be requested with plans. We assumed in our innocence that you had already taken care of this. So as a result we lost a further month or so. This was your fault.
6. Trying to get hold of people at your company has also been a nightmare. People always seem to be on holiday, do not have access to our information, or you will get back to us etc, etc.
When I wrote to you before, I was told you were on maternity leave, but would read all correspondence. I heard nothing back from you or any other director, just a curt email from Paul North in planning who did nothing to address our concerns and worries. For future reference, if someone contacts you with trust issues, the way to go would be to tell them that you are a professional company and that you will address any concerns that they may have and put them at ease.
Our Econoloft experience has been a bad one.
When I spoke with Christine Mulvaney last week, she told me you do not usually give refunds. I trust she is mistaken as it does not cost £1500 to do a survey and plans. I expect a reasonable refund as well as the return of our undated cheque to the value of £180 made out to Aedis Regulatory Services.
Any reputable company would have given us a reasonable refund along with an apology. Instead you have chosen to rip us off. We will be taking this matter further.
1. Howard is one of our surveyor’s, who attends site to determine the correct sizes of the dwelling to enable plans to be drawn up for the proposed loft conversion, Howard would not be able to determine that “extra supports would have to be put in” that would be determined when the plans are being drawn up in the drawing office, when the construction and structural appraisal was undertaken. The letter sent to yourself stating “as discussed” referred to the conversations that the drawing office had with yourself during the preparation of the plans, when it came to light that your dwelling was wider upstairs than it is downstairs, and at that time is was determined that additional posts would be a preferable enhanced support to the end of the loft supporting beams, as the first floor external walls were much thinner than the ground floor walls. Yes a surveyor can tell a cavity wall by the placement of the bricks, but as you are aware your dwelling has tile hanging over the entire first floor, so no brick can be seen, and tile hanging is not generally considered a common finish to cavity wall brickwork, but a finish to a thinner block or timber construction.
2. The beam you refer to spans over the first floor landing, supporting struts from the original roof, when the roof was to be removed for the dormer construction the loading would be removed, you asked what the beam was constructed from, we responded that we could confirm that on site but as the beam was unloaded, when the conversion was to be undertaken it would be removed during the construction, and would have no effect upon your dwelling or upon the neighbours side. In essence it is irrelevant what the beam was constructed from, many methods of cutting different materials are available in the construction industry. The most suitable and correct method would be used during the construction, the new loft conversion would have a new independent structurally supported floor, that would be checked and approved under the Building Regulations, thus the beam you refer to would be rendered redundant.
3. Yes Terry was correct, your loft conversion was considered an easy one, we undertake many more complex loft conversions every year, Terry give an opinion that your conversion should be allowed under permitted development, as following a change in the planning regulations of October 2008, many such conversions were taken out of the full planning regime. However certain criteria have to be met to enable a construction to be deemed as permitted development, your proposed conversion met almost every one, apart from the main one being that your dwelling “does not have any permitted development rights”, they were removed as a condition imposed by Hillingdon council as part of a previous approval to split your dwelling from the larger dwelling, and allow the construction of a significant number of new dwelling within the original dwellings garden. (This was only ascertained from the decision of Hillingdon to refuse to issue a LDC) We did not state Terry has no expertise in this area, we confirmed to your question, that it is not either Terry’s or Howards specific field, Planning Law is changing constantly, and all conversions are looked at individually at head office to ascertain if we believe the proposals require planning Permission, or are considered as Permitted Development, which is what was done in your case.
4. We requested a cheque for £75 as quite clearly our order form states Local Authority fees are not included in the contract price, whether any glass in the dormer would need to be frosted would be determined whether Hillingdon considered the dormer to face a side elevation, following the order for your conversion we heard from the FMB that some councils were challenging if an elevation was a principle or a side elevation, and as your dwelling has an un-usual orientation it is not that easy to see how Hillingdon would consider the proposals, Both Terry and Howard gave an opinion in good faith, but planning rules were being challenged weekly on many issues so Econoloft have to keep ahead of such views and take our client best interest to account, such was one of the reasons why it was considered prudent to make an application for a LDC, and not just look at the Planning Portal advise for loft conversions.
5. You made an order on 8th July, a survey was then undertaken, provisional plans were sent on 26th July, you requested the loft made larger for which revised plans were sent 9th Aug, you then requested we change the plans back as originally proposed sent out 22nd Aug, then you requested a note that the landing beam was to be totally removed, of which more revised plans were sent out 22nd Aug, you returned your signed plans which were received on 24th August, at that time yes we should have requested that you send the LA cheque for £75 for which we apologised for our error but Chris in our contract dept rang and spoke to yourselves and you sent the cheque on the 25th Aug which was received on Fri 26th Aug and the application for a LDC was sent out on Tue 30th Aug after the Monday bank holiday, no company makes any application until they receive confirmation that the plans are acceptable, so we feel no real time was lost in the preparation of the application.
6. You state trying to get hold of anyone has been a nightmare, however our internal system records the many conversations between yourselves and Mark in the drawing office, Chris in contracts, and Paul in the drawing office when your email was passed over as Chris was unfortunately on her Holidays, staff do take holidays and we try our best that someone is available to answer any calls, you were informed that the application was sent out on 30th Aug and that the procedure usually take up to eight weeks, Chris did also inform you that Hillingdon had validated the application under ref 21672/APP/2011/2126 and had a provisional decision date of 26th Oct 2011. Until a favourable decision has been given by a Local Authority, it is difficult to predict when a conversion can commence, and when that decision is given we can then contact you with prospective start dates, unfortunately in this case Hillingdon refused to issue a certificate on 9th Sept for the reasons above, thus to take this project further Planning Permission would be required, we offered to make such an application but you then cancelled your contract.
1.05
1.0 out of 5 -
14 Oct 2011
dont use them for the following reasons- work standard -poor (I saw a video with leak in the tank and bathroom). customer care - ver bad. some times they won't care to take quote.
Company response : Econoloft feel this an unfair response. We build over 200 loft conversions a year and the only bad thing you can find about us is a leaking tank which may have numerous reasons as to how this happened. This may have occurred due to another plumbing and not down to Econoloft. We have worked very hard over the past couple of years improving all aspects of work in the office and on site and will always continue to do so. If we are unable to quote I am sure there are reasons the property cannot be extended and we are sorry you feel strongly enough to write a review even though we have had no correspondence directly from you.
4.35
4.3 out of 5 -
14 Sep 2011
Overall delighted with our dormer loft conversion by Econoloft.
What we liked: helpful yet not pushy salesman; fair price and very clear contract so knew what was and was not included; excellent and efficient written and verbal communications with office staff; flexibility to vary design details prior to project start and also as project progressed; felt the company was on our side; builder (and his team) gained our confidence very quickly: pro-active, excellent listener to our wishes, accommodated all our changes to the original design and offered design improvements as the project progressed. Nothing seemed too much to do, or even undo, in terms of changes we wanted too make; excellent standard of workmanship by builders; loved the fact that I was able to dovetail my own efforts into the project (eg plumbing and electrics, design and supply of own glass balustrade for the outside, sourcing and supplying own metal framed doors and windows).
Anything negative? Yes, unfortunately, but must stress that positives far outweigh the negatives, giving a score of 9 out of 10. Here are the negatives: damage to plaster on neighbour£s side of party wall eventually repaired, but much higher priority should have been given to repairing this quickly; resin roof and wet bathroom was done by Econoloft roofer who needed to take much more care to keep the permanently setting liquid resin off unwanted surfaces such as walls, shower outlet, and even our staircase carpet. Some broken roof tiles also as a result of careless manoeuvres by roofer or his assistant. Finally, builder proved difficult to contact for the final 5% of the work, prior to completion certificate being issued by buildings control company. I had to buy some insulation and complete some essential work myself before the completion certificate could be issued.
These negatives may sound alarming, but I must stress again that taking everything into account and in context I would award a final score of 9 out of 10.
We can honestly say we have ended up with a final product that has exceeded our expectations in terms of design, features, natural light, and maximisation of space.
Had our loft conversion finished a couple of months ago and are really pleased with it. The pre-build is a bit stressful and at times very uncertain, but once the guys are there and start doing the conversion it runs relatively smoothly. You just need to make sure you are aware of what is going on and when.
Company response : Following a complaint received by AJA Registrars Limited against Econoloft by our client, their conclusions stated that : It is clear that there were significant obstacles to overcome in the initial work on this project. It is also clear that as plans had not been agreed and planning permission not granted, Elite Econoloft have not unreasonably delayed the initiation of the construction phase of the project. Based on the documents reviewed a £1200 refund would seem to be a generous goodwill gesture as Elite Econoloft would be within their rights to deduct all costs from the initial deposit. It can also be concluded that Elite Econoloft have followed their own procedure for complaint handling. (15/08/11) We regret that in this case we could not carry out the conversion for our client, not every loft conversion is straight forward and difficulties can come to light following the technical survey. We felt that we dealt with the complaint fairly and would like to point out that the only money outlay the client had was £300 for the technical survey, all other monies were refunded.
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