Short answer: a UK van conversion is a van, a plan and a sensible order of work. Confused.com's 2025 survey of van owners found an average spend of £4,558 on a conversion and an average of about three months to do it. Start with the budget and the base van, then work through the build stages in order, and sort electrics and gas properly because they are the parts that can hurt you.
Where to start with a van conversion in the UK
We converted our own van before we built Roam, and the thing we got most wrong was the order. We bought kit before we had a layout, and we fitted some of it twice. These guides are the version we would hand to ourselves at the start.
The Confused.com survey of 600 current and previous van owners, published in September 2025, found that 52% did some or all of their conversion themselves and 41% paid a professional for the whole job. A quarter spent more than £5,000. Nearly everyone (93%) hit at least one problem, with sourcing materials, time and cost the most common. Planning will not remove those, but it makes them smaller.
Re-registering as a motor caravan
If you want your V5C to say "motor caravan", the DVLA has its own checklist. Its guidance asks for external features (two or more windows on one side of the body, a separate door into the living area, and a high-top or pop-top roof) and internal ones (seats and a table, a bed, cooking and storage, all fixed), plus photos as evidence. The rules change, so check the GOV.UK guidance before you plan your windows. Our insurance and DVLA guide covers what it means for cover.
How Roam helps with the build
The build tools in Roam are in the app now in early access: build your electrics with a live wiring diagram and shopping list, size every cable, log build expenses by scanning receipts, keep a build photo book sorted by stage, and save your measurements in one place. We built them because we wanted them for our own van.