House extensions, how much roughly?

[ohcluttergotme]

Dh and I live in a fairly small 3 bedroomed home.
There is us, teenage dd (14). 4 year old ds and baby due in June.
We are a little of a squash and a squeeze.

I would of ideally liked to have moved but our mortgage for the last 6 years has been interest only and our house has dropped in value during the recession so think we're kinda stuck.
Our house is fine though, close to lots of amenities, good bus and trains nearby. Great neighbours. Close to my work and good local schools so really no need to move.

We have huge garden so definitely scope to build out.

Just wondered roughly how much an extension costs? I would like to do an extension that goes out as well as up and matches what we have. Dh said maybe this will be too pricey and we may just have to do one level extension. I was wondering if you already do the work on foundations does it cost massively more to build up with roof ec?

[2plus1]

We had a quote for a two storey small extension just 3m x 4m costing approx 35k to 38k. A slightly larger ground floor was 20k. This is to a finished standard but without any kitchens or bathrooms so creating bedroom and living room space. We are southern uk

[ohcluttergotme]

Thanks 2plus1, just trying to get some rough ball park figures. Was it expensive to involve architect for getting drawings done?

[PharaohQueen]

Where in the UK are you?

Can you get a builder around to give you an idea of price for your site?

[ohcluttergotme]

I'm in Scotland. Yeah not sure what we should do first. My dh is an electrician so hoping once we get ball rolling he will know more than me about what to do. I think we need to get architect to see what we are able to do land wise.

[2plus1]

Architect fees about £1400 and the council require £800 for the full cost to sign off.

[Mandy21]

It depends what you want - its how long is a piece of string really. We've had quotes for an L shaped extension, part double storey at back (going out 3m from back of house, part double storey, and 1.75m out at the side, double storey). We'll get an extra bedroom & small ensuite upstairs, enlarged kitchen /diner and utility doenstairs). Just to plaster finish (not including cost of bathroom / kitchen / french doors / flooring) quotes have ranged from about 75k to 95k (plus VAT).

In the NW.

[ohcluttergotme]

Mandy, that sounds pretty much what we would be looking for from an extension but definitely not thinking as much as that. Are you NW England?

[ohcluttergotme]

Thanks 2plus1, that's kinda prise we were thinking for architect.

[Mandy21]

Yes sorry, NW england.

[Yvonne99]

We have just had a quote - simple one storey extension at the back of our house, living room extension. 3 meters - in total no more that 15 square meters. French door, some windows, two velux roof windows. 28k. Funny thing: it was a quote from a big company - they said they would need up to 2 months to do it.

However we are going to have it done by a friend of mine ( he is an experienced builder, a subcontractor)- he said he needs a week. He will do it for a couple of grands.
We need to pay for the materials - how much they could be? What percentage of the cost of extension are the building materials?

Now I need to work it out how to prepare the plans and submit them to the council...

[ohcluttergotme]

Wow that's quite a difference from quote and getting it done cheaper.
My dh is an electrician so we're hoping he'll know someone in the trade to do the building work and he'll do all lighting work.

[Anatanacoat]

I recently paid 8k for a 4x4m single storey extension with slate roof, velux roof window, side window, bifold doors, all aluminium, in the NW. BUT we already had the stone and I have family connections.

I wouldn't pay more than £25k tho.

[wetaugust]

Yvonne99 - I have an extension exactly the same size as you are planning (minus the velux windows).

I cannot imagine how it could have been done in a week.

You need to fully understand the building regulations to ensure that any proposals you submit to the council are compliant.

If you want to work out the cost of the materials use something like a builder's merchant's catalogue to price the materials but remember that the builder will prpbably be buying them at trade discount.

My 15sq m extension in S England 15 years ago was £14K (tiled roof, double skin brick and insulation brick walls, double glazed patio doors, large window, back door, radiator, electrics, plastering, carpentry and plumbing for utilities.

[PharaohQueen]

I doubt you will get it done in a week. Building regulations need to come out at various stages. Imagine trying to dig out foundations in this weather and expecting the footings to set?

[MrsAMerrick]

We had a single storey extension done last year, we were told by lots of people who had recently had extensions that it would be between £1k and £1.5K per sq m, we got three quotes and all of them came in at roughly the same price. In the end the cost worked out at almost exactly £1.5k per sq m, that included the electrics, plumbing, radiators, windows, veluxes, lighting etc but not the new kitchen or flooring which we sorted out separately. I was also told that if we wanted a two storey extension that the upper storey would be about half the price of the downstairs because the foundations etc and roof were costed in the price of the downstairs iykwim.

We had to get a flipping big extension to our mortgage to cover it but I don't regret it at all, I love the space we now have.

[MummytoMog]

We put on 62 sqm to the rear and side in two storeys and converted the loft. £130k including fit out, kitchen, utility and three bathrooms and VAT, a complete rewire of the existing, and some giant decking at the back. About £80k just to do the side and rear, not including flooring or kitchen.

[MummytoMog]

It's not finished by the way, so I can't tell you if it's been worth it. It has however been pure hell.

[5HundredUsernamesLater]

Our small two storey extension took two months to build, not including planning etc. and we had two builders and a labourer working every week Monday to Friday. As Pharaoh said it has to be inspected at different stages too so I can't believe its possible to do it in a week.

[ohcluttergotme]

Thanks for everyone's responses. Need to get my dh to read the replays. At the moment our mortgage is quite high so our plan is to remortgage and then take out loan to pay for extension and then hopefully be back where we are finance wise but with more space.

Sorry it's been hell for you mummyto and hope it's all worth it.

We are due a baby in June and so need more space but do appreciate it is going to be a few months of chaos but then hopefully worth it.
We would love to do a 2 storey extension but I think what we're going to try and do is one story with our bedroom downstairs with ensuite, small bedroom for baby and utility. Then move teenage dd into our room upstairs and knock through 2 small bedrooms for one room for ds. This is the plan for now.

Do you have to have plans drawn up by architect before you involve builder? Thanks

[Jeanne51]

About £1000 a square metre. Is that right?

We had a kitchen extension 14 x 12 ft cost £24000

[Jeanne51]

Architecture was 1000
Double extension on side. With upstairs bedroom and bathroom. Kitchen extension. Around 60k.

[Jeanne51]

You can ask for a quote to see ifull you can afford up. Better if builder and architect are acquainted. Then get an architect to draw up plans and then the builder gives you an accurate quote. But you need to be precise.

[Jeanne51]

Excluding units floor covering and light fittings

[rainbowdash888]

About 2 years ago we had an upwards extension which got us a double room, a small single room and a large bathroom. This cost 31k