Amazed at the costs of builders

[cava83]

Hi All,

This is the first time of me posting on here, please be gentle :)

Quick background, I found mumsnet about a week after I found my wife was pregnant and ever since then, all I do is go on here, specially on the DIY section.

We now have a beautiful baby girl who is 17 weeks today.

I've been hesitant to register and post anything on there, as it's obviously mainly for "mum's" but everyone is so helpful and kind on here.

We have a lovely 3 bedroom semi detached house, that has so much potential but it's run down on the inside and the space simply doesn't work.

We've received 4 quotes from builders, for a 6 * 4.5m extension, nothing fancy and on average they are coming in at nearly 80k inc VAT. To me, it seems like an insane amount of money.

We don't have exact plans, as we need to work out what it will cost, we only know that by asking builders, but not prepared to pay a lot of money for designs if we can't afford them. I went to Jewsons and they quoted me 27k for all the materials (excluding kitchen)

Nevertheless, the costs are a ridiculous amount of money, doesn't include kitchen.

I really want to build an extension and have an even better house, but not at the cost of pretty much being able to build a house for that (small).

I'm now considering SIPS to reduce the labour costs, but most of the builders haven't worked with it and or, want to touch it.

Can't win either way :S

Gutted really :(

Thanks,

[FadedRed]

Didn't want to read and run. Congratulations on your new baby .
You will know that builders will give over inflated quotations if they aren't bothered about getting the job, and the fact you do not yet appear to have a firm plan, drawings etc might be one of the reasons they don't seem interested.
However, we extended our house approx 23 years ago (two storey, kitchen and utility, bedroom with en-suite). We did ALL the work ourselves apart from check for legal gas/electric stuff). And I mean all, including the brick laying, plastering. It cost around 15K, so twenty years later and contractors doing the work, I would imagine it would have cost nearer to your quotations.
Hope someone with more knowledge will be along soon ( or already has been in the time it's taken me to type this!)

[MrsCampbellBlack]

That seems very high. I thought the usual rule of thumb was £1500 per square metre and that is for a good finish.

However, no builders I know were prepared to quote without proper building regs type drawings.

[cava83]

I understand regarding the drawings however, they provide the exact M2, exact dimensions and itemised location of sockets and so on, so to be fair even though it's not a CAD drawing it's as good as :)

I'd be up for doing the majority of the work myself and sub contracting out what was required, but brick laying would be wonky......

I'll get more info and update on here.

£1500 per m2 is what I had in mind, £1200 is what most talk about and what some builders are going by in general.

Thanks all :)

[TheoriginalLEM]

That seems expensive but labour is expensive, you are paying for their skills and experience after all, the fact that they have had to buy and insure their tools, van and pay out for certification to do things like gas and electrical work. Not just because you don't have time to do it yourself. People forget this sometimes - even when i help DP to price up work i make a face but it really is the labour that costs the most.

The fact that you don't have proper plans in place would make the job difficult to price, as there is the potential for too many hidden extras and changes in plans which can then end up costing more money. This may well be putting potential builders off - also, it takes time (alot of it) to price up work so if you don't have plans they may wonder if you are commited and wont want to waste too much time drawing up the schedule of work.

DP would not price a job like this without at basic plans and a structural engineers report if appropriate. Mrs Campbell is right - £1500 per sqaure metre for the build, but finishing like kitchens, plumbing etc would be extra.

If we were to quote your job we would try and break down the costs so you could see where the money is being spent. So i would definately be asking to see breakdowns. Then go ahead and get an architect to draw up some basic plans. You wont need these for planning permission purposes but you WILL need the job to be signed off by building control and they will require basic (but not full) plans. Things to consider are drainage - where are your waste water drains? are there any unused drains in your area - this caused us a 3 month delay on a job once as the clients architect failed to do this search and DP came across old main water drains - it was simple to work around but needed permission from Thames water.

Saying that - your quotes seem ridiculously high. ARe you in London per chance?