Where to begin with an extension

[extensionworries]

I'm hoping for some guidance please. DH and I are clueless when it comes to anything building related and would value some help please.

We have an old, crappy conservatory attached to the back of our house which comes off of the kitchen. The previous owner who I think had it put up, removed the external doors to it, therefore merging it to the kitchen, no doors now separate it from the main house. Surveyor flagged up that this not good and we are finding that we lose a huge amount of heat through the poly carbonate roof as I can't shut it off from the main house.

So we are thinking to replace the conservatory with a small extension, so that it becomes fully integrated into the home, a proper structure with good insulation etc. The extension won't even stretch across the back of the house, I literally just want to swap the conservatory for a proper built structure. We currently have our dining table in the conservatory and I love the space it provides.

Where do we start with this? We are I admit, naive and clueless! I need to gain some knowledge before I start approaching surveyors, builders etc. Can anyone explain the process to me. Thank you.

Speak to two or three architects and get some ideas and quotations. A lot of them won’t be interested in what they see as a small domestic job, but some will and should be willing to have a chat, draw you a couple of sketches and give you some ballpark figures. Find one who is willing to act as project manager for you- honestly, I can’t stress this enough. Even if you’re an experienced professional PM, it’s too difficult to be both client and project manager. As the client, you need to have someone to blow off steam at and get reassurance from. As a PM, you can’t pass all the client’s frustrations (and there will be many) onto the contractors, because you need to keep them sweet. So it’s just too hard to wear both hats. Trust me, it’s well worth spending a couple of thousand on that even if you think you can do it yourself.

Thank you. So you think Architect is first step? Ok I'll start to look around, but... will they expect me to have some sort of knowledge / idea of how much I want to spend? This is the other thing.....I don't know how to work out how much it will all cost. We really are clueless and potentially ripe for getting stitched up

I have done a few of those in South London. most of the time it falls into permitted development. Another option is to re-do it still as a conservatory in terms of the laws but to do it to the standard of extension in terms of insulation and quality.

About £2500 per square meter I think in the SE.