Can I afford an extension?

[3in4years]

Hello,
I am quite risk averse but have just bought a new house due to my growing family. I now have less savings, and a higher, longer mortgage. That's fine, I have a bigger house!
But the house needs a downstairs loo and utility area. We have had a quote for £8-9k for an extension. We have this is savings, and I am due to go back to work after mat leave soon.
Should I wait to see how my finances pan out over the next 6 months to a year, as I am afraid of only having a few grand buffer in savings?
Or should I go for it so we can make use of the extension for longer, as we know we will want to do it at some point?
It won't add much to the value of the house. It will make our life easier though.
Thanks for your opinions.

We built an extension last year and budgeted, there are lots of hidden extras when it comes to building work, for example we paid out nearly £1000 in skips to remove waste from footings etc

Thanks for the reply. Good point.

That seems a very low quote. does that include everything?
do you need planning?
Plans?
Skip and waste removal?
Materials or is the £k just labour?

It is a small timber framed extension. Includes labour and materials as well as waste removal. Will be plastered ready for us to do our own decorating. Planning is not included.

Be prepared for the £9k to turn into £15k over the project!

That being said a downstairs loo is a must have for me!

Have you had a few quotes? Seems crazy cheap to me. Is a timber frame a good long term option?

He suggested timber to keep costs down. All the neighbours have similar things in a variety of materials. We only plan to be here for about 5 years. One other quote for standard construction came in at £10k.

Just think of resale value, I would be wary as a buyer of non standard construction and would factor in knocking it down and starting again.

Yes I wondered about that, thanks.

Timber frame is quite a common construction method and a good way to keep prices down as its the wet trades that cost money.

OP research it for yourself, loads on info about construction online and look at planning portal for planning info.

You probably won't need an architect but you will need to have drawings done for building regs.

Does that cost include VAT OP?

Thanks for all the replies.

Interesting replies, thanks. I was more wondering about family life with o my a few grand buffer? The quote was £8k but I said £8-9k to cover unseen costs. Beyond that we have about £4k left. Thanks again

I read somewhere that you should aim for 3-6 months living expenses at least as savings.

That seems very cheap

We had an extension last year. Df did most of it his self inbetween jobs so took almost a year - but saves thousands due to not paying labour

But still was around £10/11k for all materials - for 6 x 3 - so no building regs needed

I would maybe use half savings and get low interest loan/credit card and use that as well

Always good to have some savings

Equally good to have the extra space and sure will put value on
House. Ours put on an extra £50k

If it were me and I only had a few thousand for emergencies especially having just moved (think possible electrics/roofing issues that you might not have discovered yet) I think I would be a bit more careful and bearing in mind you'll be back at work fairly soon, would probably wait a little bit. Will you be getting bonuses? Could you squirrel those away for the extension?