How much do you think it would cost to do the following?

[MogadoredMemoo]

We're thinking of moving to a new house and the one we like and can afford only has two bedroom so we'll need to make a few adjustments. The plan is to split the biggest bedroom and I wondered if anyone in the know could give me a rough idea how much it would cost to do the following.

Put in a partition wall. Put in a new smallish windown. Add a radiator and light fittings to the newly created room. Knock a new door through a load baring wall into the new room.

We will only have about 5k spare so please tell me it can be done for this!!

Yes, I'd have thought so. We've just been quoted 3.5k to totally rebuild a porch, including new roof, door, windows. Your project sounds less work.

I did almost exactly that.

I put up the stud wall myself so cost of wood and plaster board and polyfilla :)
The new window and doorway was about £800. Radiator was cost of radiator of ebay and stressful morning DIY, draining system and cutting into pipework and laying new pipe.

Sorry but I can't rememeber exact costs now (5 yrs ago) but 5K should cover it I would have thought.

Will depend on plumbing and electrics, but I'd say probably not if you're paying VAT. Going through a load bearing wall is around £1500 plus VAT and putting in a window is expensive too. The stud wall isn't much but you'll need to redecorate, etc.

I think you'll be cutting it fine but if you've got proper plans drawn up (it really is worth getting an architect to do this) then you can lock a builder into the contract and only go ahead if you know it can be done for a sum you are prepared to pay.

Anyway you can get the VAT back?

How do you get the vat back?

You have to be registered. Do you work from home? You or DP self employed?

No dp is an employee and I'm not working at the mo after having dd. Planning to go back later this year.

Ask an accountant if they could think something up for you, but it sounds like you will have to pay VAT.

Do you have proper drawings of what you want done?

Not got the drawings yet, hoping to get them done as soon asap

So worth doing. The more detailed the drawings the less wriggle room the builders have so less space for the price to rise.

If you've not done much building work before my top tip is to get as much as you can in writing from the builders (i.e. make sure quote in writing via email etc) and be specific about being on small buildings contract (or England/Wales equivalent). And don't pay them in advance!

thanks for the advice Lemon. I am new to all this so its very much appreciated.

No problem.

It's quite a small job in building terms so there should only be one payment with a little (2.5%) held back by you for a defects period of 12 months. Ask your architect if he'll snag the job before you agree to pay. i.e. Ask him/her if they could take a quick look at the work on an hourly rate to make sure it's been done.

Also, get in writing the hours/days that the builder will have trades people there. So email something like - 'begin 8 am Monday, to be finished no later than Thursday the following week' or whatever, making sure you've got an email back.

I wouldsay you could definitely get this done for 5k. I would also think this size job could be done by a knowledgeable builder without involving an architect. A good builder will have their own structural engineer to calculate what replacement support is required when wall is removed.

Get detailed itemised quotes from a few recommended builders, and if you do go ahead with it never pay any monies up front.