I can't imagine these building changes!

[WelshMoth]

An elderly relative of DH lives in a lovely detached, double fronted cottage. It has a lovely garden in front of it, but a high wall behind it, with a high bank and road backing that wall. There is some potential to extend to the side of the house.

We are on the lookout to move and if I'm honest, the house is lovely. I just have no idea how to picture the changes that this house needs. DH is rather impetuous and wants to buy this property when the time is 'right'. IYKWIM. But, I'd rather have an idea of what's possible before leaping in.

How can I teach myself more about extending, renovating and making major changes. Gah! Not much to ask!!

I don't know what your budget is, but I found talking to an architect a huge help. They can spend half a day or a day with you coming up with design ideas. I find they always have better ideas than me, plus they know what you can/can't do with regard to planning, etc.

They're not cheap, but they're worth it.

I also read loads of house magazines. Real Homes is quite a good one as it has a lot of renovations/extensions, not just decor stuff.

Shmalex, I think we'd have about 80k to spend. Rough estimation.

How much do you reckon an archtitect would cost? The house is not huge - 3 bed detached. We'd love to extend to a 4 bed.

Thanks for your advice.

We are using an architectural technician(not quite a fully qualified architect) and although we had pretty clear ideas about what we wanted he came up with something different, but still met our needs. His initial consultation for was free, then will charge around £600 for plans to planning dept, then about same again for fully detailed plans for building. Local authority fees for planning and building control are on top of that. That is only for a family room extension and knocking out one wall. A fully qualified architect will be more but I don't think more than £2k for what you are looking for.

Thereafter building works expect to pay £1,100-£1,500 per sqm, plus add in your flooring, lighting, landscaping etc. Should still be well within your budget.

Shelter have a scheme where you can get an architect round for a fee to the charity. Details here www.architectinthehouse.org.uk/

Lovingmatleave that's fab advice. I'll take a look at the link

Thanks!

for a quick idea of what plans can look like in 3D you could buy an app like interior designer for iPad and plan stuff out yourself - or look at getting a concept plan done professionally ? it's a great way of getting your ideas drawn up / getting another point of view before going to the next level ie architects drawings - so you get a feel of the space you'd gain ?!

OnePlan - outstanding! That's exactly what I'll do (although, is it hard?!)

I suppose because we are still in early stages, I want to see what's possible before I agree to commit.

Thank you.

I find it easy to use - I use it for quick sketches for people - rather than using my complex normal cad software - it's pretty easy to pick up ! I initially downloaded if for my 12 year old to design her new bedroom as I didn't want her using my software !!

I find it useful to get an overview of the issues before homing in on areas of detail. For the broad-brush look, you could do worse than this Haynes manual: www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Extension-Manual-Step-step/dp/1844253570