Planning an extension at the same time as a house purchase - where to start?

[HahaHarrie]

We've had an offer excepted on a house which we would like to extend. We want to do the work straight away and have drawings ready to submit to the council as soon as we take ownership and get the building work started once it has been approved. We'll be renting and not moving in until the work is complete - hence the rush to get things moving so we can spend as little on rent as possible.

Where to start? Will a home buyer's survey for the mortgage be beefy enough for any building work or should be go for a full structual survey? Would you always go for an architect or architect technician for the drawings? Anyone used a structual engineer instead?

Can anyone direct me to a useful resource what I need to do and when, when it comes to planning an extension?

Thanks,

Clueless

www.myhouseextension.com

this might give you some ideas !
if I were you I would tread carefully around the current owner as they could either
A. be upset that you are ripping down part of their home - and decide not to sell to you !
B. think it's a cracking idea and do it them selves and not move afterall !
C. non of the above - but would just be thankful that you thought how they would feel before you brought architects / techies or engineers over to go over ideas to re develop there pride and joy !

We're doing this.
Only had a homebuyers survey as the house isn't that old. The few things that were picked up will be covered by our building work.

We've used an architect, as we're planning quite a lot of work.

The owners are aware of our plans, but no details. We also made it clear to them that we love the house, but just need to make it a bit bigger.

Good luck. There's so much to think about!

We did this. You can actually submit the plans even before you own it but the council will notify the owner. As we were buying from a landlord we were fairly confident the sale would go through. We used an architect. We went for a home buyers valuation but also had the structural engineer who would do the engineering drawings for the extensions visit the house prior to purchase which was even better (and cheaper) than getting a structural survey from the bank. It's been very difficult but I am happy we did it!

Thank you everyone. It is a probate sale, so no owners and the family selling are quiet supportive of our plans - even giving us ideas. I feel I have a lot of home work to do!