Gobsmacked by extension quote

[littlebearsmummy]

We have a rather scruffy dormer bungalow and have planning permission for a small two storey rear ext and extra bedroom over what was an integral garage. This plus some internal rearranging of living space. Lots of bits of work but nothing huge.

Yet we've received a quote from the builder we were hoping to use of £300k including vat and all fittings. Good job I was sitting down for it. I'm sure we could knock the house down and start again for that!! This is in south east but not a massively expensive area.

Presumably you're getting more quotes! I dunno though - you could be in for a shock, a two story extention plus internal stuff plus a build over a garage is basically a new house. Are you planning to move out whilst it's done? Include rent in your budget even if you plan to stay with family, just in case.

We had a similar experience. In our case it was partly the architect designing something that involved lots of structural work and expensive finishes, and partly that the scope of work had increased to touch every room in house. Architect had told us our budget of around £140k should be fine; cheapest of three quotes was £280k.

We ended up ditching the architect and starting again, now building an extension that's a bit smaller, with less work around the rest of the house, for half that price.

Is your quote itemised so you can see what's bumping up the cost? Have you asked the builder how you can reduce cost? At the end of the day you'll only have a good idea of realistic cost with at least 3 quotes - especially if builder knew you preferred him.

You definitely need at least three quotes.

Also you need to budget at least an additional 10% contingency over and above the quoted figure. (Voice of experience)

I get the feeling that many people feel financially comfortable enough with the economy to get extensions and lots of other work done, so the best builders can name their price and even the so-so ones have lots of work on.

Are you raising the existing roof? Or just bolting on a two storey bit on the back? Raising the roof/fiddling about with roofs would add massively. Either that or the builders don't want the work. We are in the SE too and builders here can pick and choose their jobs, and lots of bits are more hassle than one big job.

That does sound like a huge amount. Sometimes people quote high for work they just don't really want to do, so definitely get a few more quotes. If you think that the builder does want the job then a breakdown of costs to see where you can make savings also makes sense.

We had quotes for our single story extension ranging from £45k to £90k like for like - definitely get more quotes. We went with the one quoting £47k and are delighted with the result.

We got 2 quotes last week & they are double our budget & what architect predicted!!!

So lots of DIY & ad hoc doing until our LTV is better then we will borrow more to finish it off.

I feel your pain - but both DH & I are feeling much more positive now. Family are willing to help & we just have to make it work & that's that!

Definitely getting three quotes and we're already looking at what to cut, do later or do ourselves. We aren't lifting the roof and we're talking about changing three internal walls. Nearly everyone we know in the area is having work done on their house, or is planning to so clearly builders can pick and choose what they take on. Just demoralising to know we fell in love with plans our architect said would be very doable for out budget, which it turns out was nonsense. I feel like retraining as a builder!

This is why I loved my builder, he broke it down into materials and then his labour. Provided all details of who would be supplying the materials so the builder's yard, double glazing people.

It meant I could check the prices, obviously the builder does get a discount with the builder's merchant etc but I could see for myself how much stuff was.

So the builder ordered materials, I paid for them directly to supplier, builder worked on my house and billed me for his labour at the end of the week. I transferred the money directly into his bank account. Any subcontractors I paid directly, so plasterer, electrician etc

The ballpark figure is £1500psqm, mine was £1600.

Can you see where yours is costly? My architect merely provided plans (I drew them he copied them and submitted them) the build was overseen by the builder.

I'm sure we could knock the house down and start again for that!!

Actually, you might want to consider doing exactly that - New builds don't attract vat on materials so you're saving £20 for every £100 spent...

We had a shock when getting quotes- that's when the builders actually bothered to get back to us:-( anyway ours ranged from £168k to £78k. Absolutely ridiculous. The builder who provided the most expensive quote was actually taken aback when we said we thought it was expensive. We did get a pretty detailed quote from all of the builders. But one part of of the work-converting an outhouse for example-we asked the builders about the differences and they just said oh well, he will be hiding the cost of it somewhere else etc. so frustrating. We have found a chap who isn't vat reg. which is a massive help , and whose work we have seen

Ditto previous comment about £1500/m2. Our pretty comprehensive (lots of new openings, new floors, new services, walls from scratch........ but no new-build) renovation is costing £1250/m2 (cheapest quote).

Sounds exactly the same situation as a friend. They had a slightly bigger budget (in London), but the extent of the work was similar, as were the quotes. They ended up having to drastically reduce the scope of the work (single story). It is utterly insane to me, considering their budget, what they could do (or couldn't do).

Wow a two story side extension and a single story rest extension on my semi was £50-£70k (SE)

We had a internal wall moved for £2k inc a large steel and it was money well spent (inc electrics and plastering after)

Perhaps get them to break it down a lot.

your lucky Honey....our average quote for a single storey rear extension 6x4m was £78k...builders all so busy cant anyone to start til September....think we're going to move instead!

That sounds insanely expensive to me. Our very good builders quoted us £90k for an L shaped double storey.

Honey how long ago was that? We had a single storey extension all in with kitchen etc for £60k 4 years ago. Neighbours are getting quotes for exactly the same thing and they are coming in about 30-50% more expensive.

The quote was given around this time last year

That is insanely cheap ???? not something you often get to say nowadays!

not ????

I'm in the north - single story extension 6x3m came in at just less than £20k. Three years ago. Included plastering of new internal walls, rendering of external walls, two large velux Windows, normal window, French doors, old kitchen converting to utility/downstairs wc (2 separate rooms), all electrics (including hardwiring range cooker, extractor fans in kitchen & wc), all plumbing, bathroom suite for downstairs wc, radiator. We had to tile it and fit kitchen ourselves but everything else included. Took eight weeks.

Had another quote at £18k but this didn't include conversion of old kitchen.

70k was the most expensive.

That was for the shell, drainage, plumbing and electrical points and plastering.

The actual plumbing and wiring were to be done by another contracted so would've been another £10k