Anyone starting / in the midst of an extension?

[AalyaSecura]

I'm feeling in need of a support thread! We got planning permission for a big single storey extension 6 months ago, and are just finalising the builder's contracts after getting quotes (which were all at the top end of what we were expecting). So now we have lots of decisions to make before we start building proper - need to settle on kitchen, render, flooring, doors etc - as well as clear the madness that is our garage.

Anyone else out there?

Good to hear everyone is progressing, we're starting on Monday! The builder came round to finalise everything on Thursday morning, and he's going to turn up and get cracking before 8am on Monday morning.
The first thing they're doing is putting a skip on the drive and then clearing the back including conservatory and patio, and I guess they'll start digging trenches after that!
We've got a spare kettle ready for them and we'll abandon the dining room at the back to them.
Hoping to keep everything on good terms and they come recommended, so the only thing left to do is pray they understood everything from the architect! And pay them loads of money on time.

Exciting to be starting tomorrow johnd2! We are probably about 6 weeks away - some demolition and basic groundworks before Christmas, but leaving the inside unaffected, then move onto the messier bit in the New Year. Got to clear the garage first, which is a very daunting prospect!

Thanks AalyaSecura! With clearing out, just treat it like moving house, box everything up and sheet it to stop the dust and put it somewhere in a pile, labelled.
We spent the day clearing the garden, dining room and conservatory, and filling the (detached) garage. Feels very empty, and next doors cat was very confused earlier. Not sure how he's going to react to the loss of his conservatory tomorrow!
We've been putting away anything the builders might use for anything they shouldn't, and I'm sitting on the edge of the fireplace with the builders tea station we created! Although they'll be ripping the fire place out pretty soon...

We finally have had the quote for foundations plus blockwork to plate level. Good price so have instructed architect to to start on building regs, Meeting with builder tomorrow to discuss everything. Hopefully he will be making a start end of November or thereabouts.

We're just getting architect quotes this week. It's very interesting to see how different their ideas and approaches are.

How long did it take from layout planning til tender? The architect today reckoned about 8 months, seems very long.

Good luck today JohnD, tea station looks good.

Stokey for us it was almost a year between first meeting the architects and starting today.
Basically was a couple of months for ideas and refining things, then we needed a structural engineer to confirm before planning.
That went in in early Feb and was just a 2 month pause when nothing happened.
April the detailed design was going on and the SE was doing his bit.
The stuff was finished for tender mid July and went to the builders, and they took about a month to come back. Then early September we were just trying to pin one down to actually start.
So don't underestimate how many inexplicable delays will happen. The council took a full 2 months for both planning and building regs, and returned them on the last possible day.
Good luck!
Regarding the tea station they showed very little interest and just literally cracked on. Apparently they just smashed all the conservatory glass and all, and took up all the paving slabs. I'm a bit nervous what I'll find when I return!

We had Architect round in September 2015. Planning came through in June and our quote came back yesterday in readiness to start in December . Our architect kept going away which hasn't helped and reading John's post above I'm worried our building regs might not be done for ages .

We are now going through the process of getting quotes for an extension. We have planning permission but are getting the drawings amended slightly so have to submit a non-material amendment. Once that is done we can apply for planning regs which the council have told us will take up to 8 weeks.
Looking to start the build around Easter next year which is good as most of the builders are booked up until at least then.

Mirabelle I thought ours was slow but it seems yours is slow too.
The architect said they didn't expect any building regs issues but they prefer to get the plans checked first in case. He said we could start a bit early but it might affect the price if big changes are needed.
In the end they approved with conditions which just asked for a drawing of the foundations and some things about the extractor fan and electrics. None of which were really significant and things didn't need changes.

Oh and I should make an update, basically they spent the day yesterday knocking down the conservatory and taking up the patio. Apparently they used really strong concrete for the old conservatory base, and laid it directly on the old patio, so they only half broke it up! They also dug a deep trench where the new side wall will be. Today I suppose they'll finish clearing the base, but I couldn't believe how much rubble they produced already! All bagged up neatly in the shared drive.

Thanks Johnd2, that is useful to know. It must be great to see work underway now !

Although I can't do anything re the extension we had permission for a new drive which has now happened and means we can reconfigure the front. I spent the day making a temporary log store from pallets under (beautiful it is not) the carport plus chopping some of the old wood we have under there. Our wood burner will be coming out some time this year so want to make sure we burn all our word before, which has added bonus of creating space. I'm getting the hang of this power saw malarkey.

Just bumping again to hear how people are getting on! I thought we had the sliding door situation settled, but just been told that the 'lift and slide' option that we wanted has had quite a few problems, and we are being steered away from it. So need to go back to a showroom to check out some other options! My main goal is to avoid 'sticky' sliders, so we need to try them out to be sure.

So what's the latest with everyone else?

We are days away from being finished! There will still be a little bit of painting and furniture buying but we'll be done!!

I would say the delays for us have been waiting for the builder - most builders (including ours) were booked up for months in advance, think we waited about 8 months from the approving the estimate to them actually starting work. I would be very wary of anyone who says they can start within the next month or so.

I am thrilled with the end result (or will be!). It has been tough sometimes, we still have a mountain of sorting to do (putting things back in wardrobes/new shed etc) but definitely worthwhile.

I think we are slightly ahead of schedule. Final steels going in this week. Hoping that kitchen is fitted in 6 weeks and that we will be back in our house in February.

We want to start an extension. Previous owners put a single storey extension on 10 years ago and we want to go over it to add an extra room upstairs so that we can move our bathroom (currently downstairs, not good when you need a pee in the middle of the night).

BUT before we can start anything we need to dig a mahoosive hole and get the foundations of the previous extension inspected to confirm that they will support additional work. I just can't believe that no-where do the foundation depths have to be recorded. They aren't stated on the plans, I've contacted building control and although they did inspect the foundations, they didn't record depth. Its a nightmare! In hindsight we should have asked previous owners to give us proof as part of the terms of sale but we live and learn.

Any advice greatly appreciated....

Similar situation to our next door neighbours who have a wrap around single storey extension, but wanted to go above it. They bought in 2007, they think the extension was done in 2004/2005. Foundations weren't good enough. They decided to do a loft conversion instead.

Ours is making good progress. Jealous of namechanged who is almost finished!

Everything that was under the ground was where it was supposed to be and foundations have been dug, build-over approval obtained and the brickwork and blockwork is going up at a rate of knotts!

Bathrooms almost done (except I chose flooring that had a long lead time of 6 weeks so that hasn't arrived so they can't quite finish. We have done lots of painting and some rewiring and new enormous velux is into the loft.

It's so exciting and time is passing quicker than I thought!

Mumma I hope your excavations reveal that the foundations are strong enough. When will you start digging?

Mrscampbellblack I'm jealous you're ahead of schedule. Seeing kitchen fitted will be a big step!

aalya I think those doors are great - I'd hold out for them if they're what you really want. Try them out but they can't be that bad!

Place marking so when we finally get moving we can learn from your experiences! We have talked to two architects and have a builder coming to quote too. We're hoping to replace our rotten wood frame conservatory with a single storey extension and opening up the back room in to it. Did the kitchen last year so not touching that.
Interesting reading the thread so far.

Dynevoran we are waiting for building control to confirm a date before we start digging as I'm not keen on living with a big hole in the garden :(

It's funny the disparity of service between building control in different parts of the country. Here you notify them of work starting and then at each relevant stage you call and they come the same day to inspect and give an okay to move on. Very efficient so far - the builder and his team seem happy with the arrangement. It seems that some of you have to do it all in advance or wait for appointments - or am I misunderstanding?

The building control company we are using is good - ring and they come do we've had no delays. Wish the same was true for the windows company.

Glad to hear people are getting on! We are 2 weeks in now and progress is good.
The first week was spent with 4 guys clearing the area and digging a 1m trench all round, then filling it with concrete. They had a well earned weekend off, then this week only 2 guys have built the walls for the ground floor part.
I did have a couple of issues, first they started building the rear facade opening too narrow so I had to ask them to knock some down again, I felt bad about that. Then they used normal gutter drain pipes instead of proper air bricks for ventilation under the floor. We've had enough damp under there so I'm getting them to put the proper bricks in. We're also struggling to get the window openings sizes out of them. The lead time on the window is very long (Danish triple glazing) so we need to order ASAP.
Apparently some random guy was shouting at them the other day because they'd put some things on the road to reserve parking for deliveries, which is a shame.
But they're hard working and friendly. We're looking forward to getting the steel in, but dreading it too as 2 out of the 4 steels are replacing existing external walls, so that's when the dust will really start.
Fingers crossed it will go well! And good luck everyone else!

We're gonna big into Wk 7 (I think). All good so far. Steels coming this week, internal temporary stud walls up to block off parts of the house they'll be knocking through it on first which will hopefully keep dust and cold to a minimum. Just need to decide kitchen layout, order windows and pack up the rooms they need to get in. All to be done today :)

Clearly gonna big (!) means going into!