Home Extensions 2017 - come along on the journey

[RedRobin1]

Hi just wondered if anyone has recently started or about to start a home extension. Haven’t seen a 2017 thread so starting one here.

Our two-storey extension is due to start on 1st March and we have just started packing boxes. The planning and research has been ongoing for 2-3 years. Had planning permission approved a few years back and completed all the research around what we would like in our new extended and how we would like to design it all - extending the kitchen / dining area downstairs to create an open plan living, dining and kitchen space and an extra bedroom upstairs.

Have two DCs under 4 and need help / advice / tips and general hand holding.

Is anyone else starting theirs soon?

Really sorry to hear that monkeyfacegrace it's heartbreaking when it's all going wrong. Hope you get it sorted. No advice from me as we are having issues too and also feeling like we have been too trusting at times, although admittedly I think most of ours are resolved.

TRick well fingers crossed, after last night's rain it's sorted. They did something to the drainage channels and it doesn't appear to be any worse thus morning, but as the course of the day goes we will see as it seems to take a while to soak down!! I'd painted the ceiling ready for kitchen installation, and now there are stain lines all over it where the water has worked it's away along the wood and soaked down between the plaster boards.

They have started installing kitchen though on a more positive note... which is looking fab and I can't wait to have it finished!! The plasterer is coming today but there is nothing else to plaster as no one has boarded any of the other walls in the utility and downstairs WC.. .

Spy glad you're sorted, kitchen is looking great! Can't wait to see the finished photos!

Monkey that sounds awful, really sorry you're going through all that! I would see if you can get hold of a copy of your plans, we were going to bin our builder off at one point and found a couple of other builders who were willing to take it on if necessary. I thought it would be impossible to do but it isn't!

I'm starting to feel almost lucky! It's been incredibly slow & a real mess (even one of his actual team said the place was disgusting on Thursday & refused to work until it had been tidied up) but the work is to high standard.

And Love you're a better woman than I am! When this is done I never want to see another builder within the vicinity of my house ever ever again!

Well the plasterer didn't turn up as we'd been told...!!

Well, obviously. You didn't think he would, did you?!

Monkey I'm fucking outraged on your behalf. That is so low of your builder, but as others have said, you hold him to account and get him to replace that ceiling.

Spydie hooray for the kitchen! Boo to the errant plasterer.

Vulval your FIL sounds like quite the charmer!

Waves to TeamRick and others on the thread.

Nothing much to report here. Having window woes (trying to navigate original timber frames, a conservation area order and rapidly depleting £££) and make a kitchen worktop decision (definitely a first world problem). On the plus side, my dream kitchen which was originally priced up at a total that made me want to be sick is becoming closer to a reality with a 30% discount thanks to shopping around with suppliers.

Haha no, although minus monday/Tuesday where no one turned up, we've had about a week of people turning up when they are meant to

Sodding extension lead has just tripped and is red hot, which is running my washing machine and a radiator to dry out the leak... sigh. Can't wait for it to be over for us all!!!!!

Ours is also making slow progress. Now have half a tiled roof on the extension. Roofer turned up late yesterday (his mate was sitting outside our house for over an hour waiting for him) so they didn't have time to finish it.

No sign of the electrician who was supposed to show at the end of last week ( unless he turned up in the hour when our dog decided to hide on the walk- so I was delayed getting back!!)

On a plus note we have all the windows currently sitting in the garden, ready to be installed at some stage.

We are getting really fed up with it now - nothing majorly wrong - just taking so long. It is going to be another month or so at least, until it is finished. Then we will have to wait until the screed is dry before we can lay the flooring.

And because of the dog I am feeling really housebound. She does tend to hide inside when any of them are around but you can't guarantee that. They leave the gate open as they are going to and fro so the garden is not secure if she decides to venture out. So I don't want to take my chances when they are around working.

This had better be worth it as I could have had some fantastic holidays in the sun instead

Hello everyone!
Am considering a very small extension (around 12 sq metres for the actual extension) incl new kitchen and a downstairs shower room (currently a small toilet). Total floor area of the whole thing would be about 36 - 50 sq m). I think it would need two new steels as would involve removing two (what were/are) external walls - property is already extended. Have had an architect give a v rough quote over the phone of 50-80K plus VAT plus fees - without knowing the size of the thing!!! This seems extortionate - I was thinking 30-40K all in. I am in the SE - am I being totally ridiculous or is the costing by architect OTT? Would be interested in knowing how much others have paid. We are happy to try to keep fittings costs low and shop around etc.
Thank you!

Hey! So I just got a start date for our project of early September. Gulp.

I'm now having a very quiet meltdown of anxiety inside! I really am not sure whether our extension is a good plan or not. It's working out really expensive - about £100k to add 2 rooms downstairs and a bay window upstairs, on a £160k house. BUT there is a lot of interior work wrapped up in that - new kitchen, new utility, new boiler, new staircase, lots of replastering and redecorating, new floors, lots of specialist joinery etc. My instinct says that we are spending too much, but DH is basically refusing to move and we simply can't go on living the way we are with a kitchen that is falling apart. The space we will get will solve every one of our organisational problems in the house.

I'd appreciate thoughts from you guys about this!!

MiniMum97 you will be amazed how the costs all start adding up.

We paid approx £800 to our architect for the plans including submitting them for planning permission. Another £50 to him for submitting for building regs.
Then you have to pay your local council - for the permission and the regs that was roughly another £550-600 for us.
£800 to the structural engineer (inc VAT) as we are also taking down an outside wall so have to have a RSJ plus reinforced steel pillars to hold it.

We got about 6 different builders in to quote and ended up with 3 quotes, our extension is approx 7.5m x 4m - includes 4 new windows, 2 veluxes, 2 replacement windows, 2 replacement veluxes, bifolds, and all the work done to 2nd fix electrics plus new rads etc. Our quotes ranged from £45k to £55k inc VAT.

It may depend on the area you are in- builders in our area can pick and choose their jobs and we had to wait to get the builder we chose.

Finally on the home run ..very happy with the charcoal island looks great ....decided to put tiles down first as was the cocensus of mumsnet!

Jigster that's looking lovely! I'm going for a dark island too (1909 Hartforth Blue).

They just had to put the ends on for tomorrow and I didn't notice as I'd left them to it ...I am so delighted with it ...template may take 8 working days though :( so living off microwave food for 6 !!

tatlerer it was a toss up between the two ! But went for porcelain and charcoal - but it still looks a blue not dark grey at all ...very pleased ..how far have you got to go ?

Oh good! Yes I saw an island in charcoal and it definitely had a bluish note to it! I'm going Partridge grey for the run of units on the wall. What are you doing for a worktop? We're either having Carrara white quartz or Carrara white Minerva. We're having a large L shape island so the advantage of Minerva is that it can be templated in one piece with no join. We're AGES away from needing a kitchen though! Extension is still half-built. The whole house is being extended/remodelled though, and overall the progress is good. Make sure you upload more photos when the kitchen comes together!

So nothings happened for a whole week again! Still have 3/4 roof and 3 out of 4 velux!
The bifold doors are arriving next Wednesday, he's agreed he'll be ready we will see! He'll have to pull his finger out for sure!

It's done! 4 months later, it just needs painting now
Minimum - ours sounds very similar to yours, includes a shower room, new kitchen, moving and replacing the boiler and a utility cupboard. Final price was £62k.

teamrickI feel for you it must be awful ...our builders have been fantastic and am glad he's come further than normal for us ..tatlerer was looking at silestone lagoon or Lyra and loved the Minerva we saw in John Lewis but have gone for subtle veining and gone for unistone Bianca carrera...put it up against the units in the showroom but haven't seen a whole slab but I'm sure it will be great ..this kitchen took ages to decide and finally there ...we have been eating off our laps for a couple of years as have 4 grown sons and gave 1of them the dining room ..will finally have a dinner table woo hoo !! Little things 😁

Find out today if we can start ... hopefully our mortgage has been approved builder is booked for Monday ...

It is, jigster01, it's so depressing! I love your kitchen! The colour of your island is amazing! Love it!

Good luck Sparkly I hope it goes smoothly!

Hooray Derek!
I can't wait for the day mine is finished!

jigster - that kitchen is going to be drop-dead gorgeous!

Talking of kitchens, has anyone had an Ikea one installed? I'm wondering how many weeks in advance I need to order mine.

Finally some progress! We've been delayed by having to underpin the party wall, but finally the old dodgy extension is destroyed. Steels go in next week. And in the next few months I will have an upstairs bathroom and downstairs loo and a kitchen that doesn't excude grease and isn't the size of a show box!