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?

Bella I get it too but maybe then stick to being a really good carpenter, which I've heard Twatchops is and don't try & pass yourself off as a Project Manager when you can't manage your way out of a paper bag!

Honestly I've had over 5 months of his shit! I don't think it's malicious either just incompetence !

monkey

No problem using an architectural technician for small jobs. If its straightforward with no major structural work, there isn't usually an issue.

I have no idea what a technician is. He was a proper architect. Well, I Google local architects anyway!

I had no idea what I wanted. I just knew I wanted an extra bedroom plus dressing room plus en suite plus a few other bits.

Anyway, it's done and dusted now. Feeling a bit shit tonight as nothing has gone to plan, I feel I've wasted a year, £35k and have ended up with something that I haven't got building regs on and it's not level and it's all shit. Hey ho.

We used a local architect who gave us drawings that we could use for applying for permission and also building spec. So just one set of drawings covered the lot - granted we only had a single storey extension. That is the way he works though. Cost us £800 for his fee.
The blinking steels cost way more than he did

We now have the mist coat on the walls. Decorator is back today to do the ceiling and finish prepping the old walls. Then tomorrow the first coat goes on the walls. He won't do the final coat and the woodwork until after the flooring is done. Says they are guaranteed to put marks on the walls and we would be able to see the touch up marks. He is a bit of a perfectionist and I have never seen such a tidy tradesman. No mess left anyway and everything is neat and tidy during and at the end of the day. I wonder if he can give lessons to DH on tidiness

I'm amazed at how cheap some of your architects were! And it sounds like they did a great job too. Feel a bit ripped off now!

Second day of digging today, and it is due to cane it down with rain. My garden is going to look like the Somme circa 1916 by lunchtime, though hopefully with less death and suffering.

sushi - I am very jealous of you having such a great decorator. That's the ideal tradesperson!! You're not anywhere near Yorkshire are you?!

monkey - I'm really sorry to hear you are disappointed with your build. That's just awful. Hugs and for you. I hope that you start to like it a bit more soon.

Monkey, sorry you're feeling so down about it! Is it really that bad or are you just fed up with it all, it's been a traumatic 6 months!

Had this fortnight's invoice DH has refused to pay it until the skip goes! 😡

I'm not being stroppy, but the whole house now feels tainted. Like someone's come into my home and insulted me.

What's worse is that (can't remember if I've already told you all this saga), my son's new bedroom has been built on a slant somehow. It's not. Fucking. Level. I mean, how do you do that?! There's a small slope downwards into his room (I'm okay with that. It's an extension, sometimes floor levels aren't exact), but then the room continues sloping downwards. There's approx 1cm difference from the 2 sides of the room which doesn't sound much, but when you walk into it, I just want to fall to the left. It makes me feel permanently drunk. I literally can't get a grip about it. Everything else has been sorted and fixed. All other bodes found and corrected. Except this HUGE major one.

I've put wedges of wood under one side of his chest of drawers and his bed. So they are now level. But you cant put a bedside table down without screwing it to the wall and it looks like it's going to fall over. It's almost like a bowl shape, the edges around the skirting are higher, then it all falls to one side and to the middle. I'm literally going mad looking at it from different angles and putting my spirit level to everything.

Internal doors are being hung today so I'm hoping that helps. DH just says that I've always wanted to live in an old wonky cottage so I've got my wish. Knobhead

rick high five for not paying the invoice. I'd not pay anything else now. He's being a total twat to you. I don't get it. Why dont they just get a grip and actually do the work?!

monkey - are you sure there is just 1cm of difference between the levels? I'm not doubting your word, but I am wondering if the problem is actually >1cm, because I think you'd need more than that to make furniture lean?? My house is very wonky (not in a picturesque way - it's a 1920s semi) and there are several rooms where there is more than 1cm difference between the floor to ceiling height on one side, and on the other. But I've never had to adjust furniture like that. I am genuinely shocked at your builder.

On the upside, once you get all the furniture in, decorating done, doors on etc. you notice it a lot less. I have to hang things like pictures by eye, though, instead of by spirit level.

Monkey I'm so sorry for you. I'm sure there must be some sort of come back in this sort of circumstances. Hopefully someone more in the know can advise.

Our architect fees do seem high compared to some of you . We hope to live here indefinitely and want something a little different so have chosen someone who is RIBA chartered and has good experience of adding a modern extension to period properties which is what we want to do.

Already getting such good advice from this thread. So exciting that some of you are nearly there. Reckon is at least 2 years before a builder is anywhere near our house!

OBFace - your post has me wondering what advice I'd give myself if I could time travel back a couple of years! A few things

• get an estimate for the shell at an early stage, from a builder not the architects. Not just to control costs, but because a decent, honest builder will look at a plan and tell you that it's not worth £1k to widen an inconsequential opening by 10cm, or that the architect has put a door too close to a structural wall, which will not pass the structural engineer (both things that have already happened to me).
• speak to neighbours early, keep them informed, keep them onside. Don't underestimate how anxiety-provoking and annoying your build will be for them.
• remember the existence of VAT
• don't underestimate the massive costs of second fix (50% of my budget is going on the interior decor, I didn't anticipate this!)

I am wondering what advice all those of you at the end of their builds would give to me, at the start of mine??

YES to second fix.

We had a price just for the 'shell'. I was thinking, a bit of paint, stick on some skirt, job done.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

By the time the plasterer has been and covered EVERYTHING in plaster water, the entire house will need repainting. Ceilings and walls, natch.

Every bit of wood that you though was white? Nope, that's now very yellow compared to the new bits. And it shows.

Carpets? Yep they all need to be new too, which also means underlay, gripper rods and door bars.

Light fittings. Paint. Wallpaper. Paste. Brushes. Glue. Filler. Caulk. Switches.

And you can't just leave it unfinished as it's so depressing.

So my next piece of advice is over estimate massively your cost to do the decor. Then double it. Then add another 20% for shits and gigs.

I think the main issue is that because he didn't build me a roof for 3 months and continued to do work inside such as flooring and plasterboarding (yes, really), the chipboard floor got so wet that it swelled up in patches and now that's why it's uneven. It wasn't noticeable before the carpets went down.

Our larger home permitted development application was turned down yesterday (I think because the neighbours have objected) we anticipated this to a certain extent so have a full planning application in process decision due In a Couple of weeks. Do you think I should modify the larger home plans and resubmit them to planning so we don't lose too much time? We are renting at the moment and it's so expensive o don't know what to do...

monkey - that sounds incredibly shoddy workmanship. I can't believe someone would work on internal fittings like that until the shell was sound and watertight. Awful. Is there any chance, do you think, that you might have a case to make him make good the damage? What was your contract like? I know it's probably the last thing you want right now, but I think I would be minded to challenge it as not fit for purpose, and to get lawyers involved if he refused to budge. Apologies if this has all already been covered on the thread, though.

whattodo - If the decision is due in a couple of weeks, I'd wait, for two reasons. Firstly, you might get full permission (in which case, crack open the champagne!), and secondly, if you don't, any feedback will be really useful for your resubmission. Sometimes it's fairly minor alterations that make the difference - losing 0.5 metres here and there - I'd focus on getting an application that will sail through at this point. In the timescales we're talking about for construction, 2 weeks isn't much, though I sympathise with your point about rental costs. Hang in there!

I suspect my extension is considerably smaller than most of y'alls, but it's right on the edge of PD, so I went for full PP to avoid any problems. The planners were actually really great at talking me through the process and gave good advice about how to "pass", came out to the site twice to have a look, and were helpful and friendly on both visits - seeing them as allies in the project rather than as hurdles can be helpful!

monkeyface, I just wanted to come on here and sympathise with you but also offer you some hope about the "tainted" feel of the house. We have finished our big project. Two single story extensions to our ground floor flat and massive rejigging inside including moving our kitchen to a different room. We moved out during the work.

Although we actually had excellent builders and everything was mostly on time, we had enormous stresses of a different type. Our property is leasehold and we needed a "licence to alter" from the freeholder. We spent around 6-8 months dealing with all this before the build and a shocking amount of money. In total, to architects, surveyors and structural engineers (yes, note the plural on those last two), we had spent over £10k before we even started. The stress seriously almost ended us.

The build itself went smoothly (as much as anything like that can) with out own building company, but we had a nightmare of epic proportions with our window company (massive sliding doors, french doors, two massive fixed windows, two fixed skylights). This is ongoing now and has actually become a legal battle. Add to that the upstairs neighbour claiming structural damage against us ( their flat is owned by the freeholder) and not accepting the report from the surveyor saying we did not cause the damage and now taking us through the party wall act. Then upstairs flooded two of our new rooms (their plumber actually) three weeks after we moved in and we had to move our of those rooms and make a massive insurance claim.

My point in all this is to say that I also felt like the flat was tainted. How could I enjoy all the wonderful new space and room with all of this that had happened? I really do understand your feeling. We still have most of the battles hanging over us - the only one resolved is the flood/insurance claim. However, I have had the chance now to breath a little between knock backs where as for a while it felt like they just kept coming and coming. And now I am enjoying the space.

So take heart - whatever you are all going through, one day (one long day in the future!), you will have a chance to, if not forget, at least have it a distant memory and enjoy your home again.

I bought doors yesterday on a whim. I fell in love whilst in Wickes buying paint....loaded the Volvo up with 9 doors and drove home happily....

Today my chippy started fitting them, and I LOVE THEM!!

I'm now pleased as punch and the whole build was worth it! Im so fickle

They look absolutely lovely monkey. They're really nicely fitted too!

wiifit - Oh my God, that sounds horrendous. Battles on so many fronts! And, as someone who has dealt with an epic flood just before putting a property on the market, I know how horrific, depressing and life-sappign they can be. I am so glad you're getting some pleasure out of your build in spite of it all.

Monkey very jealous of your doors. That's the ones I like as well and maybe one day I will get new doors.

Sorry Guilty we are in Lincs so might be a bit too far for him to travel. We will definitely use him again for future work we need doing. I just need a lottery win now to pay for all the other stuff DH wants!

We have been lucky with our extension - as it was just an extension to give us a bigger lounge/dinner we haven't had too many extra internal costs ( will ignore the fact we are going for really expensive engineered wood flooring - and need 57m(2) of it). I got the lights online and the sockets etc we were charged trade prices for by the sparky. So the decorating has been the biggest expense after the flooring and that is worth it.

Our house itself isn't level but luckily the extension is - made it interesting when they tried to join bits up. None of our bookcases stand straight, door frames aren't straight which makes hanging doors fun. They also replaced some of our old windows for us and then had to work round the openings not being straight. So each window took longer to fit than expected.

guilty thank you, you've calmed me down a lot, fingers crossed all will go through.

monkey The workmanship from our builder sounds pretty shoddy in places but very pretty doors!

I

Well... a quick update here. Foundations almost dug out, which threw up a new problemmabout uneven ground. And it seems our 'architect' has submitted a totally inadeqate building regs application, we either redesign the house or pay 5K plus for a sprinkler system... she completely missed basics like fire doors from her application.
Then to top it all, someone's keyed our car that I parked accross the road while a big truck was in front of our house. (Apparently this happens a lot when neighbours get jealous of someone extending... other car next to mine wasn't touched.)
There were tears today here.

Thanks for the tips monkey, I'm just now learning that we've significantly underestimated how much remedial work would be needed after the build. The whole house is trashed, and the front and back garden too. I'm hoping we won't need to spend too much of our contingency so that can go towards fixing everything.

I jinxed myself with the last update, it seems - things have ground to a halt since last week. One of the subbies joked that '[head builder] has forgotten I exist', as we haven't seen him for so long. I think we're at least 2 weeks behind schedule which will take us dangerously close to Christmas, although the PM isn't admitting to it.

After lots of dithering, I finally ordered my kitchen and am super happy with the price I got it for. Now just getting quotes for the quartz worktops I want and it costs more than the kitchen and appliances combined! Yet another thing to obsess over for the next few weeks...

For whoever asked, we spent about £6K for an architect (single-storey extension with some reconfiguring of the ground floor). That's one of my biggest regrets so far as he was just useless. Will definitely look into alternatives next time, if there IS a next time!

Oh Tika that's terrible about your car - what horrid people. Hope you manage to find some creative solutions to rejigging the plans, you might end up with something even better in the end!?

tika that sounds like a shit day. Is there any recourse against the useless architect?

We don't think we'll be able to get buildings regs on ours. Structural engineer that okay'd it all has gone AWOL and without his letter building control won't pass it. But I'm not panicking. When we sell up in however many years, we'll just get am indemnity policy against it. Head firmly in the sand here.

rick dare I ask how things are for you?

I totally understand that feeling Monkey re being insulted in your own home! Our builders total lack of respect for us & our home are what has dragged me down the most! And the reason I hate the sight of him!

He text DH today to day the skip people turned up but couldn't take it because it was surrounded by crap!

No shit Sherlock!

The plasters are coming 04 October! Ermm that's another 2 weeks! Boiler can't go in until plastering done do that's another 2 weeks with absolutely no heating what so ever!

So that's another : weeks to finish the screed! Fgs!