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?

Hi monkey, that sounds a nightmare. I can't imagine that prices have gone up that much, definitely not labour. Timber frame is standard construction so you won't have a problem later on. I would get some more quotes and let your builder know that you are doing so and see what he says.
tatlerer quotes can vary hugely so definitely get 3 or more. That's a big budget so you want to get it right. What was your project manager's view? Did she think what you want to do is achievable for your budget?

Hi, I'd like to join please! Single storey rear extension but removing existing kitchen in the process. We have planning permission (not needed for the extension, but because we intend to externally insulate and render the side of house too). Just trying to finalise the plans internally, and need a final cost from builder. We've had loads of builders too busy to quote or get back to us. I'm pregnant with my 2nd and not keen to be in the house with all the dust and me pregnant (or with a newborn).

Savage we had lots of issues getting builders quotes too. Had to be politely persistent with chasing them up..

We had six firms round and after 8 weeks cut our losses with the three who'd actually come back to us.

Hopefully yours will move more quickly than ours and you won't end up doing it with a newborn like us!!

We've got planning and some quotes but we had to go back with questions and issues and the cheapest one seems to have gone AWOL. Agonising over whether to do the whole thing (kitchen extension, loft and general renovation) and spend every last penny we have or whether to do it in stages. Also wondering whether to get some more quotes as the range is huge.

Argh!

Probably stating the obvious glorious but have you been through your quotes wrt what they all include/exclude? We found there was a big range but with completely different scopes of work once we added the extras they were much closer. Things like decorating, tiling, installing flooring, fitting kitchen..

Thanks for the welcome and hello to the other newbies on here! Fourmagpies yes, both project manager and architect feel our budget is enough to do all works specified to a good to high spec, which was also our conclusion having done our own desk research about the average price of this, that and the other. I think we are a nuisance to our project manager as we aren't a commercial operation and therefore small fry. But IMO that doesn't give her the right to try and force us down the path with this builder by de-scoping the project. It's annoying

Sounds like our quotes glorious, had two quotes and one was double the other. We then figured the second had quoted for stuff we intend to do later but didn't want included in the quote so we sent a detailed breakdown of what we wanted (excluding stuff they'd quoted for!) and their price went up

Inneedofaliein I am a little bit worried about the disruption, particularly from the point of view of my cat!
I think he may find himself locked in a bedroom for a few days!
Due to the proximity of some trees the structural engineer has said the foundations at the back need to be over 2 metre deep, that's added a lot of expense and seems like total overkill!

I'm joining! We live in a tiny 2 bed bungalow, riddled with damp (I think. There's certainly a lot of mould around), with a lot of garden space which is unused. Ideally we'd like to move but we'd never be able to afford a better/bigger house so renovation is the answer.

We've literally just made the decision so I'm at a loss on where to start - hence joining this thread!

We have two options - knock it down and start again or add an extension and move things around. Three of the walls are stone built, one is cavity wall.

So this is what we need to do but I'm not sure in what order:

Get a survey done to inform us whether to renovate or knock down
Get architect drawings done but first find architects
Get planning permission from local council
Apply for remortgage or HI loan
Find a builder

We also have no savings at the moment - literally none - but this can be easily rectified (I'll just stop buying clothes and wine!)

I'd appreciate any pointers on where we should begin.

Purple- Alot of architects offer a free site visit survey to discuss options and what is doable etc.

Teamrick- We have a puppy so dreading keeping him out the way too, plus not having access to the garden could be interesting.

Thanks Pigley - would an architects survey look at the condition of the house? Damp, rot etc?

purple we have no savings either.

Well, I have approx £4.87 in a penny jar in my knicker drawer.

We are winging it. Remortgaged for the bulk, but as we got a much better rate, we actually shortened the mortgage term plus got the extra funds for a few quid extra per month. So it feels like free money right now

We are planning on getting the shell done for the current funds. Then I can pinch about 1k per month from DH wages which will do decor/skirting/floors/kitchen bits as we go along. I figured we can live with big rugs until I can afford plush carpet etc. We just need the extra bedroom and bigger kitchen desperately.

One thing to consider with your build, will you be able to get a mortgage if youre knocking the property down?

Hmmm, good thinking Monkey. That would be a completely different beast from a Home Improvement loan wouldn't it?

We're in our mid late 40s with about 15 years to run on the mortgage. Whatever we do, we want it all to be paid off before we're 60.

We thought about borrowing circa £30k - we think that's how much equity there is in the house. If we can do it cheaper we will!

Basics are:

New bathroom
New and bigger kitchen/diner
3 bedrooms - inc loft conversion
Knock down existing shitty conservatory. I'd do that now but at the moment we need the space, as crappy as it is
Resolve the mould problem. Even though we've got measures in place, the corners where there are garden walls attached to the house are still mouldy
Landscape the garden and make it as low maintenance as possible.

Oh and my savings situation is a tad better than yours Monkey - we've got £91 in coinage!

Purple IME the architect's inital (free) meeting is just chatting over idea, what would work for your house & what the brief is. then they'll quote for their part of the work. Our architect's survey just measured the existing house - nothing about damp. We'll have to get structural engineer in at some stage but i think that is after planning. So finalise drawings, go to planning, then get structural survey before tender for builders.

Still waiting for second set of drawings here, we may not get started this year! I'm quite frustrated that we have to work around our neighbour's blatantly illegal extension. He has right to light despite it being a hideous monstrosity as it has been there for more than 4 years, so we're trying to fit a 4th bedroom in without being able to go to our boundary wall on the first floor.

We also may end up doing it in stages too Glorious. We definitely have enough to do a big kitchen dinner on the ground floor and downstairs loo, but may not be able to do the 4th bedroom & ensuite upstairs at the same time. It's hard to know whether to try & cut costs so you don't have to go through it all again in a couple of years time.

Which magazines - if any- have people found good for inspiration? I'm feel like I keep seeing the same pictures on Pin & Houzz so would like some other ideas.

Yes purple, get an architect round first then have him/her quote. A builder could quote on the damp/other aspects?

Stokey it must be incredibly frustrating that you're having to adjust your plans to suit a blatantly illegal extension next door! Did your current neighbour build it or was it before his time? Sorry if I've missed it further down the thread.
DH had a good conversation with our project manager earlier. Fingers are being pulled out of you know wheres. And apparently a builder who pulled out of the tender process before Xmas due to workload has come back into the mix and has made 'good sounds' about being able to do the whole project, unchanged, within our budget- so I really hope that's not hot air and it comes through.

inneed and savage yes, we sent a pretty detailed spec out in the first place (down to locations of lighting and types of flooring etc) and some of the questions I've gone back with are about exactly what people have allowed for, but on the kitchen extension the difference between the cheapest and most expensive is £45k (£65k vs £105k) and there are no possible differences in spec that could account for that! Quite apart from the fact that all of it seems astronomical to me considering that actually we're not changing the footprint at all because there's an existing extension built in the 90s. Well over half the external walls are already built and do not need re-building, so the bulk of it is replacing a flat roof with some steels and a pitched roof and knocking down and replacing a 4.5m by 2m conservatory, which admittedly does mean new foundations for three walls.

stokey yes, exactly, and also how much contingency to allow. In our case it would need to be more like a year's time than two as we're not planning to be in this city for very long and I would like to see the benefit for at least six months to a year before we sell!

Going to exclude the most expensive one because there's no way we can pay that much, which is a shame as I think they're very good. Then need to nag the cheapest one again and decide whether their somewhat unenthusiastic response to the tender process has put us off too much. Oh and go out to a few more builders to see if we can get any others at the cheaper end of things.

tatlerer that sounds promising, fingers crossed for you.

Hi can I join your discussion please! We are hoping the build for our single storey rear extension will begin around April. Also having some of the walls moved around to create larger kitchen diner which will lead through to the new extension which will be a family area. Just had a bit of a setback though, building control have torn apart our plans and are questioning loads of the details. I think we'll probably have to pay more and get them redrawn. Starting to worry about time now though, don't want our builder to think we're not ready and move onto another project. Also seem to be spending more and more money without anything to show for it. I've never done an extension before and because so many people have them I thought they'd be much easier. I didn't think there would be so much stress before the build has even started!

Sympathies Cakethat, building control not my favourite people this week, they are asking fir the structural engineers calculations which I was under the impression they had and was told that I could start. Got the distinct impression from email from building inspector that actually they hadn't. I wouldn't have had the builder take out the old steel if I'd known that. Hopefully all will come good in the end and I'm on painting which is exciting.

Our plan for stages has gone a bit wrong due to location of the new steels so having to reverse the next two stages and am awaiting quite for one plus need to get more roofers to quote for the next. Getting a bit touch and go on the money front now.

Gosh there are so many places that delays can happen, it's such a stressful process. Sympathies Mirabelle &Cakethat

The neighbour has been there since 1984 so think he built monstrosity Tatlerer. But he has just put it on the market so hope he may be amenable to our plans. We want to go out 5m on ground floor from original property, knocking down current kitchen which is 3.5m out, so would need the neighbours' approval. Has anyone experience of this?

Glorious in your position I'd definitely try and do both. There's no point doing it a year later from a disruption perspective. We've got 3 bedrooms already & 2 dds share, but they'll want their own rooms at some stage - eldest is 7 - so are trying to plan for that eventuality. But we're not planning on moving in foreseeable future.

No experience with neighbours I'm afraid Stokey.

Building Inspector wants full fill with cavity batts rather than cellotex so builder been sorting this. Also came to light this morning that he hadn't clocked the ensuite bit and didn't allow for the drainage. Luckily today was a good day for me to realise this and it can be easily sorted with extra cost of £700 to £860. That brings foundations, beam and block floor, walls to plate level, new soil pipe drainage pipes and trench plus scaffold up to 10k but that I'm still happy with.

Internal alterations so far eg including new steel, chimney removal, one new room formed including electrics and plumbing plus doorway bricked , window bricked in, new lintel plus hole for front door is £6k.

Now need a price for the roof including dormer and velux, 2 new steels which need fabrication to make them join, a steel post to support roof, bit of wall knocked out of hall, studwork to form new hall, utility room plus living room entrance plus another window made for living room. Also need a front door, set of French doors, 2 windows.

I've out in a fair bit of detail as might help someone in the future, I trawled through old threads before starting. Ours is 2 storey extension to chalet bungalow with substantial alterations to ground floor to form new front door, hall, utility room and convert old small fourth bedroom to another larger reception room. Porch to front of house with steps. Budget a rather ambitious 35k South coast.

Need to get off my arse and paint as carpet coming for DS's new room Thursday and we have a guest coming this evening for a week so really need him out of guest's room asap. Mantra of the day - it will all be fine ...

Hi all, our extension begins next week if we get our party wall agreement signed off !! The lady next door rents and her land lord is the council so I'm petrified they are going to put the brakes on by disputing ... it's been nearly 2 weeks now but the surveyor has just been in touch to day that he will be personally making a visit to them this week ! Builder wants to come in at the weekend to prep and install skip / loo etc but I'm just to scared in case .... anyone else had a neighbour ignore the party wall agreement?

purple don't touch that conservatory! You can use the removal of existing structures as leverage with your local planning dept (or if we take down this space can we have a bit more extension) etc so put that hammer down until you've decided what you are going to do!

HI, can I join? We got pp for a large rear/side single storey extension in December. Just in the process of getting quotes from builders now. Really, really hope to build this year. Dreading the process though. We will be staying here with 5 primary-aged DC!