Extension cost?

[frankiesamson]

I'm in Southwest London. What is the approximate price I should be expecting to build a two story extension? Google search seems to reveal it should be between £1000 - £1.5k per square metre outside london, and £1.5k - £2000 per square metre in london.

However, all the estimates I have received, seem to be over £4000 per square metre!! That is double the estimation I have found online for 2017! What gives? Is everyone taking the piss?

The extension I want, is approximately 18 m² two story.

Most trades men of course don't even reply, the ones that do reply never follow through with their estimate, and the ones that do you follow through with their estimate (that would be less than 5%), seem to be more than double even the highest prices advised online.

If anyone can advise what sort of price I should be expecting in Southwest London, that would be great, as we seem to be getting nowhere

Ps- after trying local builders in the area, we even started trying other nearby areas, and even builders outside London in a desperate attempt to find people who will reply. Not much luck so far!

Other than take several years off my job and learn how to do the work myself, we are coming to be at a loss. We have money sitting in the bank waiting for this job to be done, it's bizarre.

Afraid I can't help with a price - but have you had a look on check a trade website. Allows you to see feedback on previous jobs. My husband advertises on there, and covers a lot of surrey and SW London - Surrey Plastering and Building Services.
It also lets you mark against them if they don't respond to your request! I agree how annoying this is! Good luck.

Materials have gone up at least 10% in the last year. I'm in the SE and our single story extension last year worked out over £2000 a m2 (could be closer to £2500). Average trades are £150-200-250 a day, except for tilers who charge per the metre (£40+ here - that's what I should retrain as). Plus VAT. I'm not sure the £1500 tag was true in 2016 (and did it include vat?) so if it was a few years ago you'll have to factor in the price of blocks and wood...

Sorry - not much help. But a competitive quite may be more than you were hoping for.

Lots of sympathy, Frankie! Sadly, prices aren't £1.5-2k per square metre in London any more. Materials, demand for builders and property prices have all put paid to that. I'd estimate that it's now approaching £3-3.5k per square metre (depending on your finish) but you might be paying a premium because your sqm isn't very large. I'm sure there was a thread on here recently where another poster had received quotes which were £4k+ per sqm for her extension.

Checkatrade have been fine for us, although there are threads here on Mumsnet with some warnings about bad reviews being removed. Other sources are My Builder and Refera could be worth a try (although I haven't used either). Good luck!

Sorry, should have added that I'm in SW London too. Even quoted for separate trades, products, materials etc. make me

Thanks for the replies.. to answer the questions, yes tried Checkatrade, as well as other websites such as rated people..

Also, soneone asked what finish I'm looking for.. none at all. Happy to decorate myself. Just need the structural work done.

Ps- as in someone mentioned the price depends largely on finish- if it keeps the costs down I don't even need a finish!

Good lord when did an average extension become £4K per sqm?? Is that including or excluding VAT?

So that's not even for a fitted kitchen?! Had a think and a friend of mine highly recommended her builder (have a Google for Cavendish Energy and Construction - on Checkatrade, I think). Unfortunately he couldn't quote for some brickwork for us as he's booked up for a while and we need someone in the next few weeks. Sign of a good builder!

The quotes for my 2 storey extension (garage & utility room/master bedroom & ensuite) were £150-160k excluding VAT and that wasn't in London!

Tea

I hate that VAT thing as well. I'm obviously fine with paying VAT, but it's never included in quotes for services, products etc. when everyone quoting knows I'm a private residential customer. Sigh ...

teaandbiscuitsforme, thanks for posting the price of your extension- but what size in m2 was it? A two story extension costing £160k could be cheap or expensive depending on how big it is, you see.

It could! I don't know the m2 off the top of my head but it was basically a single garage with a rectangular living room the width of it on the back and then a bedroom and bathroom above. I'll look up the plans later for the details.

It did include a new roof so it was possibly £130-140k excluding VAT and excluding the roof. We really wanted to go for it because we love the house but have decided that it makes more sense for us to move in order to get the fourth bedroom we need

*rectangular utility room on the back of the garage

Are there any access restrictions or unusual features for the site? I've known tradesmen deliberately inflate the quote because they didn't want the work, so it was worth their while for an awkward job. You'll pay extra for materials that can't be brought on site easily

poster teaandbiscuitsforme, thanks but honestly a bedroom could be 4m2 in london and 20m2 outside london.. thats more than 4x difference in size, so would really need the total floor area to know how your price works out in comparison