Cost of side return kitchen extension in SW London?

[LaMigraine]

I would love, love, love to do this as I love our little terraced house but the kitchen is just so narrow, especially as there are now 4 of us and whenever we have people over (which we do a lot - friends, family, kids' friends, etc) there is zero space for people to sit and eat, and I just feel that a decent-size kitchen would make such a huge difference. It would also mean we might never have to move (well at least until the kids grow up, which is a long time away) which would be amazing.

Trouble is, we live in SW London and the price I've heard quoted for side-return extensions makes my hair curl! Would it really cost in excess of £100k? There's just no way we could ever raise that. Even half of that would be pushing it. Our current dimensions are 7.2m x 2.45m so 14.4m2, and we'd be going out by 2m (no change in length) so new footprint would be 7.2m x 4.45m so 34m2.

There is no difference in levels to worry about, everything is on the same level, and could happily live without bifold doors so just have ordinary French doors. Would like some glass in the roof for light, but doesn't need to be all glass or anything like that. Also happy with an IKEA kitchen and have no special desire for expensive fixtures and fittings. We could also keep current appliances, including the oven (it's a range cooker, so can be moved about and doesn't need integrating).

So... any ideas what we might realistically be able to do it for?

TIA!

Side return is a difficult and expensive extension but does make a huuuuuge difference to the space.

I don’t think you coke get it done for less than 80k even with going for the cheapest option at every turn. Labour prices are high, raw material prices are high, construction is basically super expensive at the moment.

Hi LaMigraine, I had my side return completed in January 2016 and did not pay £100k!

Mine was completed by More Space (www.ineedmorespace.co.uk/) who cover all of London.

I paid:
£40k for base fee inc architect drawings & council submission
£6k extra for windows & door
£4k extra for underfloor heating

Plus I paid another company for tiling, kitchen fittings, units etc.

In total including everything (bifold, windows, underfloor heating, tiles, cooker, units, labour, etc) I paid £80k.

It was totally worth every penny. I went from a dark dingy kitchen to a huge kitchen full of natural light with 3 skylights added.

I also had joint planning permission with my neighbour if that's an option for you. It means you can build a slightly larger extension.

Hope that helps.

Architect drawings cost £40k?!
Could these things be shared, given the huge similarity in houses?

I can't comment on the SW London angle but the cheapest option would be to project manage it yourself / have a shell built by a builder and pick up from there with your own plasterer, plumber, electrician etc. I'm just about to do this myself!

@Huffinpuff - it was £40k for the basic shell build including the architect fees!

roses2 Thanks for the clarification. (Phew!)

What is actually included in a 'shell build'—does that include electricity points and plumbing connections?

Mine included everything up to plastering so electrics, plumbing and plastering. It did not include tiling, painting, fitting kitchen units.

Ahh, thanks, £80k sounds a bit better (though still quite a lot. Gulp). Our current space, which was originally a tiny dining room and tiny kitchen, which we knocked through into one room years ago, is actually very light and bright, but soooo narrow.

Interesting about the shell build idea - though I would still have to get in kitchen fitter/tiler/decorator etc (neither me or DH have the wherewithal to do it ourselves, sadly), so would this be significantly cheaper than just getting the original building team to do it? How so? Sorry, don't mean to challenge the idea, just genuinely don't know why it would be cheaper.

Next door have already extended out to our boundary so no option on sharing permission fees etc, unfortunately. I do also wonder whether the fact that they've already extended might bring up problems - not sure what, exactly, but party walls always seem to bring issues!

The build team I used don't do tiling, painting, kitchen fitting etc. If you go for a small independent building company then they probably will do the work.

We got quotes from a range of companies and all were more or less the same price. We went with More Space in the end as I preferred to deal with a large organisation with extensive experience, fixed costs and a proper contract rather than a small building firm who might do a runner or jack up costs part way through.

I have plemty of experience in side returns and kitchen extension projects. Looking at your dimensions and comparing this with past kitchens sizes and the amount I have paid in the past (my architects drawings were included by the building company) I would have said, with a fair deal of accuracy, 56k. A party wall agreement may be necessary which would be circa 2k. Feel free to PM me - I can help with Party Wall co etc as I have to refurb for a living. 100k is way over the odds of what I have paid.

If your neighbour has already built a party wall then you will need to pay 50% of the cost of that wall at today's brick prices - you'll need to factor that into the cost. I think I paid my neighbour £6k for a 8m long x 6m tall (inc 2m of foundations) in January 2016. The cost is standard and the Party Wall Surveyor will tell you how much the cost per sqm is. The £80k I quoted also includes the cost I paid my neighbour for the party wall in addition to the party wall surveyor fees.

I have a total line by line cost breakdown just in case that's of any interest to you.

Ah okay, so we would simply use the existing wall as a shared (party) wall then, rather than building an adjoining wall? Sorry, bit clueless here. Good to know that wasn't on top of the £80k though, but included.

LWade would the party wall costs, as outlined by roses2, be included in your estimate of £56k? That would be amazing if I could PM you, by the way - thank you!

roses2 if it's easily shareable - and you don't mind sharing - the line by line breakdown would be very useful, thank you. Are you in London too?

100k for an extension! It’s not the Sistine chapel, it’s a couple of walls and a roof!

I had a side return extension two years ago for twenty two thousand , 5x2 mtr we didn’t have party wall or need steels(knock through was done by removing original side kitchen window & back door, leaving remaining walls in place) that helped cut the cost also the builder submitted drawings/sizes to building regs, so no architect fees.
Drainage was fairly straightforward, which also helped keep cost down.
Price included roof light & French doors, plastering,electrics they also built a utility cupboard in the kitchen, we didn’t need to replace any of the kitchen which helped as well.
I’m in south east London, pm me if you want any more details.

Ps we also supplied flooring & radiators, which they fitted included in price.

@LaMigraine yes I'm in North West London. I'll post a breakdown of costs tonight when I get home :)

Oh thank you @roses2!

@dontcallmelen, wow, £22k, that's amazing! That's for the shell, I guess - i.e. not including tiling, kitchen fitting, decorating? Good that your drainage was straightforward. No idea about ours, but I know if it's tricky that can ramp up the cost...

You are all giving me hope that this might be financially possible, thank you

Ours was around £80k for all labour (that didn't include kitchen), also included bifold doors and the sensor velux windows but no the kitchen or VAT, so it was about £110k in total I think. Painful to think of the costs but I can't tell you how much it has changed our home for the better!

(we are also SW London and this was completed 18 months ago).

Build Team are a side return company in London & have an online quote system:

www.buildteam.com/online_quote_calculator.html

I met with them and their price was identical to More Space. I went with More Space as they had more experience.

@LaMigraine no we didn’t need a new kitchen as that part of the room wasn’t touched, but the new part was finished including flooring/rads & electrics, they also did a mist coat on walls & ceilings, I then redecorated the kitchen & did top coats on new walls & ceiling.

@LaMigraine

Regarding a "shell" conversion: when you pay a builder or construction company to come and build you an extension - everything up to decorating, kitchen fitting, tiling etc. - you are paying a hefty sum for them to project manage the job for you. Materials and labour will all carry a mark-up reflecting that the builder is organising and scheduling the work for you.

You can reduce costs by sourcing, engaging and scheduling the various trades directly and purchasing materials yourself. It does involve more work on your part obviously but the cost savings can be huge.

I don't think there's a strict definition of a "shell" but for my build that excludes plastering, plumbing, electrician, tiling, decorating, kitchen fitting. So I'm paying for groundworks including drainage, bricklaying and steels and the roofer as a package. I'm not confident enough to organise that bit myself! I'm providing doors and windows.

As I understand it, the problem with getting a shell build in some areas is that:
(a) Builders are very busy so don't want to do them as they can make more money project-managing.
(b) Once your shell is built, you might have problems finding an electrician, plumber, tiler etc. independently.
Every tradesman I've encountered seems to just want the big jobs these days!