Can I learn from your mistakes/mishaps? House extension

[aniawl]

We live in a 3 bed semi with a tiny kitchen and a separate garage on a side. When we bought the house we always assumed we’d be building an extension to add a bedroom, bathroom and enlarge the kitchen.
But we’re complete building virgins and having got ripped off when doing up our garden and patio before I wondered if I could put it to you - what are the things that you wish you had done differently, that caught you out, that you wish you knew before you started? Can I please learn from your hard won wisdom?

Have any of your neighbours had similar work done?
Ask them for their builders details if they were happy . (And if they'd mind you having a look )

Get at least three quotes but be prepared to wait (and wait and tear your hair out) . When we had work done I phoned up loads of builders and some didn't even get back to me. Some came round but didn't sen me quotes. If they'd said "It's too far/I;m too busy/ I don't do extensions/ I don't like you" then fine . (I told them on the phone what we were looking for so they could decide if it was worth their while )

We finally found someone who was working nearby (neighbours house) and got a quote (we'd had three others to compare)
Be prepared to wait 3-6 months for them, they should be booked up, be very suspicious if they aren't .

We got a 'rough' quote then once we decided the more involved quote was finalised ,
Have a contingency fund .

Be aware how much they want in advance . A lot of the £ involves the foundations . They should get materials etc on their accounts so you shouldn't need to pay that in advance though obviously they will want financial commitment .

Have a start date and end date , things like adverse weather can affect this . You can have a Penalty Clause .

Snagging List when its near completion.

They just about move in with you . They will have ideas that you might agree with or not . They can advice , tell you what will work logically , you might need to compromise , but it is your house , you will be living with it,.

And if I did it over again I'd move out the dust drove me balistic.

Good Luck.

Thank you! That’s a great list - much appreciated!

We’ve just started a shortlist of builders - going to start with a few that I know did work locally and that people were happy with but who knows! Phoned one recommended firm only to be told they went out of business recently.

Shameless place marking as we're in the same position as you OP. We want to do it ASAP but I get massive anxiety thinking about everything that could go wrong!

Be realistic with your budget. Don't forget everything else on top of the build quote - the carpet/ decorating / new furniture/ re-doing decorating or carpets in other areas as it all looks really tired next to the new extension. Add on storage for big bits of furniture you might store, money for re-doing the garden as that will probably he trashed.

Do as much research as you can in advance - which lights you want, where you want the plug sockets, tiles laying vertically or horizontally etc. The speed with which you need to make these decisions is quick!

I wouldn't move out for all of it - maybe the really dusty part but being on site and seeing builder daily really helped.

Place marking too!

1. Choose your builders very, very carefully. Definitely call up referees and ask to see previous work. Check if they subcontract work (better if they don’t). Ask to see their insurance.

2. Make as many decisions as you can, as early as you can. Draw up a very very detailed scope of work, ideally at the tender stage so you can get different builders to quote against it. Literally everything you can think of that you want doing - in detail. This will then form the basis for your contract with your chosen builders.

The more detail at this stage the better

a) because you can fix the price for things that are in the contract rather than the builder adding it on later

b) because you have a more accurate idea of cost and can budget properly

c) because you can compare builders against each other more accurately as it’s apples with apples and

d) because early decisions makes the project cheaper as you’re not changing your mind on the job, or waiting while that special order shower arrives.

If you know nothing about building I would strongly consider getting an experienced architect or project manager to draw up your scope of work and manage the tender process. They will charge for this but it will save you money and stress and help you find a decent builder in the long run.

It costs £££ more than you'll ever think. Everything does!

Don't let costa/plans runaway with you. What state are your electrics in?

Ours fitted our kitchen from magnet for £1k and let me use their account to buy it, so decent kitchen £7k including plumbing, electrics and appliances.

Thank so much @minipie - lots to think about. Great advice re detailing the plans and great advice about the architect having more of a closer involvement. I know some people prefer to go with ‘design and build’ companies where the architects and builders are part of the same unit but I’m wondering if keeping those two things separate might be a smarter move.

@namechangedtoday15 - yes, that’s a really good point about all the add one. Our garden is a state and I was considering starting work on it this year but I think it’ll be better to wait till the house is done.

@RandomMess - goodpoint. Our electrics are old, and like a lot of things about this house probably need re-doing. 🙈

And it just occurred to me we’ll have to move the manhole which currently sits on the side of the house.

Run a mile from any builder who gives you a cash-in-hand quote. Especially for a job of that size. It means that you won't have a paper trail if things go wrong and if someone is prepared to be dishonest with their finances, they might not be exactly straight with their customers either. Bitter experience speaking there!

This is a weird one but don't be put off by poor spelling and grammar on quotes.
Our builder can't spell or string a written sentence together so his quote at first sight looked sloppy. However the estimates were bang on. He's great with figures and explaining things verbally but isn't really a back office kind of a bloke.

Oh and don't pay out £££ for a fancy pants radiator that is hidden most of the time when a door is pushed open.

We are just had a single story extension. 6.5m x 4.5m

Use an architect get the project drawn up.

Have a decent contingency budget. Some tree roots and a potential drain not on the searches meant investigations and deeper foundations and added 15% to the build cost that no one could have predicted until they started digging.

Get several quotes. Our guys are not even on the internet. But were local and let us see other work. Great reviews and several of our neighbours have sinced employed them.

The mess was awful and the dust OMG. But mostly it was contained to the extension and there was only 4 days whilst they bricked a window that I regretted coming home

Sorry... keep thinking of things

Get everything fitted for your and your family's heights. If your builder is a foot taller than you, supervise when he eg hangs a mirrored cabinet in the bathroom or advises on the height of worktops.

You cannot have too many electrical plug points.

Think about the best way for doors to open into a room and plan the light switches around that. (So obvious to most people!).

Enjoy the dreaming/planning stage and gather lots of inspirational pictures. You'll need it to get through The Dust.

Oh and you will need dust sheets EVERYWHERE. We even got builder's dust in the loft (from a ground floor build).

Watching with interest first builder coming tues morning.

I project managed my house renovation. The things that took the most time was lighting configurations, types of flooring, paint colours,3 bathrooms with all the hardware that’s needed.
Little things like which side you want a door to open, plug sockets. TV points. The dust was still settling weeks after the builders had left.

Also lead times for kitchens, if it’s a German kitchen the companies close the whole of August. Bi fold doors were a 12 week wait.
Get a porta loo, agree to no smoking on site. Buy a million tea bags, put a sugar bowl for easy access You don’t have to remember who takes sugar or not then.

This is very useful! Thanks OP for starting the thread

Thank you so much everyone! This is so so useful! I’m making notes and creating task spreadsheets.

A question - how does one know an architect is a good one? Tia

Get the Haynes manual. My builder laughed everytine he’d ask me a question and I’d got my book out, but respected the fact I’d done my research and would challenge him on things he said.
YY to planning which ways doors open, light switches, powerpoints, radiator placement etc. I printed out multiple sheets of our floor plans and marked up where I wanted everything and gave them copies so the sparky and plumber had a reference and didn’t have to keep asking questions.

We had a similar side extension. We had a manhole too.

We had a recommended builder. But things can change and as much as our work was excellent, he was having financial difficulties.

In the future I would ask to see the job they are currently working on and the the last job they finished

Its worth waiting for a good builder. We are currently in the middle of building a side extension (well over half way now!)

Our builder is actually a friend of ours - we still.got other quotes though and he still came in the most reasonable - and when we actually first seriously started talking about it he was already booked up for the next 18 months. So we waited. And it was worth it.

Other things - we moved drains and its been ok but did add to the cost. We've also moved/are moving gas and electricity meters which has cost (but was essential) and has been a slow process - builder has been nagging them since last Oct.

We had a good idea of what we wanted but still got an architect to draw up the plans - he also dealt with the planning permission applications - we chose one who has designed a few extensions near us and lives in his own self designed house!

One thing we hadn't really realised was what a mess the drive would end up being with the moving of drains and meters - we are going to need to get that done sooner rather than later (mind you wasnt in the best state to start with but waant quite on this years plan!)

Make sure you have enough light coming in existing rooms after extension. We didn't at the time, 18 years ago, and have recently added veluxes which have transformed our rooms. Our neighbours put in an internal courtyard to bring in light which is just fabulous in their terraces house extension.