Home Extension Thread 2019

[4yearsnosleep]

Time to start another extension thread. 2019 for lots of newcomers and hopefully lots of finishers too!

We're Day 5 of builders on site and have a roof framed. V excited about the big velux

Post do you mean your friend did away with the second storey? I’m wondering if Avo is doing similar to us and building it all but leaving upstairs unfinished inside until funds allow. I have heard of people adding a second storey in the future though so maybe it is that! Interested anyway.

Hoppahouse - is there a reason they specified? I was intending on fully fitting the flooring before doing the kitchen.

My plumber and BIL (who is project managing the extension) have sent me on a wild goose chase today trying to find 70cm wide cabinets to house the boiler and the washing machines.

We've got 3 parts to the extension essentially, the rear kitchen extension, a remodelling of the side of the house and extending forwards to create an entrance hall and then the second story above this area which extends the bathroom and creates an additional bedroom.

I've always thought we'd do the second story later, but the builders quote had come in for it to be possibly attainable.

I thought we'd always do the whole downstairs but actually the builder has said that the remodelling of the side might be quite a bit of work as it involves taking up the floor etc.

So, I'm thinking we might just do the rear, and do the garden and then see where we are in terms of financing for the side and 2nd story. We 100% want to do the whole project as per the planning permission, but just a funding/timing question. Hopefully, the rear extension will add enough value to the house to allow us to borrow more to do the side!

I've attached our plans! Could you share yours?! :)

We started our build (large single story, no room untouched downstairs!) on 5th Nov and were due to finish end of Feb - looks like we'll be finished next week. Flooring in today/tomorrow. Final fix electrics and plumbing tomorrow and final decorating next week. Phew!
I'm really pleased we did it over Winter as we'll be ready to enjoy the summer in the space and the garden. As another PP said, the garden is completely taken over and the thought of going through the summer without the garden would have been hard with our 4 & 5 yr old.
Although it has been pretty mild, our kitchen at one point was 9degs inside! We lived in it throughout - although spent Christmas at family as at that point we were living behind a partition wall!
I would do it this way again.

That's great @Hoppahouse any pics?? So exciting the kitchen is coming!

I'm torn over starting now or waiting till after the summer. Like you say, not having a garden over the summer is not appealing with little ones. But equally I just want to start now!

Thanks all. I'll be back with pictures later!

All the advice we've had is to do kitchen first and then flooring (karndean) up to the units - it even says this on the karndean website... we're happy to do that, but we then have to wait around a week until the quartz is fitted and want to get the floor done during this time. I think we're going to push on and do it this way as most people seem to do 🤷‍♀️😬

That's funny because we were told flooring first 🤔 so many conflicting views!

I know - It's so confusing! We've definitely been told to do karndean last as otherwise you're paying for flooring you'll never see. This is what I found on the website too.

Do you think we should do kitchen, floor and then quartz?!

Hoppa do you mean the quartz worktop? What's a downstand? Sorry!

When the quarts goes down to the floor at each side (I think!) - like in the picture

Quartz even

Ah I see!! Yeah I'd deffo do kitchen, floor and then the quartz.

Hoppa, that will look so stunning!!! I have heard of them before but called a waterfall edge. Beautiful. I would say kitchen, floor then the downstand/edge as really what are you saving? A tiny slither of flooring that the edge covers?? What flooring are you going for? Can't wait to see pictures!

Thanks for the real life stories of building work over winter. In Scotland we have a bit more rain and in our area in particular (East Kilbride) we get more snow than other areas of the central belt. I don't think I could stand cold AND mess.

Avo, that is some serious extending you are planning! I have read you can save some money by getting the foundations ready for 2 storeys and build 1 until you have funds for the upper level. I think that's why sometimes the price per sq meter can be less for 2 storeys as the expensive bits are all downstairs.

New Dad has quoted at last and it's reasonable. And he thinks he can start June. We would hopefully get garden back for some of summer. And hey, I won't have to worry about cutting the grass for a bit :D :D

Another discussion to have soon about exactly what his quote includes an checking references but looking up again in the soaked household. It's a rollercoaster!

I am back on this thread after giving up on moving house. We have two builders in process of giving quote, and if all ok we might start work next month !!!
Avo,
We also had bigger plans but have reduced it to make it work in our budget. In the beginning I was upset that we can't do it all but now I feel it is better to do what we can do comfortably.

Yay Soaked that's great news! Has your builder offered contacts for references? My potential has given me photos of previous work and has lots of reviews on mybuilder but I want to actually speak to someone who he's done work for before- is this the norm?

How do go for payment schedule for builders ? Week by week ? Stages? But how to breakup to build stages..

Avo, I have asked for references to speak to - even over the phone as like you I've seen photos. His previous customers seem to have also used the same kitchen company as he recommends so an extra incentive to speak to them! Also, one lady had the most amazing pink hex splashback I might steal consider. This is New Dad. His company was only started in 2018 (ref:Companies House) so has not a big portfolio. We are going 1/3 on gut feel, 1/3 on availability and cost and 1/3 on being able to speak to his previous customer.

Dissolved builder offered weekly payments which actually did sound good.
New Dad has it split into roughly 5 with a final chunk left til after snagging.

Another builder, according to the lady who referred him to me, just asked for various lump sums as and when he needed it. She seemed ok with this. I am semi-ok as the funds are ready but I would prefer to have a set payment schedule as I like to know what and when I am paying.

A builder my sister used for a garage build and driveway just asked for payment at the very end. Good and bad as they then end up with no patience for snagging IMHO. It was

@Hoppahouse - we've got a quartz downstand on our peninsula, and tiled floor. We had the floor fully tiled under the peninsula, but for the run of tall units against the wall it's tiled to just behind the plinth to reduce wastage a bit. So tiling first, then kitchen, then quartz. We wanted it tiled under the peninsula as doing it afterwards would have risked trapping appliances like the dishwasher! It looks lovely having the quartz downstand onto the tiled floor, think it would have looked odd the other way round!

avocuddl/mum2015We spoke to references, though it helped that our neighbours used our builder about 6 months before us, so we'd seen his work already! We had staged payments based around key points in the build and dependent on building control approval if appropriate to that stage. Last payment was smaller (about 1k) and held back for snagging.

Our payment stages were at completion of:
Foundations
Brickwork
Roof
First fix
Second fix
Snagging

Thank you for sharing the payment stages.

In high level our plan is to add a second storey to our bungalow and remove internal walls downstairs to create bigger living space.

What do you tell builder if he asks for money at Foundation stage say for ordering steels or Windows?
One of the builder is saying something in that line about payments while the other one is more comfortable with payment for what is completed as compared to what needs ordering.

Anyone having timber kit and know how much the kit is costing them and don’t mind sharing?

Mum2015 there should be clarity about what you supply and what the builder supplies. If he is supplying the joists and windows, then you don't need to pay for them - should be included in his quote. Ours is also split into stages.

We also wanted to do two stories but didn't get planning for the zinc box we wanted to go on top. We've decided to build without but future proof foundations.

Our joists have gone in this week. It's taking shape, but need to start ordering.

Thanks Stokey.