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

Thanks 4years it really feels like it's taken forever!

Garden is finished!! Now we need to try and keep the kids off of the new turf...!

Love the glass splashbacks @Threesocks. Really like the colour of it in the boot room! I especially love that back stable door!!

We’ve just submitted our plans to the planning portal. Just waiting to hear back from the council to say it’s gone live.
I’m starting to look for builders now.

May I ask how much you've been quoted gleegeek please?

Just trying to work out if this is feasible for me.

Why oh why is the "get builder" stage so hard!?

I am trying to be patient with one as when I (gently) nudged for the quote he revealed they had had a new baby on Thursday and so only just back from the hospital. The best excuse ever!

Then I had another one around today. A bigger firm. They had a quote ready as I had already emailed my plans in advance. The quote was really good! But they said can only start Nov! But the biggest blow was when I went to speak to a nice lady who had an extension put up by someone else and her parents had used said organised, bigger firm builder and she said it leaked! Nooooo!! To top it off, they are listed as dissolved on companies house but are clearly not... Hmm!!

Anyway, how are everyone else's plans going?

Oh dear @soakedat3 do they have any other reviews? It's so hard isn't it!!

I got some floor tile samples today, they're really nice! Love them. We can't afford underfloor heating, do you think tiled floor will be too cold?

Can I join in this thread.... out planning application finishes on Friday! It’s for Double height double width extension - terrified!

@soakedat3 I'd definitely avoid if they're dissolved on companies house; often builders dissolve to avoid either debt or a court case from a disgruntled client. They then just reform.

@soakedat3 same issue here! Ones who seem keen and say they’ll get back to me ... don’t bother. Why waste my time coming round?

We’re also looking into separate trades and project managing ourselves and it’s even worse because it’s several instead of just one!

@avocuddl, what tile samples did you get? I do like how they are coaster sized and we are currently cheering ourselves up by using them as such. Lol! I looked at underfloor heating too but too expensive to run. The kids will just have to learn to wear slippers like in the olden days! I am eyeing up fancy vertical radiators if we can afford it. I have put one electric velux above fancy radiators on the priority list though.

StubbleTurnips, good luck with your extension. It sounds so fab!!

I am avoiding the dissolved builder. He is starting to look too good to be true - lowest quote, reassurances about starting in Nov, 5 year warranty, done by Christmas! Can't trust him now that I know about Companies House status. Fishy like 4years says! Sigh. His quote would also have meant everything was doable comfortably rather than having to choose carefully. I'm rooting for new dad to quote soon!!

This is worth a read atlucyshouse.com/renovating-the-reality/ some good things to consider

That's quite an ordeal that lady had! And she's a chartered surveyor so you'd think that would've given her a slight advantage. Eeek! It's good she can laugh about it now but I can still feel her annoyance through the article. I am not sure I could walk that slopey floor without feeling annoyed every time! Thanks for the link 4years.

Come on new dad! 🤞🏽🤞🏽

These are the tiles that I like, what dya think? I'd like to have the same indoors and out, do you think that will look good? Have attached pics!

Oh that blog has made me even more worried about the builder now!! Thanks for sharing though, good tips!

Love the idea of same tiles indoors and out. I really like tnem.

That blog is terrifying
You’re putting all of your trust in a stranger who doesn’t care as much as you do because it’s not their own home.

I really like modular pattern tiles and we were thinking of a similar one. I walked past a house with ones similar in the colour tones you have posted a picture of Avocuddl. It looked very smart and a bit different from the other houses.

I really wanted a pattern on the floor but DH is very anti pattern. Hurumph!

We're 3 weeks in now, and last year I would have happily started in November just to get going. Now I'm so glad we didn't. It's really cold - unsurprisingly when you've got big holes in your house. You can see the bottom of our bath from the garden now. May be ok if you're not planning on living there but would definitely not recommend it if you are.

We have lots of builders recommended on local FB groups. Definitely try and see other jobs they've done.

I need to finalise what floor we're having by the end of the week. So many decisions.

We’ve decided if we can’t start by August we’ll delay till spring

Funnily enough DH and I were saying this yesterday. Not the end of the world if we delayed until next year. Def not starting in November! I never thought I'd say this but I am getting kitchen fatigue. I haven't even looked through my Ideal Home magazine properly this month as it's sometimes just annoying to see the quote "It cost £50k including building works"! I really think these people have rounded down to the nearest 50K or else had the work done 10 years ago!!

In other news, the world has sent me another quote via our architect. He asked some builders he has worked with before. Ages ago. I had actually given up on them but tonight one emailed a quote. It's very detailed. A reasonable price - not as cheap as dissolved builder but doable. I may have to speak to him and get some references. Also not really sure how they quote without visiting...

I still so want new Dad to quote!

Ooh that's exciting soaked.

I'm thinking about whether it would be better to postpone the second story bit of the extension and have the garden properly landscaped. Don't want to end up with a mud bath and horrible garden and no money to do anything about it!

It seems like the ones you most want to hear from are the ones who don’t get back in touch. It’s definitely happened to me.

Avo how are you splitting your work in the extension if you don’t mind me asking?

Would doing that effect the balance of the house Avo ? A friend had planning for extra bedroom and downstairs extension and just doing downstairs and it has made it look very bottom heavy and unbalanced. Only from the back though which helps. I got the feeling she was slightly regretting it .

We started at the start our kitchen / dining extension at the beginning of January and I'm pretty happy with the way it has all worked out - mainly because we've had such a mild winter! We should be finished in the next few weeks - ready to be able to enjoy the bi-folds and patio in the summer. The garden was taken over during the build and I'm just glad of wasn't happening over the summer.

The extension is mostly finished and we're awaiting kitchen installation next week. We've also had a karndean quote we are planning to go with, but we are unsure about which order. We are definitely installing the units before the karndean - the question is if we should do the quartz before or after the floor? The kitchen fitter and quartz supplier are saying we should fit the quartz down-stands before the floor is installed, but the floor fitter is saying to do the floor first - anyone know what we should do?!