Extension / loft conversion thread 2020

[missfliss]

Hello,

Thought I'd start a thread for 2020 extenders and converters.

Might be good for us each time say a bit about what works we have planned / are in the midst of if folks are happy to share some / al details.

Current house:
1970s semi with 2.5 (!) bedrooms on South Coast ( Sussex).
Single storey extension ( large kitchen / diner with bifolds) was completed in 2013.

Planned works
Loft conversion with full width rear dormer and small front dormer to create a new master bedroom with large bathroom.

Stage
Planning permission received, builder appointed to start in March

Costs
Build is £60k including VAT. Bathroom / decor extra.
It is a double dormer with aluminium sliding doors to rear and lots of pipe work due to siting the new bathroom at the opposite end to the existing bathroom below.
It's more than expected but we have non-standard plans and are doing the work to stay in the house for years as opposed to maximising profit to sell.

Reasons for doing work
An adult space to hide away and relax!
Also our son has additional needs and we may need to use au pairs in the future ( new room needed). As our son gets older he may need to live with us into adulthood

Plans
Attached

Next steps
Party wall agreement
Deciding on bathroom fittings / flooring within budget

Joining the moans. We do have windows but no fecking plaster .....

I think between us all we might have a complete house 😂

Although given the size of the holes in my walls it's feeling a long way from a whole house!

Is anyone subcontacting any of their build? I added a few lights to our electrics and the new kitchen spec and asked our builder to requote and felt his revised quote was eye wateringly high. I recieved a couple of other quotes that came in much lower but am wondering if it is worth annoying the builder by taking the electrics away from him. What do others think? We did originally ask him to do everything but have not signed a contract as such.

He was quoting £8k and I had 2 quotes that were around £4k and one at £2.5k. We have around 100 lights/sockets/switches to be fitted. I read that the average charge was around £40 per fitting so the £4k quotes seem ok. The other one seems low to me. Can I ask what others are paying for electrics?

gosh sorry, i;ve got no idea. the electrics are wrapped into my quote and really just amounts to 5 double sockets, 2 pendants, spotlights and a tv aerial.

Hopefully someone with better insight along soon

@weepingwillow22 well my builder cocked up his estimate (his problem thankfully) very badly. He sent the plans to his QS for pricing and it came back at 7k... Sparky says more like 17k!
I think the architect mentioned a finger in the air cost of £70 per socket, less for lights (south east)

@weepingwillow22 I've checked back at the breakdown of work electrican sent to our builder and it was averaging around £50 supply and fix per socket.

I’ve been quoted £70 per socket too (Home Counties)

It's in the final stages that I'm seeing the builder boss man fall down. Things like doors which I asked to get sorted 2 months ago and he's just come back to say he hasn't budgeted enough (again). To be fair, he's swallowed a lot of errors but I can well do without last second issues like this. I've taken the decision away from him and will sort the financials later. Workmen on site have been excellent throughout, let down by their boss.

Hello just found this thread and it looks great.

We are on the planning phase of some work on our house and would be great to join this thread

We have a Edwardian Terrace in the south west and just finished a loft conversion last year.

We are planning a side extension aprox 12 meters by 1.8m and hope this will be a new kitchen and utility room. Just at the stage of getting quotes from builders.

We have 100% been promised plastering next week ... I hope so!

I know I've shared pics before but so chuffed this is arriving tomorrow- complete with sinks and taps now. I does heart it

@nowornever1 welcome to the party. @missfliss that is stunning you must be very chuffed. We have had another unproductive week. But as my tile samples arrived today I'm feeling less bored of the build. All bathroom suites arrive Monday and plan is knock through in roughly 10 days.

@missfliss that’s a gorgeous vanity unit. Where’s it from please?

So fingers crossed we should have steels arriving next week! After that I get to worry about the roof! New downstairs loo is going to be very short, but stupidly wide! We planned it out with masking tape on another floor to figure out space for the sink. Fortunately DH humours me for these things!

Beautiful vanity unit missfliss, glad it was worth the wait.

Thanks all for sharing your electrical quotes. It looks like what my builders were quoting is about right for a main contractor. I am wondering though whether it is ok to start subcontracting bits of the build to save some money. Our builders have been charging extra for various things where costs were more than expected as we are not on a fixed price contract so I am assuming it should work both ways? I think our builder subcontracts the electrics, plumbing, plastering etc and then adds a mark up.

Roof tiles arrived on friday so I am hoping for more progress next week.

@HforHotwl

@Hforhotel sorry app is playing up a bit !
Unit was made by a joinery company called Jaxon in Kent

Thanks @missfliss! Will have a look at their website

Well we have done nothing today as roofer didn't turn up. Up until now this hasn't been an issue so I am a little worried he is ok. Have messaged and not even read yet. But our bathroom stuff arrived earlier, hoorah! so tonight's job is to check it all as you only have 48hrs to raise issues apparently. Great excuse to have a look through.

Still no plaster.... I'm so in the doldrums

Update, roofers car broke down. It sounds terminal and expensive, poor bloke so I forgive him for missing a day. Have gone through all my items from the delivery and all present and correct. Although I now have lots of toilet seats as they came with an upgrade and still had the original in the box so I now have 6 soft close toilet seets.

Well we have a bloody big hole in the back of our house. They've gone ahead with knock through and now the house is open. No idea when windows will materialise. All makes me a bit anxious. The builder has procured some plaster from France 🇫🇷 but he's a bit unsure if it will work because it dries white rather than pink 🤷‍♀️. Got a meeting on site tomorrow to 'make decisions'. I'm pretty good at decisions normally but the thought that these are things I will live with for the next ten years certainly adds to the pressure!

Some of our plaster dried to a light grey, just a different type. It seemed to be absorbed more readily into the subsurface and finished REALLY smooth :) I was quite tempted to just polish it actually...

Managed to start putting colour on the walls yesterday, I'm already fed up of painting. Hallways, dining and kitchen floors going down Thursday, kitchen being fitted Monday. Still no windows

Drumroll please .....

✅✅✅👏👏👏