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

I think I spy the national supply of missing plaster hiding behind a pillar in @minniemooblue photos!

@WhereDoesThisToiletGo
Well spotted!! I don't think they are all for me though as I've only got a ceiling and the utility room left to plaster!

Yes. Agree with the dragging building work. We should have been finished this week (actually about 6 weeks ago) but the kitchen delivery was delayed for the 4th time thanks to a a vehicle breakdown and now we missed our slot with the builders so will be next week now. We are so close to the end but every day that it gets delayed I feel like crying...been without a kitchen for 6 months already 😭😭

Wish I could join you all in the wine drinking but being 6 months pregnant I will have to settle for sulking instead.

Anyway... Let the countdown begin! (... Again)

Turned up to paint more skirtings yesterday to find carpets up and plumber crawling under the floor...a leak apparently... Kitchen unfinished, electricals not complete, plumbing not complete. Some cleaners turned up a day early and brought their baby with them!!
So a bit (wholly) fucked off last night, especially as the removals had packed our life up and have started moving us in today. All the trades still there, everyone tripping over each other.

I frickin gave fair warning this was coming too. Went over and made sure everyone was on the same page today - get the fucking job done.

Apologies for the long post. I'm new here and hoping to get a sense check on our project or someone to tell me that I've forgot to account for something. Said project is a remodel of our galley kitchen, living room, dining room, installing a basic downstairs toilet and adding a 3 x 6 extension to the rear of the property.

We have been quoted £40k for the following:
Knock concrete Sectional Garage to make room for extension.
3x6 extension, 3 manual velux windows, 3 bifolds across 3.6 metres, red brick finish
6 double sockets ( I think I'll need more)
10 led downlights in the extension
Supporting wall dividing current kitchen and current living room to be removed and replaced with steel beam & build a stud wall to change the kitchen into a larger separate room, which will become the living room.
Take out front kitchen window and complete brick work to build a bay shape (ground floor only) and put a bay window in.
Install a basic downstairs toilet
Extension and toilet to be completed to a plaster finish

£750 for an extra bifold door as we were quoted for 3 bifolds but want 4.
Kitchen & fit £5000 ( diy kitchens - L-shaped kitchen. Wishful thinking?)
Gas hob £160
Double oven £356 for 2 single
Dishwasher £205
fridge freezer £480
Decorating £100 white paint for the room
Flooring 45 msq £800 (18m2 living room & 27m2 open plan kitchen and dining room
Outdoors lights £60
Extractor fan £80
shed £350
dining room light £50
Island Lights £70
Radiators £537 (2 vertical column and 1 normal column)

Existing living room light to be used, less than a year old

We already have a large Dining room table and chairs to be used in the dining area.

We are doing the floorings on the cheap initially and later on down the line we will replace them with better flooring. The living room will have laminate, and the kitchen/dining area will have lino for the time being.

The Decorating will be simple white paint, as I think it makes the space look bigger and cleaner.

Some prices for things might seem low but myself and my partner both have work related discounts in a number of stores.

@ANM83 the build cost seems ok and as you said some of the items seem a little low 350 for a shed if new won't get you much ours ( solid timber) was £1k. I was always told to plan £1k per door. I would say £5000 for kitchen + fit would be safer. If you have a decent contingency then I can't see any massive holes. Assuming you have already sorted building regs, certification for electrics costs in there? It my gut feel is it will cost more than your current estimates but don't know your discounts so it's hard to comment.

So our roofers are being a total pain and I am about ready to snap. Latest issue is they have bent the moulding for the velux.. but still fitted it. I mean did they think I wouldn't notice . Once we see the back of these guys, and in to next stage I will feel much better, I hope. My mother left me some plants on my driveway yesterday evening, really sweet of her but I am no where near ready to even think of the garden yet. But was lovely to focus on some of the nice stuff for a bit. Hope all is well elsewhere.

@Slightlydustcovered that's rubbish. Are they changing the velux?

We have steel 1 of 5 going in today, seems to be a hell of a lot of prep work gone in this week so no visual progress. Ive found this the most tedious part so far, anyone else find this?

By the end of the day we'll have a prop running through the middle of the already very tiny bathroom 🙈

@bez91 Yes! The last 5 months have been mainly been prep work for steels, waiting for steels to be made and fitting them. Totalled them up today and we have 20 fitted so far with 5 left to do.

@slightlydustcovered I sympathise on the roofers. Ours did a pretty poor job tying the extension to the existing house. It even prompted me to post a photo of their attempt to a build forum for advice. Roofers on the forum all pointed out that it looked a bit naff and I showed their responses to my builder! He got the roofers who were subcontracted to rectify it. It still does not look perfect but is a lot better than it was.

I’m going the brickie has been hard at work this week when we go round. Excited to look, but expect due to the pattern our house is built in it will be slow progress.

@Slightlydustcovered it drives me mad when they try to get away worth stuff. Just be honest. Is that so hard?

We got the bill for our extra footings and it seems our builder is honest - I thought he was, but you never know. It was less than half what I expected. A victory at last!!

@intheningnangnong whoop whoop I am enjoying that little victory with you.
We actually have electricians here to day 2 of them. I am so pleased to see progress I even got out a packet of good biscuits 😁
As for the velux I have already said I don't care what they do but I do not want to see any damage. This was accepted so we will see.

@ANM83 where are you based? My quote for a similar size extension without loo came at 38k for building work. We are in great Manchester. I think yours look reasonable. But people say it’s the finish you want that will cost you money.

We have a concrete sectional garage too and it is fairly easy to take it down yourself. If it is in good shape, you can even sell it on. We are planning to sell the conservatory that needs to make way for the extension to save some money.

We have bricks in a 30’s pattern. Yey! We have had more than this laid, but as I never noticed the pattern before we ordered the new bricks our builder could have ignored this. It’s got to be more expensive and tricky to lay.

We had a bit of a scare and thought a door was in the wrong place.... but measured from the wrong place! Luckily I’m not in charge.

That's a neat bit of bricklaying

Just discovered this thread and read it with interest. We are in the North West and are just waiting building regs approvals, having obtained planning permission a few weeks ago. It’s excruciating waiting as I just want to get our plans so we can start going out for quotes. I don’t want to get too excited about our proposed work until I have confirmation of how much it’s all going to cost! We are doing a full width double storey extension, 9m x 4m downstairs and 9m x 2.5m upstairs, giving us bigger bedrooms and bigger ensuite and new second en-suite with a large kitchen/diner/living room downstairs. We are also converting the garage into a utility room and office. I’ll keep following this thread for now and hopefully provide an update on our project when I know more!

Love this thread! We gained planning permission for a two-storey side extension to replace our rapidly dilapidating garage and lean-to earlier this year. 1930s semi. Have now got Building Regs approval and have just had drain survey due to presence of sewer and manhole on our site. Now awaiting consent for our works from the water company. And our neighbours have disputed our party wall notice so we are appointing a surveyor. Our neighbours already have a two-storey side extension built up to the boundary but they have raised lots of issues with us doing similar (although we are not going right up to the boundary line). Bit awkward because they are in the process of selling so not great timing. Worried about this, but trusting the surveyor will sort out genuine party wall issues from other grumbles. We’re very much in the permissions and paperwork stage!

@UptownFunkYouUp another project in the north west!! you don’t need to wait till buidling reg approval to get quotes. Most builders will give an estimate and then finalise details for the formal quote. Among the builders I have talked to, quite a few said you can get a close enough estimate based on basic drawings and steel design done by SE. Unless you will have big changes, I think you can go ahead and contact builders. It will take a long while for you to meet, get quotes from, compare quotes , go through details and finally decide on a builder.

Hello to all the newbies and fingers-crossed for pandemic free building projects!

Lots happening on site for us. First fix pretty much done. Plasterboarding underway.

Tomorrow the new stairs should go in I think and they're going to install the Velux cabrio balcony. Builder still hopeful for end of August.

Have placed my order for our vanity units and close to finalising what we need for taps etc. Find it particularly hard to choose things like baths online...

@OutnumberedNotOutdone strange how it’s ok for them! I expect they are worried it will impact on their sale, which for some buyers it would. Such is life.

Your party wall surveyor shouldn’t get involved in any of the dispute, just what’s needed and it shouldn’t hold things up. Our NDN made 23 pages of complaint, involved the local council, referred the planning decision to the ombudsman, started a boundary dispute - in 2 parts, tried to claim protective covenants existed, and has been a total PITA (one council planning officer went off sick with stress), but all that and our party wall went through without any issues as there is nothing they can do.

@birdbrained looking good < very jealous you’re inside

@birdbrained

Hello to all the newbies and fingers-crossed for pandemic free building projects!

Lots happening on site for us. First fix pretty much done. Plasterboarding underway.

Tomorrow the new stairs should go in I think and they're going to install the Velux cabrio balcony. Builder still hopeful for end of August.

Have placed my order for our vanity units and close to finalising what we need for taps etc. Find it particularly hard to choose things like baths online...

I love those cabrio balconies. So clever. Do you have a nice view? I was watching home of those renovation programmes where the home owners couldn't wait to show off their new velux balcony... And the camera showed the that they looked out over a busy traffic intersection. Maybe they liked traffic lights?

@mothergooseinnorthwest thanks for the tip. We are still waiting for SE drawings but I think we should get these this week. I’ll definitely start going out for quotes as soon as I have them based on what you’ve said. Hope your project is going well and the end is in sight for you...the last few months must have been awful. Do you mind saying where in the north west you are? We’re in Wigan.

@birdbrained that window looks great, will make a stunning feature in the finished room.

@mothergooseinnorthwest I’ve just re-read the thread, was a quick skim read last night with a lot to take in, and I now realise you are at the beginning of your journey like us, so my end in sight comment is a bit premature! Glad you managed to get a quote you are happy with after an initial scare 😊. I just want so badly to get to that point and then I can start dreaming!

@UptownFunkYouUp we are in Stockport. We haven’t started yet. We are getting building reg drawing on Monday. How come you could apply for building control without steel calculations? Maybe I was mistaken. Our draftsman wouldn’t do building reg drawing till SE did his part. Get builders involved early. You learn so much when you talk to them. Good ones tell you cheaper solutions as well. Be prepared for a roller coaster ride when the estimates/quotes come in. My highest estimate is almost double my lowest for the same job.

@OutnumberedNotOutdone
sorry to hear about your neighbour re party wall. I just found out my very nice neighbour actually doesn’t own that house. Her mother owns it and she is almost 100 and lives in a care home now recovering from COVID-19. Nobody saw her since late March. I am hoping our foundation won’t be lower than theirs so we won’t need to serve her party wall notice. No idea how hard it would be if we can’t avoid it! Hope you are sharing a surveyor so less costly. And yes, paper work sucks!

@mothergooseinnorthwest at the moment my architect is working with an SE to do the structural calcs and detailed design drawings which will then go for building regs approval. So when I said I was waiting for building regs approval, I really meant I’m waiting for my architect to complete the drawings and submit for building regs approval, which I think is imminent (hopefully next few days). I’m thinking at that point the drawings that have been submitted for building regs approval will also be given to me and I can then start speaking to builders.