Crazy extension costs in London 2020?

[LondonCalling1234]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has some up-to-date quotes for extensions in London?

Our project is roughly half remodelling of the existing house (~100m2) and the other half (~110m2) is the extension. The quotes we've been getting so far are £2/m2 EXCLUDING VAT and all the FITTING which we were planning to provide ourselves (some of these £2k/m2 quotes also EXCLUDED all or some of the WINDOWS).

This is even on remodelling, which I thought should be about 50% of building from scratch as all the stuff is already there.

My "understanding" was also that the cost/m2 is decling with size, but can't really see it here.

The shape of the house is simple, but it has a bit of glazing, which I accept, but above prices exclude these windows anyway and the window companies install them themselves normally.

Anyone has any recent experience?

Thank you!

Is it some sort of a fancy project? Or just more a bog standard thing?

You’ll definitely find that if you break it up a bit, you’ll get much better prices, eg builder to build a shell, but windows/electrics/plumbing etc all separate. It’s more effort but could save you £££

We are paying £2k per m2 for a two storey extension in the SE of 8 x 4m. I thought that was pretty standard. It is for wholly new space though, not rennovating existing.

Flooring, kitchen and decorating is on top. We are finding trades atm are very busy and are pricing accordingly.

It sounds like your house/extension is very large. I think sometimes builders base their prices on their perception of the owners ability to pay/house value rather than the actual cost of doing the work. I would suggest getting a detailed list of items e.g foundations, bricks to damp etc and getting each builder to quote against each so you can see where the money is going. We saved quite a bit on ours by sourcing our own windows.

Sounds pretty standard to me. Have done a few extensions and even 10-15 years ago the costs weren’t far off even with DH in a closely related trade...In fact no longer in London, but our most recent project (this year) was pretty ‘ordinary’ and eclipsed that.

@JoJoSM2 thank you, we will probably have to split it all up.
The funny thing is that the pricing varied wildly - 2 companies priced plumbing and electrics @ £20k + VAT (for each) and one put it as £40k (for each). We are waiting for 2-3 more quotes, as added more companies after some first quotes came back.

And @weepingwillow22 - yes, I agree, I do feel like we are being taken for a ride. Even our architect, who is normally very polite told me over the phone that some of the companies are "taking a p...s". One for example quotes £4k-£4.5k +VAT per bathroom, but that excluded all the fittings and tiles (which we provide), under-floor heating (as under another position), lighting, windows, tiling (again all under other positions).

My favourite has got to be the £1.7k + VAT for "installing" a rail for hangers in a cupboard space. That must be a 20-min job, if that much!

We have a pretty detailed tender document prepared by the architect and the costings vary wildly for some items (sometimes as crazy as 10x).

What really gets me is the £2/m2 for the existing house (ex VAT and ex windows and ex fittings, often also ex installation as some providers fit the stuff, which we have made clear in tender documents). Seriously!

Your architect / quantity surveyor will be able to help you find some ways in which to save. It's a cost saving exercise - make some cuts.

Cost without VAT is standard and so is 2k per sq m.

Most kitchen suppliers do 0% credit, so you could opt to do this if you are strapped for cash.

Finishes - think about where to spend and where to save. Also opt for classic choices rather than fashionable ones, so you don't grow tired of them after a few years.

Similarly - is there something you can save on now - that you can update in the future?

Could you just build the extension now and do the internal works at a later date?

Also make sure you have a contract with your builder (your architect will help you here) as costs tend to spiral over the course of the project and you need to protect yourself.

I just read your reply;

When we get quotes like this it usually means that

a. the contractor doesn't really want/need the project, but will take it on if paid enough

b. they are trying to cover themselves because of the pandemic. In May the cost of plaster / tools / building supplies went up significantly because people were hoarding or buying in bulk and then selling on eBay for astonishing prices.

Just to give a comparison, these quotes are so crazy that - including VAT, windows (~£50-60k) and fittings (I costed that at ~£80k for the first round) - we would be paying as much for the work as 3-4 bedroom houses sold for on our and nearby streets (yes, in 2020 and these are the sold prices from Land Registry!).

This also shows we don't live in some crazy pricey area, although I'd like to think it's nice. Good school nearby, etc.

Basically - even if we did have the money - this would make no financial sense to invest as much in the house as we would never get it back.

Thank you @BuildingThings!

We are prepared to make some cuts. Of the quotes we got so far, I managed to "make" £40-55k of cuts (depending on the tender and how much we would be willing to push it, e.g. dropping any external work to the garden/drive/fence would be first, leaving out one of the bathrooms, build in carpentery work, but that was already cut even in the tender, because I felt we could easily get that sort of stuff done later, especially as we have lots of furniture already).

I am worried that the builders saw the proposed fittings we want to provide, which again are excluded from the tender (quartz worktops, internal Crittalls, fancy gas fireplace @ £6k), RIBA architect prepared plan and detailed tender docs and felt like it was a harvest day.

I guess we'll just keep looking and have to split it all up to try and get a better deal. I am also thinking we may have to delay the whole thing as - even we do get lower quotations - they won't be 50% lower. LOL

we have also started looking for quotes for individual items, like @JoJoSM2 and @weepingwillow22 suggested, including electricts, plumbing and windows (our former neighbours are certified electrician and a CORGI certified plumber - both did work for us in our previous house).

Well, general contractors employing lots of sub-contractors also want to have good contingencies so they’ll slap on a few grand here and there.

Looking at the prices quoted, you can get the job done for half the price if you project manage individual trades. I would say that I’ve done that before and I barely had time to sleep for a few months even though I only worked part-time and had no children at the time.

If reliable people have done work for you before, they might have mates they can recommend. Eg our cleaner’s husband is a carpenter but seems to have a ‘cousin’ for any job.

Thank you @JoJoSM2 - I will try and will also ask for recommendations. This is definitely a good advice as otherwise we would have to wait years and only to line other people's pockets (never getting the money back).

The trouble is I am working full time (not exactly a "bad" thing, but in this context ;) and my job is pretty demanding (easily would do 10h-11h in the office).
Now, luckily, the whole work from home helps a bit, as it's easier to stretch the hours and juggle other tasks in between.

The good thing is that I actually enjoy it a lot :)
Just feel guilty about the multi-tasking and not focussing 100% on my job.
In the past, I have organised a full house refurb, designed a new kitchen layout from scratch, sourced everything and hired the builder.

Thanks again!

Definitely get more quotes. We recently finished a loft conversion. The builder I used quoted half of what others quoted.
He was great. The others were taking the piss

The thing about organising separate trades is you have to make sure each one is there, on time, in the right order. Otherwise you have the plasterer twiddling his thumbs because the electrician didn’t turn up or spent 2 more days than expected. And the problem is that as a houseowner rather than building company (ie not a repeat hirer), you have even less “pull” to get them there on time. Yes in theory you can save money this way but boy is it going to be a headache and also may well cost a bit in wasted tradesman time.

Another thing to bear in mind with seperate trades is that they try to blame each other. For example our tiler charged us extra for latex because they said the floor the main contractor had prepared was not flat enough. The main contractor also argued with our window installer over who was responsible for certain things, he was a bit put out that we did not go with his window fitter with whom he presumably made a margin.

thank you for the advice @weepingwillow22, @minipie and @Blue5238! :)

We are S.E and getting towards the end of our project now. 50m2 2 story extension and 20 m2 garage.

Quotes ranges massively, we had 7 and negotiated on 2 until we were happy.
Roughly £2.2k M2 but this is for everything including vat
Work includes new doors (every door in and out the house) remodeling full back of house, new stairs and banister, 7 steels, all planning, structural and architect fees, paint, kitchen, new heating system all copper pipework, tiles, flooring throughout, light fixtures etc. So basically everything. We may receive a couple of bills for a few bits but this wont change anything too much now.
... however we did the groundwork ourselves, pulled taps from skips, reused what we could, organised our own asbestos removal (£2 saving on this job alone) we are fitting our own kitchen and tiling all bathrooms.
We will easily make back what we spent and some, but we got the house cheap as a project ( probate). We love the house and what it gives us now but although lovely it is not what some would class as high end. It's our home. I think it depends what you are after really.

We extended about 3-4yrs ago, not in the SE and it was £2k/sqm plus VAT even then. That did include basic windows (which we upgraded) but didn't include any flooring, kitchen or bathrooms, doors, lighting, only basic radiators (which we upgraded), decorating, white plastic plug sockets / light switches (which we upgraded), no wardrobes / fitted furniture, nothing for the garden / drive / fence (which was really expensive of top). All of that was on top.

I think prices have gone up now as builders are inundated (we're trying to get another bit of an extension sorted out and the earliest any of the 4 who have quoted can do it is next June).

We did quite alot of remodelling too and actually thats more time consuming and involved that starting from scratch (moving walls etc).

I'd carry on getting quotes but see if you can downgrade your specification / source goods yourself. I would still use an "all in" builder just for the stress levels of trying to manage that with a demanding job.

@Slightlydustcovered

for comparison, including the architect (which was actually quite reasonable and very good too) and other fees, the comparable all-in amount I get is £2.9k/m2 on the entire house (including the existing part - which is where it REALLY annoys me).

The "all-in" still excludes 90% of built-in furniture, which can wait.

Thank you @Africa2go - this is very helpful :)

Our contractor said that m2 is a very blunt instrument and he wouldn’t use that, but as a vague guide fair enough.

We are just north of London and I know we often pay a premium. Skip hire is more here than 10 mins down the road, ‘wrong postcode’... price hike.

We are having a pretty substantial build, full front, side, back, 2 storey, plus rear single storey, loft conversion. Whole house, or what’s left of it gutted. A lot of the house has been demolished, but not all so that adds to the cost. 326m2 of useable space.

The spread of quotes was HUGE and the contractor we are with has worked out at £1,577 per/m2. It’s cheaper the more there is.

The highest was £2,453 per/m2

That is swept out of the house and keys handed over.

I would try a wider net. Our builder is from another area.

Ah well that seems a bit expensive then as mine is only calculated on the new bits, although would probably have come in over £2.9 had we paid trades for all the stuff we are doing ourselves. It's all a bit of a mind field really, our first time doing a big project and we would have done some bits a little differently. But have been really lucky particularly as we have had lockdown in the mix. Keep getting quotes and do look at splitting in to parts which seems cheaper. Good luck

Hello @positivelynegative (love that name), I really like your idea of looking beyond our current area!

Will definitely try that! :)

Thanks @Slightlydustcovered!
Not giving up yet, I can be really persistent ;)