Is there a 2021 extension thread?

[Yellownotblue]

Just that really, I found it very informative (and exhilarating and at times heart breaking!) to read the 2020 extension threads. I couldn’t find a 2021 extension thread. Please can you direct me, or if there isn’t one, let’s start it! All welcome.

As for us - we’re awaiting PP for our extension and our architect said the work might start as early as March (ha! I’ll believe it when I see it). It’s a large extension and we will need to move out for about 9 months so I’m a bit flustered at the thought of moving out in 7 weeks’ time. We’re extending over the garage, in the garden and in the loft, and doing a shedload of other stuff from electrics to roofing and redecorating everything. We’re in SW London.

With HKOC - what you do is to send them measurements of your kitchen and what you want and they plan the kitchen for you. They have kitchen planners who work with you and design the kitchen around your space and make the units to fit it. You don’t get a final plan until 4-6 weeks before delivery.

@Notyetthere, I think we are at a similar stage. We had plans in for a extensive renovation (converting loft to an upstairs lounge, small rear extension and knocking rooms through to create an open downstairs space) but feedback from planning office indicated it would be refused on basis of upstairs living being against the rules (our house orientation was a factor). Plans have been revised and its now a bedroom, but we don’t need an extra bedroom so we will probably not go ahead with this section in the build at this stage. Maybe in the future? Should hear if the revisions have been passed any day now. Then architect needs to start on detailed drawings for the scaled down work, and we can then go out to builders for quotes.
Hoping not to have to move out now, but reading some of your posts it sounds like it might be advised.

Hey. Please can I join you all. We got planning permission last year, but due to lockdown then poor weather our start date got pushed back. Builders arriving tomorrow to break ground! Will be very happy when we're underway even with all the chaos.

Good luck everyone starting this week. Our builders arrive at 8am tomorrow and I am so nervous! I know we will all love it when it’s done but keep thinking oh no what are we letting ourselves in for?! I’m also nervous about the dust being and keep worrying about if it will be unhealthy. I’ve always been a worrier though!

We are also starting at 8am tomorrow, seems surreal. Excited but nervous.

I made sure I look pictures of the 'before' and I'm going to take loads as we go.

@perenniallymessy

We are also starting at 8am tomorrow, seems surreal. Excited but nervous.

I made sure I look pictures of the 'before' and I'm going to take loads as we go.

Oh yes, well remembered, I need to take before pictures! We’re still awaiting PP, and haven’t gone to tender yet. All my weekends are spent making hundreds of decisions from shadow gaps to beam boxing and stair curves and mud room drains and kitchen units and everything else. I’m finding this really hard as I love lots of things! Also constantly feel I have to walk on eggshells to preserve the designer’s ego 🙄. I have to keep reminding myself I’m the client.

Is anyone else finding the decision making hard, or is it just me?

Also can anyone share pictures of their engineered wood flooring?

Thank you 🙏

Finally confirmed slide and swing door measurements and been given an installation date of week of 3 May, so that is 7 weeks. The builders plan to do the roof and will then stop and wait for the doors before doing anything else. I am at least thinking we will have a covered, outdoor area in which to meet friends!

[quote SheriffCallie]@Notyetthere, I think we are at a similar stage. We had plans in for a extensive renovation (converting loft to an upstairs lounge, small rear extension and knocking rooms through to create an open downstairs space) but feedback from planning office indicated it would be refused on basis of upstairs living being against the rules (our house orientation was a factor). Plans have been revised and its now a bedroom, but we don’t need an extra bedroom so we will probably not go ahead with this section in the build at this stage. Maybe in the future? Should hear if the revisions have been passed any day now. Then architect needs to start on detailed drawings for the scaled down work, and we can then go out to builders for quotes.
Hoping not to have to move out now, but reading some of your posts it sounds like it might be advised.[/quote]
Ah yes we are at the same stage at the moment. Good luck with the planning application! We have not had any objections to ours so hopefully it goes through. The planners mentioned that we should know by 27th April. My only worry is that we shall have a large part of the house with a flat roof which I think imbalances the semi but I we might be ok as a few of our neighbours have large side and back flat roof extensions.

We are also hoping not to move out. TBH we can't afford to move out. Our work will be phased in such a way that we will always have a part of the house separate from the works so we might have a couple of rooms untouched by the chaos. Since we going for the loft conversion first, the downstairs should be ok right up until the stairs breakthrough. When we get to the back extension, we should hopefully be able to carry on using the old kitchen while the new one is built in the new extension. We shall then use the new kitchen while the old one becomes our dressing room and ensuite.

We might loose heating during the loft conversion for a while as we shall be replacing our boiler with a combi and the whole system transferred to the loft off the bathroom. Currently there is a water tank in the middle of the loft.

@CaurnieBred

Finally confirmed slide and swing door measurements and been given an installation date of week of 3 May, so that is 7 weeks. The builders plan to do the roof and will then stop and wait for the doors before doing anything else. I am at least thinking we will have a covered, outdoor area in which to meet friends!

After the roof, does that mean that they can't get plastering, electrics 1st and 2nd fix? Is it an insurance thing that they can't do these things until the place is water tight?

@Yellownotblue Yes decision making is hard. I don't even understand half the items you have listed that you have to make decisions on! I'm sure it will all come to me when we get closer to the site work starting.

At the moment I am finding it hard to just pick bathroom tiles. I know which kitchen I want as I almost installed it in my last house but then we moved instead. Obviously not yet sure of the downstairs layout until we have the BR drawings which should inform us on how much of each wall downstairs we might be able remove and which ones will have a nib sticking out to support the loft.

I think we might go for an LTV floor in the downstairs kitchen living spaces and carpets for upstairs and bedrooms.

As for the designer/architect - ours has been ok and he has been very receptive to our ideas and changes. The only thing he sort of put his foot down on and fought his corner was the side extension. He knows our budget and knew this would push us way over. He has been able to give us everything we want in the back and loft.

We’re in SW London (posh bit ; ) ) - our build of a one story 50sq metre extension to finished floor, plastered and plumbing is £60,000 + VAT. That was considerably cheaper than the other two quotes we had but we’re happy with the build so far.

Sorry - just realised I’m replying to messages on Page 1!!

We’ve had our steel beams in and the walls knocked down so a big open shell at the moment! Five weeks in & seems a little slow but beams had to be recalculated and the weather caused some delay last week.
This week the floor goes in, next week the roof...
We’ve had a few cracks appear upstairs now the steels are in, not too big but bigger than hairline. Googling tells me this is due to settlement and not a serious issue as can just be touched up or reskimmed but it’s freaked me out. The house is an old Victorian terrace and already has some cracks (worse than the new ones) that were due to historic settlement.

QC that’s incredible value. May I ask if you can pm me the name of your builders? Thank you

@LittleOverwhelmed that’s good to know, I was a bit horrified to see them appear but seems pretty standard from what I can work out. Did they stop moving after the initial settling period (however long that is?)
Also we seem to have mating foxes hanging out on the kitchen shell area which is now technically outside (behind a padlocked door) and they are bloody loud! Sound like they are in the house... which I guess they are!

@Yellownotblue

QC that’s incredible value. May I ask if you can pm me the name of your builders? Thank you

Where are you based? I know he has jobs lined up even before he’s finished here. I think he quoted low on the job as he didn’t have any work starting in the new year.

I’m also SW London, not quite ready to start yet - so the timing could possibly work...

We had our first builder round yesterday. He was a bit strange. Although our previous builders were chatty so achieved less. It might be a good thing if he is a bit socially awkward?

Our plan is to get the main builder to do the build to first fix/plaster then bring in trades ourselves. Has anyone done this?
We've done a build before so we have an understanding of what it entails. We just want to get it done as cheaply as possible.

Hmm 'a bit strange' doesn't fill me with confidence. But the main thing is that you feel comfortable with him, and he communicates the relevant stuff at every step. And definitely get references from people he's worked with to see if this strangeness is a problem!

I've been burned before so am going to be super cautious with choosing a builder / PM for our next project, even if it means I end up paying more.

Same! We ended up sacking our builder at the end of our last project.

They have a good reputation here and come recommended. He's provided details of where they're working now so we can speak to the homeowner and see the work.

These are positive.
We've got another builder on Friday so we'll see how that goes.

Had a number of builders visit and have chosen the guys we want to go with, they are local and we have seen their work on a neighbours house. We've decided on an architect who measured up for plans yesterday. Enquired about increasing the mortgage to help find the project, at a 5yr fix of 1.29% it seems like a very cheap way to finance major works and we are at a unique period of history to be able to do this, seems daft not to.

Feels like the ball is rolling.

@LongIslandIcedT how have you chosen a builder without plans? Have they given you a quote or just a ballpark figure?
The builder we had round before our structural drawings said he couldn't give a quote without them as it was a guess.

Same here. Our builders wouldnt give us a quote until the planning permission was given. They gave a quote after seeing the plans.

[quote Baxdream]**@LongIslandIcedT how have you chosen a builder without plans? Have they given you a quote or just a ballpark figure?
The builder we had round before our structural drawings said he couldn't give a quote without them as it was a guess.[/quote]
We were also waiting for the BR drawings before speaking to builders, but we really were keen to speak to one anyway just get an idea of an estimate and what challenges our site presented them with. Our architect put together some specifications for the loft conversion together with the planning permission drawings and he asked a couple of the builders he was recommending. One of them has been to visit the loft and inspected the place. We had a chat with him. The 2nd builder was more hesitant to give an estimate but when he saw the plans, coincidentally, he is currently converting his loft at the moment just the road and apparently it is the same area as his, built by the same developer back in the 1930s. He reckons his will cost 50k by the end of it. He believes we shouldn't be too far off that figure anyway.

@LongIslandIcedT 1.29% is a very good rate! I would take it with both hands. DH and I agree that borrowing has never been so cheap so it is best that we make the most of now while we are still young-ish. However, we are very close to our affordability limit of 4.85 salary multiple with our bank as we recently ported and increased the mortgage to enable us to buy this home. My spreadsheet tells me our bank will most likely not be able to lend us the amount we need for the work. I also reckon most banks will not lend beyond 5 times salary multiples unless of course they do second charge mortgages which will increase the multiples up to 6 times I think but also you pay a higher interest rate. We are currently saving to ensure we can make up the difference come to building time as a second charge really is the last resort.