How likely am I to ACTUALLY extend the house?!

[JackieTheFart]

My house has been on the market a week, so I'm possible getting just a tad ahead of myself, but the market is absolutely booming in my area (two houses sold in my road of 18 houses having been on the market for less than a month!) but I'm looking to move.

Our 'starter home' of a small 3 bed terrace, has become a cramped home for two adults and three kids, so we need more space. We'd like to upgrade to 4 bedrooms and a garden, but unfortunately in our area (which we don't really want to move out of) 4 beds with gardens are rarer than hen's teeth.

So, I'm thinking maybe we'll buy a 3 bed with a bit of space and extend. I've seen a house I like, it's a 3 bed semi with space for a garage - most others in the street have an actual garage or a conversion there but this one doesn't - so I think planning permission will be fine.

Although it's bigger than this house, and has a garden, the kitchen is teeny. Couldn't have both washing machine and dishwasher, for example, although the cupboard under the stairs could potentially be used for washing machine and tumble dryer.

I don't know what I'm asking really! Can anyone just talk to me about extensions?! Am I looking at £££ that will probably not actually increase the value of my property that much, considering where we are located?

I dunno!

Don't people say plan on £1500 to £2000 per meter for an extension as quick guide ? So a 6x3m extension might be about £36000.ish

Ooof well that's definitely more than I want to spend! I had more envisioned round the £10k mark, on no other information that blind hope

That's probably doable, but not soon and also will only extend the kitchen, so we'll still only have the three bedrooms. Which is annoying. Looks like new job/huge bonus excepted, we won't have a 4th bedroom so two kids will have to share until they move out.

There are estimate calculators you can use, Google to see if you can find one. But yes your £10k is completely unrealistic - a conservatory costs that.

£10k Bless you.

Do you not watch any housing programmes? They all have budgets and still go way over! Get some Phil and Kirstie on

You could probably do a smallish basic extension for about £40k...not including new kitchen. Depending on drains, steels required etc.

Can you add that on to mortgage?

We paid £1200psqm 8 years ago for a kitchen extension and I am in Yorkshire. That was to first fix, so basically plastered walls but with the wires and pipes sticking up out of the wall and floor ready for second fix where they attach sockets and taps.

Then we had to pay for a new kitchen (Ikea) to go into the new space and for the garden to be landscaped as depending on access the builders need somewhere for all the materials and somewhere to put a mixer. For us they craned everything into the back garden as my kitchen is on the back of the house. So I had a pallet of blocks, pallet of bricks, sand and cement bags. Plus builders just walking around the outside of the extension will kill your garden too. All things to consider.

We where looking at extensions last year before we bought this house were quoted more than once £3k per Sq mtr finished.

There are significant regional differences in prices for building work - but St Albans will be at the pricier end of the spectrum.

Our two storey 3x3m extension cost £40k.

For small utility room and downstairs loo we were advise to budget "at least" £30k. My brothers small study was £20k. My parents 3x3m conservatory was £40k.

Yes I'd budget £40-50k minimum. It's not just the building work, but new flooring, kitchen, wiring, plumbing and so on. You could do double height to get the extra bedroom - that only adds 50% to the cost. But any increase in floor space adds value, whether you'd get back as much as it cost os another matter.

7 x 5m extension around £80k

We got quotes for a 3mx4m single storey extension - cheapest was £60k!! We have decided to learn to love our 'compact' space . We're in NE Scotland, other places might be cheaper.

As above - prices worked out about £2k per sqm for us, plus VAT, for the basic shell - kitchen, flooring, decorating etc etc all on top of that.

In our case, we made back probably about 150% of what we spent - so definitely worth it financially but also significantly changed how we live (for the better) so it was all worth it.

But couple of other things to bear in mind - will you be able to afford it straight away? We couldn't and it was hard living in a house that was too small, awful decor, didn't work for us as a family. Rarely invited people over etc... Also, would you be happy to live there whilst works were done? Its not impossible but not easy either particularly if you have children (think no kitchen, washing machine etc).

£10k??

Oh OP!!

You have already for your house on the market without first looking in to this?

My garden room.... £19k! No plumbing or anything like that

Our loft conversion to build a bedroom/shower room 15 years ago was £25k. I think you need to watch a few property programs!

We were quoted £80k to extend out the back last year.

Is there a way you could do some of the work yourself to reduce the cost? We've just put a porch on our house and did it all ourselves except for the brick work which we subbed out. We paid about 3k in total and our quotes were in the region of 6k-9k.

We're planning on extending ours but again will do most of it ourselves. It just means my partner will be doing building work at every spare minute which is something to consider.

I would try to buy a three bed that’s already been extended in your case, OP. You might find one with an additional room downstairs that could even become a bedroom. Extensions are £££!

@Hawkinsfirefly99

Is there a way you could do some of the work yourself to reduce the cost? We've just put a porch on our house and did it all ourselves except for the brick work which we subbed out. We paid about 3k in total and our quotes were in the region of 6k-9k.

We're planning on extending ours but again will do most of it ourselves. It just means my partner will be doing building work at every spare minute which is something to consider.

Building an extension is quite a diy job!

@Lassolarry1980

You have already for your house on the market without first looking in to this?

Well yes? We can still move to another 3 bed and not extend? It’s not actually law that all children must have their own bedroom and the kitchen must have a particular square footage

@beginningoftheend

There are significant regional differences in prices for building work - but St Albans will be at the pricier end of the spectrum.

We’re in Liverpool (sister lives in Snorbs coincidentally) so probably not as pricey!

But still pricey

I deliberately stayed away from those calcs as I wanted some real life feedback tbh.

Anyway, we’re looking good here! As I said - house went on the market last Monday and we had 11 viewings on Saturday.

We have had FOUR OFFERS!!!!!!!!!

I am shocked! 3/4 are above asking, one was a typical landlord lowball offer, literally 20% lower than asking which when your property is only on for £100k is significant....

You'd be lucky to get the kitchen to put in an extension for £10k let alone the building work!
If it's a traditional 1930's type semi with a living room and dining room then another option would be to knock the wall down between the kitchen & dining room and make an open plan kitchen / diner.