Talk to me about getting a house extension like I’m 5

[ifigoup]

Really stupid rookie questions about getting an extension…

• Do we get builders/architect round to quote first, or do we talk to a mortgage advisor first to work out how much we could get by remortgaging and thus how much our budget is?

We got an architect in first to give us the ideas of what could be done with the space. He gave us a rough ball park figure after we had decided on a plan. He sorted out planning permission. We then paid him.

We then got in touch with a few builders and gave them the plans to look at. They also looked at the house for ease of access. They then quoted.

We then went to the mortgage company and spoke through our options of how to raise the money. Remortgage in our case.

We chose the builders we liked. We were billed monthly.

Internal fittings - kitchen, bathroom, Ensuite we sorted ourselves. The builders sorted out the plumber to fit the bathrooms.

What do you want done and how much sq metre would it be? Also where are you and what's your budget?

First make sure you can afford it as it's expensive and consumables at the moment are more than they were pre Covid as less have been made or shipped over because of brexit

My architect said to think 1500-2k per sq metre - we did LOADS to our home, had to move out fir 8 months - no roof for a few months and pretty much every wall down and rebuilt and increased by around 100 sq metres so a big job for us but it cost a bit more than the 200k we were expecting so have contingency as some things don't work out

Sorry - we increased by more than 100 sq m - it was more like 150 actually

There's a great magazine called home building and renovation. They have loads of really useful, practical information.

If it’s an easy job then a renovate build design company can probably do it. So box on back of house.

More extensive, we put box on back of very old house, needed to knock down huge supporting wall, lots of odd drainage, angles, and work inside too…get an architectural technician or architect in.

We didn’t pay ours for the first look round, but we’d used him before and he knew he’d get the drawing up plans job if we did any work. We also had a builder we’d used before come round and tut ‘v expensive’ at our initial plans and suggested something that required less structural work.

Both builder and AT gave a v rough estimate of cost. We firmed that up with putting a very detailed list together of fixtures fittings outside work.

We were fairly spot on once we’d gone out to tender.

Ours is com8ng 8n at 150£k. I think we were lucky as that was the beginning of the year and prices were high but they’ve gone up more.

We also have a good handle on our finances and contingency and worked out on line what we could borrow on the mortgage if necessary. So far it’s from savings and income.

We went with a designer/builder as ours is just a box on the back. For anything fancy you'll need a architect.
You will need to notify your planning office, apply for building regs approval and get a party wall agreement if you are within 3m of you neighbours (we are semi detached). Your previously lovely next door neighbour will probably turn into a petty arsehole over night. There is something about building work that brings out the worst in people!
You'll need to check if the builder (and any sub contractors) have the right insurance, registration etc.
We have a payment schedule that basically follows the visits from the building Regs people, with a bit at the end that we hold until we are happy.
Ask loads of questions! They won't mind and if they do, don't give them your business. You're spending a lot of money, make sure you are happy.