Knocking through a wall to make a kitchen diner

[Hazel444]

Has anyone done this recently and would be willing to share a rough cost and whether you project managed it yourself? We would need a steel beam putting in and someone to fit all the appliances/replaster etc. We do have a few people coming round to give us quotes, but not until next month, so any info about the process and cost would be much appreciated :)

We’re booked in to do this in January, but we’re adding an extension at the end of the kitchen too, so it’s a bit difficult to break it down, cost wise. The steel is coming in at approx. £5k. I’d probably add another £5k ish for the rest.

The process was simple. We got an architect in, who drew up plans, from which I’ve designed the kitchen layout myself. I’ll be getting the units from DIY Kitchens, but I cheekily got Wren kitchens to do me a 3D demo.

@hadjab what do you mean diy kitchens? Is it a website?

It is indeed! They came in £27k cheaper than Wren!

diy-kitchens.com/

Thanks. We've been house hunting but seems I need to be open to updating so I can widen our search. Thanks.

One then has to get the fitter in?

I mean seperately?

We did it 5 years ago. We got the steel at cost from my husband's employer and he did some additional work on it to make it per the structural engineer's drawing and I painted it with something protective (can't remember what). At cost it was then around 1k but would be significantly more expensive now.

We used a builder who supplied and put the acros in and brought the wall down with my husband. He charged £500. Husband got 7 of his work mates, all steel workers so properly strong, round to deliver the steel and lift it into place. Builder wasn't happy and would have preferred some sort of lifting machine to put it on place.

I can't remember what it cost to remove the rubble.

There were also costs of plastering and painting and sorting the flooring out as the floors weren't quite level.

Our light switches though are still for separate rooms which is fine.

Ours was under 10k to remove a wall, insert steel beam, new ceiling with lights plus any extra wall sockets etc and redecs plus flooring. No new kitchen or appliances though.

Ours was £3k to take down the wall between kitchen and diner (load bearing, triple skinned brick, needed two steel RSJs), and one curtain wall. They made good and plastered, but didn't do anything else to the kitchen (fitting appliances, floor etc.).

We paid separately but for a 4m steel it was £250. The surveyor was around £200 and the builders were around £1700. I think the planning application was free or under £100.

We were replastering whole house anyway, so if I factor in the cost for just making good the wall removal I'd estimate £200-300. So under £2.5k total in the Midlands last year.

Thanks very much everyone, interesting to read what other people have done.

We knocked down two walls between a kitchen, dining room and small study to make a single space almost exactly a year ago now. We had a surveyor do the drawings and beam calculations. The beam was 4m long so pretty big. Including plastering and laying a new floor it cost £20k plus another £20k for electrics, kitchen, worktops, appliances, light fittings that kind of thing. It’s quite a big space now though about 6m x 7m.

Forgot to mention we also paid for private building control as the council were so backed up and didn’t want to spend any longer than necessary feeding 5 from a microwave. That was about £1200 too.

I would highly recommend sourcing all your own appliances / taps / sinks and even kitchen handles. It saves so much money

A 4m steel beam for £250 isn’t possible!!!

Building supplies have gone up a lot. You need the steel designed for the load and it must be fixed safely into the wall. So are the walls suitable to house the beam or do you need piers? All makes a difference to price. Making good the floor is an inevitable cost as is making good the walls. Basic costs would be around £5000 where I live. Decoration, floor finish and electrics all extra.

We are doing building work currently and have removed part of a wall. The 4m steel beam cost around £2,500.

We've just done this. Wall and chimney removed and steels in. We also made our windows and external doors larger so another steel added in across the external wall. Cost wise for absolutely everything (surveyor,steels, new kitchen and install, flooring, plumbing, electrics, plastering, tiling, etc) it was just over £25k.
We were knocking through a galley kitchen and dining room but moved the kitchen into the old dining room space. I'd really recommend doing this. It made a massive difference to how the kitchen space could be used - we could get a lot more cabinets. It's really opened up the space. It's my favourite room in the house now.

In 2018 in expensive part of SE the wall removal and making good of c.5m steel was £4-5k. We spent £15k total including fitting out the kitchen from DIY kitchens and carpenter/plumber etc. I think we got a good deal for our area by going with the local, recommended tradespeople who always have plenty of work without advertising and so don’t have the big overheads of some larger companies.

@gruffalocake2 how did you find these local tradesmen?

Asking mums at the school gate, friends and neighbours. They often knew people without much online presence. We got a number of good quotes that way, the person who did it (because they could fit us in) was recommended by the kitchen fitter we booked, again not much to find online but checked out with recommendations etc.

I've been wondering about this too. We just got an estimate from a builder to knock through one load bearing and one non loading bearing wall, open the pantry into the kitchen, plaster the newly formed kitchen/diner and utility room, then fit a kitchen (7.5k from Howdens, so not huge), window and internal double doors (all pre-purchased separately) and the total is just over 28k! This doesn't include electrics, gas or flooring which are all separate.
Does this seem a lot to anybody else or am I just bring a tightwad? We're in East Anglia.

The cost of the kitchen isn't included in the 28K

[quote Hadjab]It is indeed! They came in £27k cheaper than Wren!

diy-kitchens.com/[/quote]
£27k cheaper - I thought Wren were low cost kitchens - what size of kitchen are you putting in?

@gruffalocake2 thanks. No kids yet so no parents at the school gate resource and having relocated here we don't have much local friends where we're moving to.

You might find it easier to get a kitchen fitter/tiler through online recommendations then and then ask them to recommend a builder. Not fail safe but it worked for us as builders are so hard to get at the moment/in our area.