Reducing costs on a kitchen extension

[ghislaine]

I’ve been lurking for a long time while we plan our kitchen/living extension to our current Edwardian terrace. We have planning permission and are currently sourcing quotes from builders.

We had originally budgeted up to £100k for the whole thing - build and furnishings. That was before Covid. So far we’ve had two quotes come in (based on the building regs so I assume fairly accurate). One was £143k and the other one was £117k.

We desperately need a new kitchen so we are committed to going ahead. Aside from seeking more quotes, I’m looking for ways to reduce costs in other areas. So far I’ve come up with:

Replace Corian worktops with a cheaper alternative like Hi Macs (is this a really bad idea?)
Buy ex display and/or sale appliances, lighting, flooring (?)
Ex display Crittall-style external doors
Hold on to furnishings (table, chairs etc) that we were going to replace but still have some life in them.

We’re not handy so we can’t save money by doing any installation etc ourselves. Any and all ideas welcome!

Definitely think carefully about the spec of the kitchen - it’s easy to get carried away. Corian definitely very expensive, you could look at something like Minerva if you wanted (I fell in love with Minerva with a copper fleck but that was more expensive than quartz though). Kitchen suppliers vary a lot in cost too.

I’d probably ditch the crittals altogether in favour of something more affordable. It’s a nice to have and it’s going to date.

Building surveyor OH says get more quotes, reduce spec (which it sounds like you’re doing) and/or project manage the works yourself i.e. organise the individual trades yourself.
He said you could always wait to see if the cost of materials comes down but he’s not confident that’ll happen.
Hope that’s helpful!

Second hand kitchen? My parents did a grand design type renovation and got a solid wood kitchen for £500 plus transportation costs. Would originally have been around £40k. Included a range cooker as well. It was immaculate and you’d never know it wasn’t bought for the space it’s in now.

My aunt just got a modern brand new kitchen from a new build in the same way. It takes some legwork in terms of what units you need/can be flexible on, but she got a £20kish kitchen plus appliances for £1.5k.

We saved money by DH doing work himself, using a local ‘made to newsure kitchen manufacturer and supplier rather than a big brand), going with local quartz / window manufacturers over big brands, and being in charge of all purchases. Basically any time the builder needed anything it would go in my spreadsheet so they couldn’t sneakily charge me for stuff they needed on another project or for themselves: everything we purchased had to be solely for our project.

I know you say you're not handy but can you do the decorating yourself? That saved us a lot of money

There’s a couple of websites where people sell on secondhand kitchens. Some are unused.

Talk to builders about using good quality on the stuff that matters, insulation etc. Don’t project manage it yourself unless you have a lot of spare time and some experience.

Most of the items you’ve identified aren’t going to make a big dent in the quotes. Are you going for the ubiquitous side return extension? If so, two ideas:

Consider leaving a small lightwell/courtyard open to the rear reception (and extension). It should avoid the need to re-route waste pipes (££), reduces the size of steels needed (£), and should also reduce the need for skylights (£). As a bonus, it also leaves more outside wall for a wc and/or larder with windows.

If you’re going for a wrap around extension, consider keeping the original corner of the house intact. It can either be a feature as a column, or you could do the side return separate to a rear extension that is the original width of the house. Saves you both on steels (£) and structural calculations (£). It might also attract a more prudent quote - builders often gets stars in their eyes when seeing plans for a grand extension.

Smaller ideas: swap underfloor heating for radiators. Swap crittall doors for French. Reduce the volume of glazing generally (so many extensions are over glazed and therefore cold).

Hire a build firm for the shell and then get a kitchen company to come and fit it out, once you’ve re-assessed budget. If you phase the work then you’ve got a better chance of keeping control of costs.

Shop around for the windows and doors. We saved over £1k buy phoning around until we got the specific door we wanted for the lowest cost.

It's hard to find a second hand kitchen in the right size. Look at DIY Kitchens. They are very good quality, solid wood and low cost for the quality you get. Quartz worktop instead of corian.

But the previous poster is right - this will save a pennies compared to the build cost.

Yes I know, these are all small things in the scale of things but it seems that they are also the ones most under my control, hence my focus.

I’ve been stalking those secondhand kitchen websites (I’ve identified four plus eBay) but the problem is that I want a curved kitchen. I know this is more expensive…

The extension isn’t a side return as we’re an end terrace. It’s a simple 2.5m single storey box added onto the rear of the existing house. I’m trying to reuse materials as much as possible, eg using the current internal configuration to cut down on the build and keeping existing beams, reusing bricks where possible from the outhouses that are going to be demolished. We are in London (zone 2) which seems to put a massive premium on things.

Anaconda, when you say quote for the shell, does this include wiring and plastering/painting? That is the quote we have, the actual kitchen and its installation is on top of that.

May I ask what companies you got quotes from? I'm also in London Zone 2. We used More Space who were more or less the same price as independent builders. We got 7 quotes from different types of companies (small, large etc)

Could you incorporate the outhouses into the extension. My friend did this and it's worked really well.

The thing about the outhouses is that they are too narrow to be anything on their own - they also go out further than current planning laws allow. I’m hoping to be able to (re)use as much of the wall as possible but the roof is in a bad way and will have to come down.

So far we have quotes from Pestana (£143k) and Berry Ross. Awaiting quotes from Brown Building, Creative Building Club and Northcastle.

We saved some money by ripping out the old kitchen ourselves

Do all the sanding and painting (including the mist coat on the new plaster) yourself.

Gosh that’s a lot for a box added on the end and not including kitchen. Even for zone 2 London. What about things like heating, flooring, light fittings, are any of these included?

Will the extension area have kitchen in it or is it more for dining/living space? If the latter, I’d be tempted to get the new kitchen now and delay extending for a while when costs have hopefully gone down. I think building costs are insane at the moment due to covid and brexit perfect storm - very few skilled builders available. If you got a new kitchen now you could remove and refit it when you get the extension done, just need to make sure the new kitchen layout will work with the extended room too.

We aren't London based (in the SW) but we've just had a 3m single story extension on the rear of our 1930's house, finished a couple of weeks before Christmas, and it cost us £67k - that's everything to including kitchen, internal reconfiguration & basically leaving us with a completely decorated, ready to move into, new room. Do your quotes break down the expected costs? Can you see which elements are costing you the most & try and save on any of those? The quotes seem excessively high but might just be the difference between London & other parts of the country - all our quotes were in the same ballpark figure of between £60&70k.

I don’t think your quotes are unrealistic. I paid £80k all in 6 years ago in Zone 2. Pre covid building costs rose 10% year on year. Post Covid they have escalated even more due to both material and labour shortages. I honestly think costs won’t come down. Find a quote you’re happy with and don’t cut corners on important things. I bought what I wanted for the cheapest price. Ie I chose the products I wanted then found the best place to buy them. I shopped around for Schuco doors, range cooker from eBay refurbished, solid wood cabinets from DIY Kitchens, quartz worktop direct from a manufacturer not shop reseller. It’ll be worth every penny once it’s done.

@ghislaine

The thing about the outhouses is that they are too narrow to be anything on their own - they also go out further than current planning laws allow. I’m hoping to be able to (re)use as much of the wall as possible but the roof is in a bad way and will have to come down.

So far we have quotes from Pestana (£143k) and Berry Ross. Awaiting quotes from Brown Building, Creative Building Club and Northcastle.

@ghislaine I would suggest getting a quote from David Bishop Design & Build - £56.5k + VAT, for a 3 metre extension, knocking though existing dining room and kitchen, all decor, new boiler, kitchen fitting, tiling in kitchen and living room, laying of flooring throughout ground floor, knocking existing family bathroom and toilet into one, and all fitting, tiling, plastering, etc. I’m in zone 3.

By the shell I’m thinking plasterboard but not skim, and first fix electrics. But if your quote is ex kitchen anyway, then I’m staggered - even in these times! Would moving house not be cheaper?! I’m only half joking…

Which side of London are you? That seems to make a hefty difference. It east or south east then you’d do well to try to target an Essex or Kent firm. I’ve even seen a Hampshire based building firm working near me, who travel for the good money!

Anaconda, joke you might but I have already said to DH that we could move (assuming we’re looking at £200k) and it would be less hassle! I even spent some of Boxing Day on Rightmove.

Has anyone any experience with skirting heating? Early on I looked at this as an alternative to underfloor heating but DH dismissed it out of hand. He may be more receptive now.

Have a look at DIY Kitchens. Quality of units is brilliant. Bit more work to source but worth it.
Have a trip to the showroom if you can

We have a heating unit (blower) in the kickboard, it does make some noise but it is very warm. I usually forget it is there - we just wear slippers in colder weather.

We also found space for a very small radiator, we have a towel rail above it to keep our hand towels and tea towels warm and dry - bit annoying it isnt by the sink but not a major issue for us.

I wouldn't bother with underfloor heating unless the house is very cold and you have a lot of glazing in the extension.

@MyAnacondaMight

Most of the items you’ve identified aren’t going to make a big dent in the quotes. Are you going for the ubiquitous side return extension? If so, two ideas:

Consider leaving a small lightwell/courtyard open to the rear reception (and extension). It should avoid the need to re-route waste pipes (££), reduces the size of steels needed (£), and should also reduce the need for skylights (£). As a bonus, it also leaves more outside wall for a wc and/or larder with windows.

If you’re going for a wrap around extension, consider keeping the original corner of the house intact. It can either be a feature as a column, or you could do the side return separate to a rear extension that is the original width of the house. Saves you both on steels (£) and structural calculations (£). It might also attract a more prudent quote - builders often gets stars in their eyes when seeing plans for a grand extension.

Smaller ideas: swap underfloor heating for radiators. Swap crittall doors for French. Reduce the volume of glazing generally (so many extensions are over glazed and therefore cold).

Hire a build firm for the shell and then get a kitchen company to come and fit it out, once you’ve re-assessed budget. If you phase the work then you’ve got a better chance of keeping control of costs.

wow!

That's a crazy amount of money , will you see it back? We used a mobile worktop company and it was half the price ( quartz ) which is lovely .