Extension Thread 2022....plaster, panic and pics

[Callmejudith]

Slightly naff title but I haven't had enough coffee yet

@GardensandGrandDesigns

What is CDM 2015? Never heard of it.

It's the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. I'd never heard of it before either! It seems to be all about Health and Safety and creating a file. I've read through it this afternoon, and for a domestic client like us it doesn't seem like the obligations of a Principal Designer default back to us if we don't appoint someone. I'm a bit surprised that the architect can try to carve out this out, although in practice it probably doesn't help us much if the paperwork doesn't get done. I'd love to know how others have dealt with this.

It was ages ago that we did this but our builders are a company and we pay a bit extra for them to be in charge of stuff like that. Makes them legally responsible rather than me of H&S stuff, etc.

I remember spending ages going through a file of various stuff - we started with the loft extension in 2017/18 so was back then sometime, most went over my head tbh.

My architect asked if we wanted them to take on the Principle Designer role for an additional fixed fee once our plans etc were all complete, (although they pretty much said they didn't want to do it and just to do it yourself.)

They said they had a legal duty to inform us about CDM 2015 and passed on the regulations to me via email along with a check list that I could use to help if I wanted to.

I agree with pp who said the actual regulations read like the it is not the responsibility of the home owner although I plan to have a chat with the builder before he starts.

The check list from the architect did not look much help either. I was assuming the builder would be responsible for H&S.

Welcome to those just starting out. Remember, it will be worth it, it will take longer and it will cost more than you think

We cleared the house today and decamped to my mums for a couple of weeks then air bnb after that. We really couldn't stay. We are losing the kitchen, bathroom, boiler and electrics on Monday!

Slightly worried about floor levels. Most of the downstairs will be new screed but the living room and study (currently stairs) have old parquet laid which we are lifting. When the previous owner did a bit of an extension he got the new concrete levelled with the parquet then carpeted it all. Builder has used this as the level to match (makes sense as it's 3/4 of the floor space) but means we have to raise the floor 15mm to meet the rest. Apparently the screed he will use can't do this and is talking about latest at £20 a bag, and we will need loads I want the whole ground floor laid with LVT so hope something can be done.

@Sewfrickinamazeballs Just don't 😂

We had 3 different levels - original house, new extension, previous extension, all in one room, plus a gently sloping hallway which opens into the kitchen.

Paid the builder £3k over to level them all. LVT fitter is charging me nearly another £800 in bloody more latex as it's still not ready. My only advice is have the latex poured as close to having the floors done as you can. The dust from the blasted latex just keeps coming, it's been a month and we still have another 2 weeks before they lay the floor and it's driving me batshit.

So the drain apparently shelves off and is over 6ft deep where we want to connect. I don't really understand what they are doing instead but will have an extra manhole and it's not as good as what I was meant to have but is£4K cheaper. I've gone with that as the costs are scary and I'm so worried we will run out of money. The budget has already run away with itself. Had to pay someone (no idea who) to take a soil sample as next doors tree is close to our boundary. Seems like a total con and builder went ahead and poured concrete anyway before the report is ready.

In other news we have ordered our roof tiles. Ground slab in and foundations are poured and the drainage connections are ready. The bricklayers arrive on Monday for one day only to lay the blocks to DPC (get me with the lingo).

We had a quote for windows of £27k. Our budget is £16 plus vat.

We have to move out for 6 months soon. Have been packing other peoples crap all day!

All go here. We are now up to dpc. Ground worker just finishing off drains and will apparently be finished this week, so we are slightly ahead of schedule. I've ordered loads of expensive things for the roof so although I've paid out loads I think I'm slightly ahead on the money.

How much did other people's ground works cost? Ours is a big area (11x6) so I think to dpc we are looking at about £20k. I have no idea if that is good value or not.

Hiya, sounds like everyone is making progress. We start next week yay! (Won't be so happy in a week's time I bet) The builder has just dropped all this round so now it feels real! I have emailed about every rental flat on the market! We need to get out of here pronto so they can start on the demolition inside at the same time.

@GardensandGrandDesigns we have to move out too. Am currently packing like a crazy thing. We have to be gone in 3 weeks for 6 months. Dreading it.

I'm quite excited to move out and get away from our 1970's time warp of a house! Right time to source some boxes so we can start packing too.

I have reached the point where I have no idea what anything costs or costed 🙄

Only one guy here today, no one yesterday.
So snail like progress.

Tiler coming on Thursday to assess my plan for large (800x800) tiles that I’d prefer laid in a grid formation not a brick layout. I may have to concede.

Also the worktop guy coming on Thursday to help me with a pantry worktop and a utility worktop. Am I being ridiculous going for granite in both? Hey ho, it’s another decision to find something else if I don’t.

Have lived in the house the whole way through, which has helped for small decisions as I’m here (mostly). But it has been draining.

@LivingInaBuildingSite it's the same here except yesterday I had 7 on site and was riddled with anxiety about what that was going to cost me.

Everything is so expensive I'm finding it really hard to make decisions.

Almost finished with our extension. But haven’t got a kitchen sorted! Any recommendations for bespoke kitchen companies in the North ? Tom Howley and places like that have been about 15k over our budget. TIA

Welcome to the newbies!

Things are going slowly here as there are various delays waiting for a particular steel and roofers. They were booked in but have let the builder down it seems. Without that we can’t crack on with the 1st fix.

We moved out last week, and will be out for 6 weeks. Loads of progress made which is great. Our builder is on a mission and with him on-site everyday (it was mostly labourers up to this point) they've moved up a gear.

Kitchen and bathroom ripped out, boiler gone, electrics starting to be pulled through, staircase on its way out, floors being ripped up ready for levelling, knock through a upstairs. This is all in 3 days so no way could we have stayed there.

Next big thing to sort is lighting. I hate spots. There, I said it. Going to see if we can hide some led strips around the steels for soft evening lighting, and may concede on some spots around the kitchen. We also have a really tall window in the hallway that's screaming out for some drama. Haven't seen any pendants I like so also thinking of some led strips here too . Anyone seen/done anything like this?

@NewHouseNewMe

Welcome to the newbies!

Things are going slowly here as there are various delays waiting for a particular steel and roofers. They were booked in but have let the builder down it seems. Without that we can’t crack on with the 1st fix.

That's frustrating! Hopefully resolved soon

@GardensandGrandDesigns

I'm quite excited to move out and get away from our 1970's time warp of a house! Right time to source some boxes so we can start packing too.

That was us last week! Now our kitchen is out, we have also found lots of 'vintage' decoration. So glad to see the back of it all!

Very jealous of everyone moving out. Market is crazy here and haven't been able to secure anything. Enquiring about an airbnb annexe but need to find out about the builder when kitchen and staircase go. It's 800 a week so want to make sure we go for the right time. We are living in one room and surrounded by dust and tarps. Kitchen is mostly inaccessible but just about usable. Hoping once the steels are in then the roof construction will mean slightly less disruption to our living quarters.... she says hopefully.....

I know it sounds a bit fancy but have you considered a lighting designer? Ours is costing about a grand but we are spending so much money we don't want the lighting to let it down and end up just lighting the floor. Just a thought.

For those needing new kitchen appliances, order them ASAP. Huge huge delays still. We ordered 4 ovens early December. Main ovens are in but the compacts are still possible 3-6 months away from delivery!

@GardensandGrandDesigns

I know it sounds a bit fancy but have you considered a lighting designer? Ours is costing about a grand but we are spending so much money we don't want the lighting to let it down and end up just lighting the floor. Just a thought.

I did think about it but at this point just can't justify the cost. Electrician is leaving loads of cables behind the walls just in case or for future changes so hoping if we do decide we need more, this may be easier to change.

I spent about that in a spatial planner to get the layout right (so worth it) but we are running out of cash!

@BlueMooMoo

Very jealous of everyone moving out. Market is crazy here and haven't been able to secure anything. Enquiring about an airbnb annexe but need to find out about the builder when kitchen and staircase go. It's 800 a week so want to make sure we go for the right time. We are living in one room and surrounded by dust and tarps. Kitchen is mostly inaccessible but just about usable. Hoping once the steels are in then the roof construction will mean slightly less disruption to our living quarters.... she says hopefully.....

I feel your pain. We have an air bnb lined up in two weeks and it's about £750 a week. No way would we have been able to find anywhere to rent locally for 6 months, especially with the cat.

Stuck in one room must be tough

Can I join?

After 2 years of planning, we have finally been granted full planning permission for a 2 bedroom annex.

We don't need the extra space, but one mad moment 4 years ago I looked at our garage and thought 'If we pull that down, that is a building plot for a house.' My parents had been in poor health and if only we had an annex, we could had offered them support. Sadly, both have now passed away but DH's mum is heading towards 80 and we have two children away at uni.

So we have pushed ahead and got full planning permission for a 2 bed detached house (annex).

Reading this thread has been scary. Extensions costing 300k plus is eye-watering! How are people financing this... remortgaging, savings or borrowing from family. We have my parent's inheritance but now I am thinking we should just give this to DC for deposits rather than over-spend on an annex.

Options for the annex: DMIL to live in, one of the DC to move into (a 1 bed flat locally is 250K, so a two bed detached would be 400k), we move in and rent out 'the big house' (4 bed detached), Airbnb or we rent out the annex to give an income.

It is so hard to know what to do. We are in no hurry, so hopefully prices for materials will come down and make the project less scary.

At least the annex is separate to our house, so heating and no kitchen is not one of our issues.

The price rises have wiped out the contingency but at the same time, I know we will need some sanity. Considering we'll be pretty much in one room until August I have a feeling it will be worth the cost to get out and away. I may have seen a 2bed flat as well a bit further away than ideal but might be worth it at £85 a night. They don't have any solid blocks available though so it would be 4 days here and then another 3 days later in the month.
Don't think the annexe will work out as it's not available until June.
Builders are great but trying to pin them down to specific weeks of when they will do work is seemingly impossible.

Renting locally, 2 bed very small flat would be £5.5k at least and this is the money we dont have too. We have been “away” for 2 weeks near the seaside and no builder came the last 2 days. It has been 8 weeks for a 14 weeks project and now it seems will be at least another 10 weeks awggg!