Building works

[Laura2211]

Hello,
Looking for building advice… basically my partner & I have 2 small children & desperately need to extend our house. We want to get a porch, kitchen extension & loft conversion. We are completely clueless on this sort of thing having never organised any before so I’m looking for advice! Obviously the first thing I guess is to get some builders in for a quote? What sort of things should we ask or be looking for? What sort of costs are reasonable? And anything generally we should be are of?
Thank you!

You need planning permission unless your extension is tiny and the porch may go forward of the building line.

No you need someone to draw up plans and then get planning permission. An architect can do plans for permission, and most likely you will need structural engineer report too before you put it out for a builder to quote on (snd get them to itemise everything and specify what quality of materials).
Very general is £2000/m2 for extension but that is for a shell. you need to add the cost of the kitchen, flooring, electrics, plumbing and decoration. Lofts are about £70k if they have an en suite and dormer.
Some extensions and lofts come under permitted development but check, snd also unless detached you will need a party wall agreement with your neighbours.
As you seem inexperienced perhaps consider an all in one firm.

Have any of your neighbours extended? You can look on your council's planning website and look at the plans of what other people have done. Sometimes there is a map feature where you can see any properties that have submitted planning applications. That may help you see what you want.

You need an idea of what it is you want before you go down the quote route and as one has said the rule of thumb is £2000/m2 for the shell which means "first fix" which basically means wires hanging out of the wall waiting for sockets and pipes coming out of the floor waiting to be plumbed to sinks/washing machines etc but freshly plastered. For example if your kitchen extension is going out by 3m and it is already 3m wide your shell cost is £18k, this can vary depending where you are in the UK and how much building supplies cost in your area.

The big unknown is foundations as they won't know what is under your garden until they dig down so builders usually have a clause re foundations.

Then you need to add on the cost of the kitchen. I don't know anything about loft conversions as I have never had one but I did have a kitchen extension and other building work. If you have a large garden then go outside with something you can mark out the extension with, doesn't have to be chalk line paint, kids toys to mark the area out. Look on the council website to see what you are allowed under permitted development (my estate had it removed so everything has to go through planning) but even if you don't need planning you do need building regs.

Also think about access. Where will all the building supplies be put and how are you getting them to the kitchen? And if they are going on a garden to leave the drive clear then know you garden will be trashed afterwards. They need sand, cement, a mixer, hose, blocks and bricks. Plus walking to and from the supplies.

Then work out if you think it is all worth it or whether moving is better and more cost effective. Obviously that depends on a massive number of things about where you are.