How much will an extension cost?

[marionara]

Hi!
Bought a tiny 30s bungalow.
We'd like to extend out the back (kitchen and living room) and fit some extra bedrooms in if possible, either above that, so a double storey extension, or a dormer in the roof. Garden is big so no problem there.
Could anyone speculate as to how much this might cost? Would £70k go very far?
(East Anglia!)

Thanks!

Sorry not keen to put photos of house up! But basically it’s 4m out the back by 7m across. We did put in the foundations and steel for a second storey in case we decide to in future. The 70k included all finishes to be fair including new kitchen and utility but while I’d say they are lovely and good quality they aren’t high end - floor is decent quality laminate for example. We do have underfloor heating and a large glass door / window on the back wall, and it included v basic landscaping of the back garden - levelling off, paving and lawn.

@jusdepamplemousse

Sorry not keen to put photos of house up! But basically it’s 4m out the back by 7m across. We did put in the foundations and steel for a second storey in case we decide to in future. The 70k included all finishes to be fair including new kitchen and utility but while I’d say they are lovely and good quality they aren’t high end - floor is decent quality laminate for example. We do have underfloor heating and a large glass door / window on the back wall, and it included v basic landscaping of the back garden - levelling off, paving and lawn.

That's a really good price. Was it recently? What area? Is it wet or dry underfloor heating? V tempted by a wet system but installation costs probably mean we'll stick with radiators. I might do a dry system in the small bathroom though...

I’m in Scotland, we were toying with the idea of getting an extension: extra bedroom upstairs, more living/ dining space downstairs. We were quoted between £110-£130k depending on finishing. That was at the end of 2020/ beginning of 2021.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
Having had a rethink, we might just go up: put a staircase in and build a bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs. Does that sound doable on 70k...?
Sorry that I've not been specific regarding square footage - we havent moved in yet and I don't know measurements!

@marionara

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Having had a rethink, we might just go up: put a staircase in and build a bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs. Does that sound doable on 70k...? Sorry that I've not been specific regarding square footage - we havent moved in yet and I don't know measurements!

Honestly OP, I think you will struggle on that budget. You will need structural engineers involved for calculations, steels putting in, dormer/roof windows, plumbing and pipes connecting. There are fire regulations to think about also. You say 2 bedrooms so it can’t be a shoebox space. I think you won’t get any change out of a £100k. Unless of course you can do most of the building work yourself.

Sounds wildly unrealistic OP

We did a 6x6m extension to create a kitchen/ diner then rejigged the downstairs to create a toilet and utility out of old kitchen. Cost us 70k all in, including kitchen, flooring, bathroom (including shower) etc. my dh did the decorating. This was 3 years ago though in Cambridge. The actual building cost was 54k and this was the cheapest of 3 quotes. We liked the builder and it worked out well. From what I'm hearing building costs have gone up massively so not sure what you'll get now for the same money.

A simple loft conversion here wont bring much change of £70k, even more if you want a bathroom adding or fancy windows/dormer.

We looked into building a single bedroom above our garage in 2020 but it required knocking down and rebuilding the garage and were quoted over £110k finished incl plaster, heating and electrics.

My friend is in the build trade and said that since then building material prices have gone insane so if it was this year thay quote would go even higher.

We moved in the end instead.

These prices are insane! We ended up moving because it made no sense financially to extend at that cost and this was in 2020. I wonder if people tend to get return on investment if they ever sell the extended property.

@Savvysix1984

We did a 6x6m extension to create a kitchen/ diner then rejigged the downstairs to create a toilet and utility out of old kitchen. Cost us 70k all in, including kitchen, flooring, bathroom (including shower) etc. my dh did the decorating. This was 3 years ago though in Cambridge. The actual building cost was 54k and this was the cheapest of 3 quotes. We liked the builder and it worked out well. From what I'm hearing building costs have gone up massively so not sure what you'll get now for the same money.

Thanks for this, this is really useful. I was hoping £70k might be just enough but seems like it won't go anywhere near. Time for a rethink I think!

@Susurrar

These prices are insane! We ended up moving because it made no sense financially to extend at that cost and this was in 2020. I wonder if people tend to get return on investment if they ever sell the extended property.

Aren't they! There must be some way of doing these things on a bit of a budget, £70k is hardly pennies!

@Bushkin

Sounds wildly unrealistic OP

Thanks, it seems so! I'm shocked at these prices to be honest. There must be a way!!

@jusdepamplemousse

Sorry not keen to put photos of house up! But basically it’s 4m out the back by 7m across. We did put in the foundations and steel for a second storey in case we decide to in future. The 70k included all finishes to be fair including new kitchen and utility but while I’d say they are lovely and good quality they aren’t high end - floor is decent quality laminate for example. We do have underfloor heating and a large glass door / window on the back wall, and it included v basic landscaping of the back garden - levelling off, paving and lawn.

That is somewhat reassuring as you managed to get a kitchen as part of that budget. I'm hopeful if we're clever we can squeeze something simple.

You need to get lots of quotes. I got a 2 storey extension 15 years ago for 17k. That was the cheapest, some came in at over 40.
I got a loft conversion for 7k without building regs, it’s a lovely massive bedroom but if we sell we can only call it loft space. With regs other companies came in around 30k.
Despite going for the cheaper builders we’ve never had any problems.

@Susurrar

These prices are insane! We ended up moving because it made no sense financially to extend at that cost and this was in 2020. I wonder if people tend to get return on investment if they ever sell the extended property.

Our extension and new kitchen will cost more than it will add in value - but we won't have estate agent fees, stamp duty, solicitors costs etc, and we'll get exactly what we want (whereas if we were to move, it's unlikely we'd find a house with the layout we want, a kitchen we like & no other issues - there'd probably still be a compromise).

AwkwardPaws27
Although ours will add value, like you we did it because it was what we wanted to suit our family.
We love our home and the area so we weren’t thinking about adding value just expanding our living space as the family grew.

@AwkwardPaws27 that absolutely makes sense!
We were simply desperate for more space and I wasn’t overly attached to our old house, I simply hated the idea and upheaval of having to move.

Wayyy too many “simplies” there