When to extend?

[Nowthereistwo]

Another crystal ball question.

We've got planning permission to extend (received Jan 2021) and the initial quotes in April were already expensive. We then had doubts over the kitchen/family room layout so put in on the back burned whilst covid played out and we could resolve the layout.

DH also didn't want to extend whilst labour and material prices are so high. But I can't see them coming back to pre-covid levels (when do prices ever come down).

We have a lot of equity in the house and have already borrowed money as we needed to fix.

The extension is to future proof the house and give us better living and master bedroom space - but probably won't add all the value to it due to the increased costs.

The problem with waiting 2 years hoping prices come down is that we could have been enjoying the improved house for 18 months.

Any thoughts

Doesn’t PP expire after 3 years? So you need to have started construction by Jan 2024. A lot of good builders have a de ent waiting list so I would start getting quotes soon. I would be surprised if prices dropped significantly in the next 18 months (but who knows?)

I would check to see if your planning permission has a deadline. Ours did, we had to have started the work within 2 years of permission being granted. I don’t think the work had to be completed, I think basically ground broken would do it but can’t remember the exact details.

In our case, we wouldn’t have done our extension based on current cost. We finished in Jan but had agreed fixed cost prior to starting the build so were protected mostly from the increased costs. It’s made a huge difference to our living space but we probably would have had to cut right back on what we wanted to do which wouldn’t have been worth it. I’m naturally cautious though.

That's for your thoughts so far. We got pp OK so not bothered about doing it again - we might have to get it adjusted if we change the door layout on the rear.

If you have the money and the planning I would just get on with it. That's what I am doing anyhow (started foundations for major reno today). I can't see prices coming down. There is a risk they will get much higher.

We extended, price agreed pre pandemic. It was still eye watering due to extras. We had to wait 6 months for builders. Its a year now for a good builder.

We spent way more than we’d get back if house went on market today. We’ll be here 10 years probably and have had the benefit of the space, and paid mortgage off. We still won’t get what we paid out….

I think you should get started! Materials and labour for building very rarely come down and even if they were to it would only be very marginally. More likely they will continue to rise. As long as you want to stay there it means you will get the benefit for longer if you do it sooner.

We are just coming to the end of our build, we had the quote in Jan 2021 (the builder had a 1 year waiting list) and the price was protected. Our builder was saying he can't see prices going back down to pre pandemic so if you want it doing you will just have to factor in the extra cost of materials.

Thanks. I think we need to pull our fingers our and finish off the internal plans and get it re-priced.