Are extensions still feasible?

[Beakyok]

We bought our house coming up to 3 years ago, always with the aim to extend it - wrong house, right location etc. We kept a sizeable chunk of money back to help fund the extension and from conversations with several builders at the time, knew we were in budget. However, life struck…Covid, surprise baby, work issues etc and so building plans didn’t happen. We’ve finally managed to get plans drawn up and yes, you’ve guessed it, the quotes have not just doubled, but more than doubled! We expected an increase but not this jump.

So my question is what are people doing? Sucking up the costs in the hope that they won’t have to ever move? Not worrying about going beyond the ceiling price of a house? Deciding it’s cheaper to move than to build? Or just waiting and hoping things calm down next year? It seems such a volatile time to make such an important financial decision.

@ThisMustBeMyDream yep 6m extension but also ripping out the existing structure and making it all open plan, underfloor heating etc. Unfortunateky there's quite a bit of steelwork involved and building supplies have gone up a lot, so yep it's crazy. We're just relieved to have found someone to do it for that much, I got quotes upto £180k!!

So its 3x2m? That is insane!

Of course there's a ceiling price for roads/areas. Property values can go up drastically over time but will only go so high in certain places. If I were spending hundreds of thousands on an extension, depending on the road, I might either make a profit, or not even break even.

In my area extensions are definitely still going ahead but with even the most well-regarded building firms all advertising for more trades. I've seen adverts for all types of trades from building firms who are booked up for the whole of 2023.

Garden room companies are also booked solid for the next year.

OP I think if your work situation means you might need to move home at some point, then you'll need to accept that your current home will have to do. Is there a way of rejigging without needing builders? It'll mean you have to settle for less but might be better for your state of mind if you make a conscious decision.

I live in a high value property in a lovely area but I am holding back from paying these crazy prices because I don't want to stay here long term. I would only have done a quick extension to boost market appeal. If it will sell anyway in it's imperfect state then why bother?
I would much rather spend that on my dream, forever home which will be much smaller and more secluded.

A lot of people NEED to extend though. I don't need to extend but I'd like to. I can't justify the price increases however, so I'm sitting tight for a while. If prices don't come down I'll just use the money to bring my current house to a nice standard as every room needs doing. I desperately need a new kitchen but am reluctant to spend out in case we do extend 😕so I'm just going to start on the rooms that won't be affected.

A lot of people NEED to extend though. I don't need to extend but I'd like to. I can't justify the price increases however, so I'm sitting tight for a while. If prices don't come down I'll just use the money to bring my current house to a nice standard as every room needs doing. I desperately need a new kitchen but am reluctant to spend out in case we do extend 😕so I'm just going to start on the rooms that won't be affected.

There is a difference between those who genuinely need to extend (around 25% of that group) and those who would like to do it and would definitely benefit from it (but if they didn't would still be largely fine). It is a bit different to a loft conversion where they NEED a bedroom per child. A small kitchen is crappy (mine isn't small, it could just be fantastic with the extension: over twice as big with all the other bells and whistles and a more updated style of units from the nightmare white gloss which now feels dated.

I also need to update the first floor rooms and bathroom but great plumbers are pretty hard to come by (they are usually also working on bigger projects). Also, I have read that having a ground floor extension can require redecorating of the rooms above on the perimeter due to settlement cracks caused by the newly dug foundations.

My husband is in project management so I have an idea of costs.

All the posters saying "the builders quoted xxxx" - how many quotes have you actually received?! I would expect to contact 10-20 builders and receive 3-5 quotes as a minimum, for comparison. Some of these look sky high, and from our friends experience the range of costs can be absolutely massive.

I think the issue with this is that many people are struggling to get multiple builders out to quote. They're all too busy!

You can't judge the "value for money" of a project which also involves lots of other work (ripping out existing structure, making it all open plan, underfloor heating, "quite a bit of steelwork" amongst other things) on a £/m² basis.

A friend had their kitchen knocked through and refurbished to a fairly high specification. While the builders were there, they also had them add a 1.5m² porch. The whole project cost £60,000. Did their porch cost £40,000 per square metre?

I dunno, 100+ for 3x2m still sound nuts. I'm wondering if JolieJ just meant that 6m is the length of extension..? Big difference between 6m and 6m² !

Is there anything you can do that doesn't involve extending to make it work better?

We ditched the (admittedly too small and so pointless) utility room and took down the stud wall.

It made the space just about big enough for kitchen, dining nook and a sofa at other end. Appliances now hidden in built in cupboards in the living part.
It's not any bigger but so much easier to live in. I've squeezed a desk in too for WFH.

I think that we've become so used to the look of spaces that functionality has gone out the window. We need to make our spaces work harder with multi functional layouts.

Also doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t have sold for more, had you spent money on an extension.

OP, the short answer is yes, people are sucking it up. That’s how much things cost and costs hardly ever get rolled back. Waiting is just making it yet more expensive. As for ceiling prices, there is no much thing if you plan to live in the house for a long time.

I would say this depends on 'in demand' your location is. Ours is a desirable location which maybe explains why everyone here is building and only new builds for sale. We've flip flopped for a year and now committed to spending approx 70k on ground floor extension new kitchen and dormer.

Next step up the housing ladder for what we need( bit particular with regards to plot size as we have large plot in relation to house size ATM) would cost us 250k ish plus stamp duty and moving costs etc.

I will say keep getting quotes. We got ridiculous ones..... They were trying to put us off/ taking advantage of the market. We got a reasonable quote in the end from someone who had cancellations. Hopefully they will turn out to be ok!!!

Friends who opted to move have horrible experiences of everyone bidding 20-30k over already high asking prices and houses going in days so really hard to move location.

10-15 years ago I was told the price for a semi in our area would never go over the ceiling price of the stamp duty threshold of 250k. Those three bed semis are now selling for over 300k and the extended semis 400-500k so ceiling prices can change

I'm an architect and still overwhelmed with demand for extensions and renovations despite price rises. I have a 6mth waiting list for clients.

I have had a couple of clients scale back plans but they are still going ahead. Priorities have been energy efficiency and future proofing.

What I have been doing more is sending plans out for discussion at early stages (pre planning) with contractors to ensure we aren't overstretching things.
I don't tend to work with people at the cheaper end of home improvement which I suspect has slowed more. My clients are in the bracket willing to pay for proper architects fees and are tending to do larger jobs so already have a bit more to spend.

The main problem we've had is supply issues so specifications have to be changed at short notice and some products from Europe no longer being available.

I’m thinking from my local area that people are sucking it up as there does seem to be lots of work going on at houses in the village. Interestingly, a comparable house came on the market on Monday - our house done up and with an extra bedroom. We’ve calculated that it would be the same cost to move there as build here…in our far nicer plot. We are so tired of not moving forward with the house as we’ve done as much as we can without making the decision to build. It really is decision time for us!

We’re booked in for August for a first floor extension and a bit of an internal re figuration. This means new bathroom to put in, new kitchen, new flooring and then two new bedrooms. We are trying to lock in as many prices as possible, but the kitchen and wood flooring costs are astronomical and keep going up. We couldn’t move locally for what this is costing us, and I love our house so don’t want to waste the stamp duty for a house I then need to redo. We thought 150k would be enough but are now pushing 180k and cutting some things out. I don’t think we will get back what we spend but hopefully we will be here for a while and loving our home.

But ceiling prices are based on current sold prices surely? So they're always going to go up in line with the market.

If I could get my extension built to plaster finish for 70k I'd bite their arm off! Seeing how much other people are paying now has put me off paying for plans and getting quotes.

We are paying £130k for a 4m x 6m kitchen extension. This does include very high end (for us) finishes, new kitchen, lantern roof, 3 sets of bi folds, paving outside etc. But it's still a massive increase on building costs.

I find it deeply concerning that people would invest in extensions that seem to be almost worth the value of their properties. I mean, think about it, you cannot surely love your house THAT much to risk it. I wonder if the property market will collapse and people will be advertising their newish secondhand extensions for sale on ebay for disassembly and removal.

Or 'Buy the extension, we'll chuck in the house'!

You’re not getting all that for £70k unless you are doing ALL the building work yourself. If someone has given you that quote for ground floor extension, new kitchen and dormer, there’s something very wrong. Be wary.