How to go about extending

[Sleepyquest]

We are toying with the idea of extending our property, converting the loft and generally reconfiguring our house. But how do we go about this? What is the first step?
Ideally I'd like someone to come along and say 'oh if you did x,y and z, you'd gain this much more space'

Our garden is quite small so we don't really know what to do for the best but the loft is a definite option. We are considering this because we do love our house and location and moving to a house that would fit our needs would set us back an extra £200k!

Thank you

I'd look on your local Council Planning Portal and see what people in your area with similar houses have done. You can open the documents on their planning applications and see the drawings to give you an idea of what is possible and what has been granted permission.

If you want to get an idea of which extended part of the house would give you the most return for the cost, I'd speak with some builders. You could have full technical plans drawn up first but that's expensive if you then aren't going ahead with a possible areas to extend. It might be better to get some very basic, non technical, drawings done and use those to speak with builders about prices for each option. Then once you know which part/s you want to spend the money on extending, get full technical drawings done for the builders to work from.

I would contact anything up to maybe five or six architects or architectural designers to come round and take a look, with a view to getting prices from them for drawing up plans for extending and remodelling the house to meet your needs.

Initially you'll want someone to do drawings "to planning stage". These will show the level of detail needed for a planning application, that is, the basic envelope of the building in terms of size and appearance, and the layout of the space inside to give an idea of how it will be subdivided and used. You should also get prices for the more detailed stage of the design work, sometimes called "building regulations drawings". These are much more detailed, showing all the info needed to build your project like the structure of walls, floors and rooves and the positions of plumbing, electrical fittings etc.

The more detailed drawings will also be invaluable in allowing you to get quotes from builders which you can confidently compare, knowing they're all pricing the same job!

Depending on what part of the country you're in, some architects/designers may want to charge for an initial site visit/consultation. Personally I'd avoid them to start off with if you can get a few people to come and meet with you before committing to pay. The point at this stage is to get a feel for who you'll be comfortable working with. If any of them share ideas about the best way to adapt your house, that's a bonus.

The difference between an architect and someone using a different title like an architectural designer/consultant/technician is that "architect" is a protected title reserved for qualified and registered professionals. Typically, architects will price their services accordingly, but offer a bit more in terms of design experience and the creativity of the ideas on offer. Other people offering services in this area vary in what they offer. Some may be very experienced and in practice as good as some architects. Others may be okay at drawing up plans if you know exactly what you want, but less good at the creative side of the work.

Yes, good point made by @PragmaticWench above - a useful extra step would be to have a chat with a couple of friendly builders early on, either with the planning drawings in hand or at least with your own sketches of what you might want, to get a rough idea of pricing.

Some caveats here are that (i) nobody will be able to price very accurately without detailed drawings, so use these prices as a vague guide and never as a means of choosing between builders, (ii) prices may change significantly during the period between this initial chat and getting a proper quotation based on detailed drawings and (iii) builders are like gold dust, so in many areas of the country you are likely to struggle to get anyone to do this for you.

With that list and the cost of building labour and materials, it might be cheaper to pay the 200k and move tbh