Realistic budget for simple single storey rear extension and bathroom

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

We need a ground floor bedroom for my middle dc, who has some mobility issues.

It’s a 1930’s 3 bed semi with a downstairs bathroom and we were originally planning to do a two-storey extension so that we could also move our existing bathroom upstairs, retain 4 bedrooms and put in a wet room downstairs, which is more disability friendly, but with build costs the way they are, plus the squeeze on mortgage lending, that is now looking unrealistic for the foreseeable and my dc really needs their own room asap at this stage (currently sharing with a sibling who has their own issues and they both need their own space). Moving is not an option as we have been completely priced out of the area and need to stay local for education and healthcare reasons.

Essentially we will now just be building a gf bedroom and moving our existing gf bathroom to a rear lobby area where the existing gf toilet currently is. We shouldn’t need steels, probably just a substantial lintel, as it will just be a single doorway through to the new extension.

Does anyone have any idea of a rough cost for this in the current market? Even just a rough idea of the cost of the extension part without the bathroom will help us work out approximately how much we need to borrow. (Thankfully we have a lot of equity and we want to release funds from that before prices increase again. Just had a mortgage offer today and trying to decide if we are borrowing enough.) I have used a couple of, allegedly, up-to-date online cost-calculators and it’s coming in at £21-24,000 for a good standard 3x4m build, plus one bathroom, but I feel like that is unrealistically low.

For reference, we are Midlands based, just on the northern edge of Warwickshire although, unfortunately, we have the highest property prices in the area locally due to the excellent local state schools and we have been told this adds a premium to any trade quotes.

[starpatch]

Oh interesting. Still learning about this stuff. I know for assessment for care it varies from council to council, but in Kent you are only assessed on joint accounts and accounts in your name if in a couple, so for care the parent's income is not counted, but could be different for DFG. If I get the chance I will ask!

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

@starpatch according to the .gov website:

“Disabled children under 18 can get a grant without their parents’ income being taken into account.”

So, based on that, bizarrely, it seems if you are over 18 they do take the parent’s income into account. Although admittedly it’s not very clear.

Dc is a student and we are still awaiting their PIP assessment, so they have no income - although benefits are not considered income anyway apparently.

[starpatch]

Oh I feel your pain, but surely it is only the young person's finances that would be assessed? I am a social services OT. Not the same but recently told £50000 with a bedroom and shower room all as part of the extension, so a larger extension. Where I am the council will let you do your own plans and builders etc and top up for higher spec provided it is all agreed in advance and agreed that it meets the person's needs. If you do any building work without agreement you won't get any money back.

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

Damn it! We could have applied for a grant without income consideration if we’d known about it sooner, but dc turned 18 this spring! Typical, we always have hopeless timing. 🙄

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

@jackstini I will do, thank you.

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

@fruitbrewhaha Thank you. That’s more what I was expecting I think. Potentially higher with the local ‘good schools’ tax.

We have gone around and around in circles with this. I have designed and redesigned what we want, downsizing our ideas as costs increased and mortgage rates went up. We really do just need to bite the bullet at this point.

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

@SpidersAreShitheads I haven’t heard about Disabled Facilities Grants. I will read up on them, thank you.

OT said, based on their assessment, the LA should contribute to the costs, but that is just going to complicate things and slow it all down, plus their fittings etc are very ultility, iyswim and dc is at an age where they hate to feel defined by their disability, so we would rather plan something that meets their needs, but is less obviously based around disabled access if we can.

[jackstini]

Definitely look into the disabled facilities grant, it could cover a good % of the costs if a ground floor bedroom or bathroom is classed as necessary after assessment

Our 4 x 3 extension was £17k 9 years ago so thinking £25-30k more realistic now

[TreetopsandTailwaggers]

That’s what I thought. Unfortunately I don’t know any local builders and most people around here seem to go for massive high-end extensions with big building firms, so there’s nothing similar that I know of.

Next door had a two-storey extension 5 years ago, but the guy was a builder and did it himself and he has now moved away. Mum had some structural work done a couple of years back, but I know her builder won’t even bother to visit for an estimate unless everything is in place to book the project into his diary. We asked him to quote for a small-ish job just after Mum had her work done and he said he wasn’t interested because it was too small a job for him (removing a chimney breast from gf and first floor rooms).

I’ve heard it’s really difficult to get builders to even turn up for quotes if you’re ready to go at the moment, because they can’t be sure costs won’t rise before they start the project, plus they are booking for late 2023, so can easily turn work down.

We do have plenty of wiggle room, but ideally I’d like to borrow enough to do some updating and redecoration as well and according to a recent full survey, we could do with replacing the roof in the next couple of years as well. It’s a pain because we don’t want to fork out for drawings yet, but we need to decide how much to borrow now, before mortgage rates go up again.

[fruitbrewhaha]

www.loverenovate.co.uk/extension-cost-calculator/

This site come up with £35K

[SpidersAreShitheads]

We are just being quoted for work but ours is so stupidly complicated it wouldn’t really help you. But trying to whittle ours down I would say around £24k plus cost of fitting bathroom should be doable if you find a decent builder. Costs really do vary HUGELY.

on a separate note, have you considered a Disabled Facilities Grant? I was going to apply for my DC but we’re moving instead.

[fruitbrewhaha]

That sounds very low. Building costs have gone up a lot in the last couple of years. Could you ask a builder? Have any of your neighbours done anything similar? I'd find a local builder, they will know pretty well what that would cost to put the shell up before any flooring/window/doors etc.