Modular/prefab extension?

[SpidersAreShitheads]

There has been lots of threads on here recently about rising costs of extensions/building materials.

We've been caught by this too, but we have other complications (DM isn't very well and might struggle with 6 months+ building work).

Just browsing the renovations group on FB and the idea of modular extensions caught my eye. Delving further into it, there seems to be lots of people who have had it done who are really pleased with the result.

Most of the work is done off-site and it's about two weeks work at your house. Brick-clad exterior to match main house and rated A for energy efficiency - which given the soaring energy costs could be really helpful!

We won't be selling for years - probably two decades or more - so I'm not too fussed about whether it could put buyers off.

Has anyone here had a modular/prefabricated extension - if so, what was your experience? And do you have any companies to recommend/avoid? Vita Modular and EazyBase are two that seem pretty good....?

Honestly, even if I don't even use these guys, I'm wondering if they'd fancy a trip down the pub? They sound fabulous 😂 So often you only hear of the bad tradespeople, it's so refreshing to hear of people that take pride in their work and are not all about shortcuts to maximise their profit margin.

DM wants doors that are black outside and white inside

And why the hell not! I think I'd go for that option too.

@SpidersAreShitheads thank you for that very detailed reply.

Does a conservatory get classed as a non standard construction? It's not our long term home so I need to investigate it a bit more with.

I love the cost & the speed of it though.

Hey - just quickly popping on to say that I might not have any updates until the weekend or early next week.

DM unfortunately caught COVID and she's been hospitalised. All been a bit scary but hoping she turned the corner now - I'm banned from the house temporarily until her/my stepdad are non-contagious because I'm asthmatic/have some health issues and DM is panicked about me catching it. I'm happy to rock up and just wear a mask but she's not having it.

I promise to come back and update with some photos as soon as I can get there.

I did talk to OffPOD today and they've done the knock through, the final render coat is going on tomorrow and the plastering is being done on Friday. So that should be the main house extension more or less done!

Just found this thread, am excited to see the end result!

@SpidersAreShitheads I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope your DM makes a full and swift recovery.

Oh goodness, I hope your mum is ok. 💐

Glad to report DM is out of hospital and recovering well. And when I say recovering well, what I mean is driving me batshit crazy issuing a stream of instructions from her sick bed 😅

Unfortunately we all seem to have COVID too now so I still can't get to the house. I do have a couple of photos that DM sent me to update here. My stepdad took them a few days ago so things have marched on since.

The knock through is complete here and they're screeding the floor. They've also taken out and bricked up the internal window, ready for installing the shower room and utility.

The steels have arrived for DM's annexe and that's starting next week. I'll hopefully have more up to date photos soon!

It's enormously frustrating not being there as it seems to have suddenly all come together! There has been a complication with the bathroom soil pipe so a couple of things have been delayed while that's resolved. The two builders weren't convinced that Building Control were actually understanding the layout /bends in the pipes and were worried we'd have problems later on - so I appreciate them holding things up slightly to make sure it's being done properly.

Glad your mum is home, but sorry about the Covid - it never rains but it pours! Hope you’ll be better soon.

It’s unbelievable how quickly this has come together - it’s looking fantastic!

Great news about your DM but I'm so sorry to hear you now have Covid. Hope you get better soon.

The room is huge! And so bright.

Glad your mum is home and it must be such a relief to hear her barking out her orders (you might have to remind yourself of this frequently though I expect 😂).

Hope you all recover quickly and will be lovely to see all the progress once you're better.

Looking amazing!

Is that glass or some sort of perspex over the skylights?

Hi, I hope you're ok and covid isn't hitting you too bad.
Your thread is amazing. We're also looking into modular extensions and finding it hard to find experiences.

May I ask: you said you had found plenty of reviews with photos for offpod. Could you say where you spotted them? Can't find anything except 14 Google reviews but they're nearly all about garden rooms.
Thank you!

Aah thank you so much everyone. Everyone seems to be on the mend but the bloody virus is a nuisance.

They ripped up DM's flooring in the existing annexe about 2 weeks ago and found black mould underneath - nothing to do with OffPOD or the extension. We'd planned to have the mould cleaned, new concrete poured and new laminate laid last week - but obvs because of COVID that all had to be cancelled and rescheduled. And it's an absolute ball ache getting mould cleaners out as they seem to be crazily busy!!

Hopefully that will be next week now because that really, really needs to get done.

DP is still testing positive for COVID so probably won't be able to go to the house tomorrow. DM and my stepdad are still testing positive too. It's a real test of my patience!!! Hoping Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest everyone will test clear, fingers crossed. If DP isn't well enough I'll have to go on my own on Weds as I'm testing negative and furniture needs to be moved from Weds onwards.

Anyway. Tom from OffPOD very kindly sent me some photos of the outside after the render was applied - it's looking beautiful!! So here's an update. These photos were taken Thursday, so again, a bit behind but hopefully gives an idea of what's happened.

The flooring is all finished so hopefully in the next few days I can show you the inside with the screed down and the walls plastered.

Sorry, missed a couple of questions!

@C4tastrophe - no, the skylights are glass AFAIK. I've got a couple of really rubbish photos that I took leaning out of the bedroom window when the skylights were very first fitted - I'll attach them here. Might help to show what they're like? These were before the roof was finished though, so obvs doesn't look like that now.

@OperaPanda - aaah, I might have unintentionally misled you there!!! The reviews we found for OffPOD were all for garden rooms. Honestly, when we were looking it seemed impossible to find photos and reviews for modular extensions. Companies seemed to just be using the same project from different angles and trying to pass it off as different projects.....

I went with OffPOD because the reviews referenced Tom and Chris working with clients and being really flexible re individual needs etc - which has been my experience.

Can I just chime in to add into the thanks for showing the step by step? I'm involved in construction far away in Brazil and I always enjoy seeing how constructions are made in other places that have obviously very different requirements due to weather, etc.
It's also great to see that UK councils, etc are more willing to accept different building materials. Here, it's brick and mortar, no discussion, or else no mortgage, at least for residences. I might ask around if the same happens in commercial construction, as I've been seeing quite a few modular ones being made.
I'm always green with envy regarding the speed of modular/pre made constructions. The current new build being done has just turned one year old and to be frank I can't wait to start another project (thankfully it will be done in 2 weeks).

@OperaPanda sorry pressed enter too soon!!! You could try their Facebook page - they update that quite regularly but I haven't scrolled through to see what's on there tbh. Might be worth a look though.

For anyone who's thinking about different companies to use I had a random thought yesterday!!

So, OffPOD order the steel frame and they put it together on site - a bit like a Lego kit and then they add the insulation, boards, render all around it.

Some of the other companies put it together off site and bring it in. So, Vita Modular was the other company we were going to use - and tbh, they seemed good too. However, they said they would need to close the street and use a crane to bring in the finished structure. Basically they were going to winch the structure over the top of my house and into position!

I completely forgot about this - and I don't know why it popped into my head yesterday. But I thought I should add it here as ideally to use Vita you'll need good access to the site, or you'll need the road closed as they bring in a crane (obvs they arrange it all). Might be fine in a bigger street but we're only a very small road so it would have to be temporarily closed.

It's what I was saying earlier in the thread - these modular companies aren't all the same so it's worth making sure you know what you're getting when you pick one.

Aaah thank you @InTropicalTrumpsLand! I think it’s been a slow process here in the U.K. and we’re still behind other countries where Modular builds are commonplace.

I hadn’t ever really noticed how many modular builds were going up until our builder started pointing out the steel frames visible in some of the local new flats being built!

I don’t have any personal experience of a traditional build but this modular build has been so positive I wouldn’t hesitate to go down this route again.

I can imagine after working on one project for a year you’d be sick of the sight of it 😂

Those recent photos look fantastic. It looks like a really good sized extension too.

What are your plans for outside the doors? Will you be putting in a patio type area?

Hope you're recovering ok from Covid.

Thanks a lot! Yes, I've been following their Facebook and have also messaged them for a quote. Waiting to hear back.
I hope you're on the mend and the project is progressing. Very curious to hear/see more if and when you want to update further. thanks for everything so far.

Hi OP, hope you're feeling better and that extension is well under way!

Hi - apologies for the absence, all been going on at home (not related to the building work!)

COVID hit my DM and stepdad quite hard unfortunately, and then just as DM was getting better she had a big fall. Thankfully they're both OK, recovered from COVID but DM is still finding it hard to get out of the chair due to pain.

But yes, much better now thanks very much @TFMinx, @Polpette and @OperaPanda .

So our extension is finished as far as we paid OffPOD to go. It's a bit of a tricky project, as I mentioned upthread, as the finance is in two chunks. We needed to get it to a plastered finish with first fix electrics which is where we're at now. The flooring, new kitchen, bathroom and various other bits are going to be done once the sale of my current house goes through.

@Polpette - yes, it's a great space - 8.2m x 4.5m. And then with the knock through there's an extra 3.4m front to back. I haven't shown it on here but we're also adding a utility room, new bathroom and a separate study/snug downstairs. The whole lot is being reconfigured. After bringing up two DC in a really small, cramped (but lovely) house I can't quite believe this is going to be where we're living!! Outside we're going to put in a patio with a low fence (we have a dog). We also need to sort out the garden - it was a bit of a disaster when we bought it, and now it's obviously been housing all the building stuff so once the house is done, that's the new project! 😅

@OperaPanda - have you gotten any further with your quote from them? Tell Chris you found them from the Mumsnet thread - he said he can't believe how many hits they're getting on their website from here! So hopefully this thread might have helped some people.

We're actually able to get the electrics finished off now (thanks to a bit of financial juggling) so we're getting OffPOD to give us a quote for adding that on at the end of the project. Just waiting to hear on that at the moment.

Here's some photos of the main house extension (tape is still on the doors inside on these photos but other than that, pretty much the finished job to the plastered finish). Oh just realised, the knock through isn't plastered in these either - will get a proper up to date photo with it all done!

Ive been looking at something like this because i can't afford the normal build extension. Can I ask why they can make mortgages an issue?

It looks amazing!

Increasingly jealous - looks amazing.