How much for a single story extension ?

[KangarooKenny]

A while ago there was a thread saying that a single story extension would be around £90,000.00. I was shocked and can’t believe it’s that much.
So I’m just asking again to check I didn’t dream it, approximately how much for a single story, 3m x 4m, vaulted ceiling, two small velux windows, one set of patio doors, 4 windows, in the NW ?

Our quotes for similiar size and type are coming in at between £65k - £85k excluding kitchen etc so we are budgeting for £100k all in. In the NE. Pretty ridiculous.

It is ridiculous, it’s far more than I thought. I’ve also been told that it’s about £1000.00 just to get the drawings done.

It used to be £1k per sqm when we extended, but that was in Yorkshire about ten years ago. I think that’s now basically doubled, especially with materials being so much more expensive at the moment.

£90k though?!

Do you have a friend who has had similar done?

@KangarooKenny Yes our rather basic drawings were around £750 and then PP application costs on top and then we’ve got about another £750 to pay for structural calcs next.

Luckily mine doesn’t need PP, but it’s far more than I thought. This price is beyond me unless I finally win big on the Premium Bonds.

@KangarooKenny def worse time to be doing any building work that’s for sure ! Had hoped it would stabilise post Covid but now we’ve got inflation and cost of living to contend with. I hope you find a way forward (or win the bonds !) I often wonder why we didn’t just go for the already done house ! Sure it will all work out in the end though.

We're in the SE, currently doing a 2.25x 7.5m side extension. Plans were £2k plus £750 structural engineer. Planning permission on top. Building regs will be about £1k. We had several quotes, all around a similar ball park, although presented in different ways (IE some gave one all-in price, some quoted just for the build, and we had to add kitchen, cloakroom suite, redecorating etc on top. Overall price for finished job is coming in at £75k, plus I'm allowing (and expecting to spend) a 10% contingency.

Does anyone think prices will ever come down? We can wait to do our building work (and will do as it doesn’t make financial sense to do it at the moment).

Just having works done. Includes a renovation of a existing room that essentially took out everything bar foundations and a few walls. Included new floor, roof, windows, sky lights etc. and then new flat roof and new roofs elsewhere. Plus a few other structural bit and bobs
it is costing £67k.
a year earlier I was quoted £35k (2021), but then had to wait to find a builder as none available and no one wanted job. By time I found someone price had skyrocketted
im retired and this wasn’t optional work- roofs had to be replaced. I have taken a massive chunk out of my life savings that I can’t replace and am on pension now.
and I’m I. North west so not particularly expensive area

so based on that yep, seems reasonable. Think hard if you have to do it now though . If you don’t have to- don’t. Prices are just one aspect. The other is labour- trades are walking out on sub contracts all the time currently. My builder is out of pocket having been let down by 2 sets of sub contractors he’d worked with for years. It’s a riot currently. I’m on week 8 without a kitchen, my job has overrun by 10 weeks and counting.

Prices are through the roof. Previous owner was quoted £20k for a single storey extension a couple of years ago, we're ideally going for a double storey but even for a single we're looking at 3x that now. We have an extremely basic kitchen which is an industrial sink and freestanding oven/hob so ideally need it done ASAP (the extension will make the kitchen bigger and move the bathroom), and I need it done to work from my home (childminder), but I'm loathe to spend so much!

Yep had quotes for single storey extension last year ...3x4m and quotes were over £60k and didn't include kitchen or other decor such as flooring.
In the end we managed to re work the ground floor lay out to give us a bigger kitchen and much needed 2nd toilet downstairs. Still cost over £30k (inc kitchen etc) which is what we originally thought an extension would cost!
But took a lot less time to do it.

I spoke with an estate agent who said the price of building works at the moment are so high it is actually cheaper for many people to move to get that extra space.

You’re describing almost what we are having done. Ours is a little bit bigger - 19 square metre extension (5 x 3.5ish), pitched roof, 3 velux windows, one normal window, patio doors. About the most structurally simple and basic extension imaginable. No steels. No bifolds. And turning old galley kitchen into utility area and downstairs loo.

Build quotes in May this year ranged from £51k to £86k plus VAT. All the cheaper quotes excluded something key like joinery or connecting to mains services. We went with the quote bang in the middle, which was £59k plus VAT. On top of that, we are paying to have it decorated, buying a kitchen (from DIY kitchens) and paying for the fitting, and buying worktops (quartz), flooring (LVT) and some new appliances. Adding in a water softener too. It’s going to come in at about £100k.

We are SE England.

I am very irritated as we first started looking into this in 2018 when prices were £1.5-2k per square metre plus VAT to a plaster finish. We will now be paying well in excess of £3k and are only able to go ahead due to an unexpected inheritance and a remortgage. It’s crazy.

I’ve written on this before a few weeks ago. Based on my experience and what my building company is saying, this is all now about labour. Yes, material costs have risen, but the increases still going on are now being outstripped by the increase in labour costs.

There is a lack of low skilled, lower wage but experienced trades. So the sort of folks who would be employed directly by a building company and carry out the grunge work under minimal direction with enough experience to do a decent job without too much supervision. Trades that were flexible in terms of being able to do a bit of basic building, joining, etc.

historically we had a lot of trades working from EU- a mix of those low skilled but experienced, as well as very skilled. Particularly from Eastern Europe It meant there was a surfeit of labour and builders that were competing for jobs to keep prices down.

Now that extra labour can’t work in uk anymore, many of those low skilled but experienced trades, that are still working in uk, are seeing they can earn more, work hours they want by becoming self employed and doing sub contract work. They are setting themselves up as their own company. And they can charge high rates back to main building companies, simply because of the lack of labour.

add to that because they are low skilled and don’t have the experience on the more complex task it can lead to shoddy work that has to be redone. And then that means main contractors have to being in someone else more skilled to do the work agian. All adding to general costs.

In addition you’re also getting low skilled and INexperienced trades doing the same things so they can see there’s a lot of money in it. So, young lads with maybe 2 years experience as a brickie setting themselves up as a subcontract general builder.again, mistakes are made and work redone, but also what was cheaper labour is now more expensive, before you even begin to think about cost of living rises.

Add to that there’s is a heck of a lot of these sub contractors just choosing to drop out of doing a job at last minute cos they fancŷ a few day off , and then the main contractors have to get someone else in at short notice and pay even more through the nose because it is holding the rest of the job up.

My job has been held up 3 times now by sub contractors my builder has worked with for years, just not showing up or worse, disappearing with the builders money. These are people he trusted. It’s a shit show.

mymain builder is paying up to £2000 per week in wage cost to his sub contractors.

So, only thing that will drive prices down is when available labour we have exceeds the demand from the customers. This will , as far as I can think, only be achieved 3 ways:

1. interest rate rises cause a massive decrease in demand for building work - could happen in next 2 years, but right now there is a massive backlog of work on most decent builders books- my builder isn’t taking on new jobs before next May right now
2. the government invests seriously in apprenticeships and drives education away from the mantra of university for all, and back to appreciating a low skill but experienced work force with pay at a legal minimum living wage and non gig economy- meaning that workers can and want to train and do these jobs without wondering how to pay their bills. But that is 3-5 years away even if there was a will to do this in govenement- which there isn’t. It’s the same will for care workers etc- lower skilled but experienced workers
3. they allow free movement for work in from Eu, or other countries as per before brexit, and admit it was completely phoney to claim that British people were unemployed due to all “them foreigners” taking “our” jobs, it was a good lie to weave for a political vanity project, and thousands believed it - if you voted brexit and now complain about the cost of building, what part of your brain did you not engage before you voted 🤦‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️. It was entirely predictable. Covid did add to the issues, but the main issue is the lack of free movement and skill shortages

so, based on my experience, nope I don’t see prices coming down for 3-5 years. But I still wouldn’t go through what I’m going through if I didn’t have to do the work right now.

I haven’t needEd planning permission and so far my fees are around £2.5k. That includes drawings, certificate of lawfulness, building control, structural engineer and fees to move a gas meter.

if you don’t need planning permission apply for a certificate of lawfulness. Will save endless headaches if you ever want to move or any neighbours challenge you.

Unfortunately prices are not looking like coming down soon. We’re in the middle of an extension (very different from yours, plus we’re in London, so I can’t comment on prices for you) and my project manager was telling me yesterday that many contractors are now refusing to give full quotes. They quote on a ‘cost +’ basis. In other words, they can only give you an estimate of what labour is going to cost, but are refusing to commit on building materials. If prices go up during the build, that’s on you.

Many good contractors were left massively exposed during Covid when building materials shot up, and they now need to recoup their losses.

Our project is relatively large, so we were lucky that we had many quotes. But the smaller your project is, the harder it gets to find builders. They like mobilising a team for a longer period on one site.

There’s a combination of labour shortage and inflation that’s making it pretty hard right now. Items like joinery for instance, quotes have basically doubled in the last year and still joiners are unable to meet demand.

Last year I thought we were insane going to tender with all the supply chain issues. Now I’m very grateful we did.