Extension thread 2022 part III.. celebrations, crises and will it be finished for Christmas?!

[NewHouseNewMe]

3rd thread of 2022 - can't believe I'm still here!

Our biggest overrun at the moment was the roof and the joists in other places - it also set us back the longest I think grrr

That sounds odd @LivingInaBuildingSite

Will the builders speak to the glass people?

I thought I should come back and update. We had a double garage conversion from September to December that included reconfiguring the connecting room. We now have a large family room.
We had our Handmade kitchen of Christchurch delivered last month and it is beautiful! The quality is insane and even the tradesman have commented on it.
It's mostly fitted now and we are awaiting worktops. We are oiling/painting ourselves and we should be finished in a couple of weeks. It's a hard slog but the funds are gone.
Having been through a large project previously this was a breeze. All of our trades have been excellent. There's been a couple of hiccups as with all work but we have had good people who seem to care.

I still check in and follow your progress and I hope you all see the end in sight and get to enjoy your lovely homes.

@Baxdream it is lovely to hear about a job that is close to completion, it gives me hope! I haven’t been active here as we are still in the planning stages but I have been reading about everyone’s experiences. Unfortunately we are at a bump in the road (despite not even starting yet!). We have received quotes for the job and they are all waaaaay more than our budget. We have been working with an architect for a year now and, whilst they did warn us about price increases, it just seems like such a waste of time with quotes at double the figure we started with. We are hoping to do a kitchen extension and whole house renovation.

This is just a rant really, but if anyone has found themselves in a similar situation and managed to shave the work down to a manageable price please let me know. That’s our only option now, or the lottery!!

Funnily enough we had a similar experience. We had plans to do a double storey and the quotes were huge due to the increases!
We ended up just converting the garage as above. Thankfully we have enough bedrooms so it was more to get the nice master suite so I don't feel sad about it.

Is there any way you can simplify or do it in stages?

@Baxdream , any pics?

Good to hear others are nearing the end too! We are hoping to move in before the end of March - have given builder ultimatum as we can't afford rent and mortgage together beyond that. It looks like the timing will be tight as there have been problems with the UFH installation although builder seems to have pulled out all the stops since.

Budget wise it's ended up about double the initial quote, which isn't surprising as that was very outline and didn't include some thing we specified later or the bits we're organising ourselves. We're probably about 5% above the total we first worked out, taking that into account but I think the builder priced bearing probable increases in mind and we only waited six weeks from detailed quote to work starting.

@Baxdream would love to see pics! Congratulations being so nearly finished.

Budget creep is real! We are walking back on some of our top end spec decisions and will have to borrow more (initially hoped to do it all with cash). And am challenging the builders recent estimate on a number of fronts. But am not at point of regret yet!

Sorry I'm not putting photos up . Not sure why but it makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Totally understand Bax. Glad you are through the other side now.

@HopelessOptimistism , we were similar in that we initally had plans drawn up for rear extension, left conversion and internal renovation. The loft conversion was very “glassy” (read:expensive) and in the end we dropped that bit out as prices were increasing, and it was just a ‘nice to have’ rather than essential. Our initial maximum spend for everything has been consumed by the rear extension and renovations, and we didn’t get everything we wanted eg UFH, but we did manage to keep enough over for landscaping the rear, which I’m glad of as the garden got destroyed 😬.

Ours will come in about 30% over the initial quote (as long as we don't get anymore surprises) but 20% of that was the roof (new joists) and new floor joists to the back of the house.

We had a fixed price contract so nothing went up in price - it's just all additional stuff that was uncovered along the way and unfortunately there was a lot along the way!

We are being plastered atm, with a view to having the kitchen fitted next week. We won’t have time to paint before, as we had hoped, but it was either take this slot or wait until april. Very excited!

Feel like getting plastered myself! :P

How is everyone doing? Next week is a big week here, extension will actually start getting built, woo hoo. Electric and plumbing first fixes in main house also starting and the mammoth wallpaper stripping continues.

I am choosing more finishes and deciding on outside paving slabs tomorrow.

One thing that is proving complicated is we are going for quite a bit of smart tech and our electrician is struggling to get his head around it to even price it. It’s delayed the wiring and caused tensions.

What smart tech are you going for @Littlessweepy my husband had the house networked and as the electrician put it "more sockets than the 3 flats he was doing".

A system of everything being able to be programmed and controlled via iPad type things, lighting scenes, music, CCTV, video doorbell, central heating room by room, networked tvs etc, wired WiFi boosters for each room…. I don’t really understand it!

We have the windows in and the back doors. Not the roof lights yet - apparently that is last. I really don't like the back doors but everyone else does. At this moment in time, I will live with them for the sake of just getting back in by April given I'm the only one who doesn't like them and maybe once more is in, I will be more keen on them.

Also one of the planning conditions was painting the back white. I wanted to challenge this as the London brick is so beautiful and our neighbours (terrace) are not painted. Was told by the architect that we couldn't push back so we ordered all the windows in white. Now the extension is done, architect and builders say no way do you want to paint this brick, it's so beautiful (no shit Sherlock) so they want to have a word with the planners and I'm sure the planners will agree but fgs, I would have considered different colours for the back door potentially as now the white is really stark. Stupid things like this really wind me up!

We are on second fix electrics and joinery. Not complicated electrics though - we've even asked for a basic wired doorbell! The joinery seems to be taking a while as we've had replacement stairs and banisters put in. Internal doors are now mostly in and first coats of paint done.

UFH is in and the screed down and dry. No ASHP yet though! Solar panels in and roof repairs done so the scaffolding is down.

So the end is in sight but it's going to be tight as working days left are going down rapidly as we have a fixed move in date coming up.

Our kitchen is in now and we are currently trying to pin down an installation date for flooring. Second fix electrics started today, and joinery will be next. And we have started painting but it’s going to take ages 😩. Hoping the outside render will be finished this week, as it’s only another few weeks before the landscaper comes to make a start on the back garden. Definitely feels like we are on the home straight now.

@SheriffCallie how do you feel about the kitchen, do you love it? Are you painting the kitchen units etc?

@RidingMyBike when’s your move in date again? Mine has just slipped 3 weeks to mid July 🙄

@SpotOnMyBot sounds like a palaver, odd that planners would insist original bricks be painted in the first place. Aren’t they usually all for and about preserving character? What don’t you like about the doors? Is it just colour, if so are they timber and can be painted?

Picked my paving slabs and hope I don’t regret sandstone choice. I want a natural and not too modern material but I know they do get algae etc. there weren’t many good options.

End of March. It was originally ideally end of Jan but more realistically February so we pushed the budget to cover to end Feb (we're in rental). We've pushed it to the absolute limit to stay in rental for March so have told the builder we're moving in no matter what!

It's amazing the progress that's been made since then...

I will keep that trick up my sleeve, it’s eye watering how much an extra month out house is - also renting.

@Littlessweepy , we love it. We chose different accents than the same design in the showroom, so weren’t sure what it would look like in real life. But it’s fabulous. It’s not painted, it’s walls and ceilings we are tackling. I’m not sure I’d trust myself to hand paint a kitchen.

I think there has been a mess-up with measurements along the way, not sure if builder or kitchen designer at fault. Our island placement (with breakfast bar) extends a little further into the dining space than we’d planned, and since we bought a wide table and chairs, it’s tighter for space than I’d like. It couldn’t be altered when we realised, as the vent for the downdraft extractor on the island hob goes under the concrete floor. We will see it with the table in place, and decide what to do. We can either live with it until we buy a narrower table and chairs, or we can move the dining area into the snug of the open plan space. It’s irritating, but not tragic.

The electricians called in today to do some connections to give us power in the extension. On a Saturday! I was v impressed.

@SpotOnMyBot , that’s really frustrating about the window colour. As Sweepy asked, can they be painted? Or they may grow on you? Our windows weren’t the ones we chose, but I now think they look fine.

We are also aiming 1 April but I can see we are massively behind

Went round on Saturday as the garden fence was meant to be done. Spoke to the guys, they promised to finish by lunchtime, we left and came back at 4pm and they had not done a thing and clearly left after we did.

Electrics and plumbing are meant to be first fix but they definitely aren't. Dp is absolutely furious. We have no choice but to be back in 1 April - and at that point it will be us plus 3 of the kids plus the dog so it won't be easy.

He is asking for a crisis meeting this week as there really is no reason why it's not moving on. All the bathrooms are there, the radiators are there - the boiler is there but not installed - everything is ready, just seems they aren't!

@Littlessweepy @sheriff original back of house was white, I think that's why but we volunteered to remove the paint (as we were doing at the front). I won't make any decisions till we're in as maybe I can't see the wood for the trees in the mess! I think I'm just super frustrated

@SheriffCallie so exciting about the kitchen. Does the bit jutting out look too far in to you?

@Littlemissweepy we've also picked sandstone. I just like the lighter colour at the back (north facing)

Sending good luck vibes to those still in the midst of it all, esp when renting too.

I haven’t posted in a while, the patio railing glass arrived but was mostly faulty, I handed it over to the boss builder to deal with. 7/10 glass panels are being remade. Waiting on a delivery date for them.

we’ve spent hours on demolishing the old rotten shed, despite being rotten it’s still a bugger to get rid of!

lots has gone into the final skip, more will have to go in the car to the tip I think, maybe next weekend when my brothers are coming to visit.
then hopefully moving the trampoline onto the concrete slab, after that I’m going to Google how to rescue the lawn!

To Do List:

The original old sash window halfway up the stairs - all done, balanced and painted around inside and out ✅

Security cameras - have a new number to contact

Patio glass balustrade - just waiting for glass to arrive, again! and be installed

Downstairs loo: pick a mirror. Long bare walls atm - thinking maybe a large wallpaper sort of mural thing?

I keep adding bits
Including:
Broken tile in upstairs bathroom to be repaired

Broken edge of tile in kitchen to be repaired

couple of broken kitchen bits/edges of shelves type thing
downstairs loo seat seems to have come loose Fixed ✅

door seal of bifold door is loose Fixed ✅

touching up edges of storage area once builders have moved their stuff out Done ✅

tidying up random piles of crap in the back garden - old bits of tiles mostly I think Done ✅

Deep clean post build, need to find a company - have a recommendation,not contacted yet, may wait until an unknown point in the future!