Need idiot-proof guide to minutiae of planning an extension and renovation

[Carajajafipisi]

Our plans have been drawn up and submitted, neighbours have been shown the plans and are happy, so not objecting. Awaiting planning permission (fingers crossed) and Building Regs drawings are in the pipeline.

We think we know which builders we will go with, as they are a personal recommendation from a trusted source, we’ve seen their work in an identical house and they have been extremely helpful through the process so far, but will be getting multiple quotes once the BR plans are ready anyway. (They actually advised us to do this themselves.) If all goes to plan (and we do end up going with the builder we prefer so far) the build should hopefully start late August.

It’s the next bit that has me flummoxed. I understand that you get the BR drawings, then the builders quote based on those, but at what point do you start making decisions re which light fittings, plug sockets/light switches, door handles etc you want as surely this affects the cost? Same for which floor finishes, wall tiles, bathroom fittings etc. I have been steadily creating a pinterest board for each room with the options I like, so that I can refer back, but dh is refusing to look at them, saying it’s too early. Imo surely, if you pick these things early, it will help in terms of knowing the cost and not letting the budget get away from you. I’m sure I’ve read that it’s best to have as much nailed down from the off if you can? Ironically dh used to be a project manager, but hated it so retrained!

Our plans are for a single storey extension which will include a new g/f shower room, new kitchen/dining/family room and an additional g/f room which will be an office/spare room. So the build will involve the new extension and some internal reconfiguration. In addition we are having the whole house re-wired, re-plumbed and re-plastered while we are living elsewhere. Oh and a new boiler. The kitchen will be designed, built and fitted by the manufacturers.

We’ve never done a big project before so we’re total newbies. (Last house was a new build, this one is 1930’s.) When we were first discussing whether or not to do this I think I came across an online handbook that sets the process out in simple terms that are easy to follow. I’ve just tried to find it and can only find books with bad reviews.

I would appreciate any advice/experience re the above and/or if there is such a manual/handbook someone can recommend. I did search MN, as I’m sure I recently read a thread with similar questions, but I can’t seem to find that either <hopeless>.

TIA

When we were at building quote stage, I researched and compiled a spreadsheet of all the finishes I wanted to give me a better idea of the overall budget and then could compare like for like from the builders we got quotes from but made sure things like bathroom fitting was on there as they knew the work involved like shower, toilet, basin...but then had a separate budget for the bathroom furniture with each item itemised which I had to stick to based off my preliminary research on how much each item cost roughly. My OH also said I did things too early but it meant that when the builder asked me to order the door handles as he'd be fitting them next week I had a budget and a shortlist that I went through with my OH who was suddenly very grateful for all the research I'd done.

We’re doing the same - or rather I am! I have a huge spreadsheet with all the items we will need to choose and pay for, organised into sections (eg build costs, glazing, flooring and tiling, kitchen (units, worktops, appliances, handles), electrical (lighting, switches, sockets), plumbing (sinks, taps, radiators), doors and handles, painting and wallpaper, furniture etc).

For each item, I start with an estimated cost (usually a guess!) and then once I’ve researched and chosen our preferred item/supplier, it gets added in (description, cost inc VAT and delivery, link to supplier’s website). Sometimes more items get added as a result - eg I realised we need deeper backplates for all the nice flush switches and sockets we want. Same for valves to go with the new radiators, and handles for doors. It’s surprising how much the extras add to the total costs!

My husband also thinks I’m doing this too early, as our extension build won’t be for another 9–12 months. But my view is we need to know now how much it’s all going to cost so we can adjust our plans if needed.

When we get a bit closer to the build, I’ll start adding lead time / order dates so I can make sure the builders have what they need when they need it, and we avoid unnecessary delays. That’s the plan anyway! 😁

@MsShopper thay sounds brillliant. Did you have a template for your spreadsheet or just pull it together yourself?
I think in general you can rough cost things to see how the budget looks before going into detail. Your builder may use a service from one of the big builders merchants that sets out a budget. Depending on how much you want to get involved, it’s possible to cut this coat substantially by shopping around for building materials.

The builder quotes will be using an allowance for items (as they dont know what you are going to pick). For big things like windows, the architect should have specified what is required..so look at you plans and see if anything is specified.

Apart from that, get going, its definitely not too early, most builds get delayed by extended lead times on ordering things/out of stocks

I would recommend you start pulling together actual sinks, tiles, lights etc that you want and save them in a list either by room or by category. Include prices and web links so you can find them again. Then when the builder starts giving you deadlines and budgets, you have somewhere to start.

My strong suggestion is only pick items that are in stock and then order them. If you need a place to store them, get a storage unit close to your house and then keep a detailed spreadsheet of what is ordered, what is shipping, and what is delivered.

When something is delivered, open and inspect it immediately even if you arent installing it for 3 months. If its damaged you want to know right away so you can get a replacement /refund. And the windows for that usually close after 30\60 days

Dont forget you will need to pick doors and skirting boards and knobs and hinges and think about thresholds and putting in blocking where you want to hang curtain rails or towel rails. If you want powered blinds or low voltage lights, the electricians need to know when they are doing the rough layout, if you want a fridge with an ice maker, the plumber needs to know to run a water line. The earlier you can lock this down the better.

I have done 2 self builds and several gut renovations and when you can give the trades print outs of specs when they are walking the job for the first time, they give you better quotes as they know there will be less shilly shallying.

Thank you. You all sound so organised!

It does seem like dh is just being daft and I am going about things the right way. I will transfer the info from my Pinterest boards to a spreadsheet with links to the products and details of lead/delivery times now then.

The architect is specifying windows/external doors, etc. Thankfully it’s a fairly simple design and standard sizes (no fancy huge bi-folds or lanterns to worry about) which helps with lead times and availability. There are a couple of steels involved, but nothing massive, so I’m praying they won’t hold things up too much.

I was getting frustrated yesterday, as there are quite a few really good sales on at the moment and sod’s law would have it that if we don’t buy and store things when we see them, they are bound to be unavailable or twice the price when we need them. Annoyingly, we do have a storage unit, but it’s currently VERY full. We were planning to clear it out ages ago, but we’ve had a hellish few months, so it kept getting bumped down the list. We really need to get onto that now though, as I’m starting to declutter, as we will be moving out while the work is done, although we have a decent quote for whole house-contents storage when we do that.

If we go with the builder we think we will, we have already discussed what we would like in terms of skirting, architrave, new bannisters and doors and agreed that he will source matching reclaimed quarry tiles for the kitchen (I want it all to match the originals) as he has a really good contact for that. It helps that he’s recently done another identical house locally and they also wanted everything in keeping with the original style, so he’s already up on which styles etc we want. I think he’s going to come out mid-range on the quotes, but his experience and the fact that we know people who have used him and have been able to view his work, plus the fact he’s been so helpful, having been round three times already for a chat (and cake) to talk things through and offer advice may swing it for him.

It’s all so overwhelming isn’t it? So many decisions without actually being able to see the space you’re planning for, so having to pray it all goes together like you hope it will. I had read that if you leave it it becomes impossible, having to make hundreds of quick decisions in a hurry. So I’d rather plan, keep control of the cost and make sure we get what we actually want, instead of just what’s available at the time or regretting not properly thinking about things in advance like the flush sockets mentioned by a pp.

Something I found useful to do was to print out the plans and draw lighting circuits on it. Start with light switches, then draw where in the room they should all be controlled from, e.g
do you want to be able to turn them off from two different places? You might want a circuit for lamps, or under-cupboard lights, with top lights or wall lights separately. Easiest to imagine yourself standing in the room, by the door and entering or exiting, and think about how you turn the lights on and off.

Then add sockets to the drawing. As you're having an extension you don't need to abide by the new regs where sockets have to be high up the wall and switches lower than they were traditionally. New builds have to comply with that but not extensions.

I found builders/electricians/plumbers will want you to have thought of things like this, otherwise they'll make decisions for you!

You either need to tell the builders quoting exactly what finishes and fixtures and fittings you want now or you get them to price without them and you buy it all for them to fit/install.

Yes, definitely do your research now about all the details, where to source them, lead times, sales etc. We emerged from a renovation a few months ago!

Get ahead with decision-making. Although we had a Gantt chart from the builders we found that some things needed to be ordered ahead and we'd suddenly get an email asking which door handles we wanted or what paint colours as they'd be doing those next week. Thankfully we'd already made those decisions. Did get caught out by the request for what tile trim we wanted. I'd never even heard of tile trim!

Weigh up buying things on sale now and cost of storing them. We bought our kitchen in Howdens sale then stored it with the builder for 3 months which was still considerably cheaper than buying it later.

Our builder charged 18% on top of materials for sourcing, taking delivery, checking etc. We did save some money by organising the bathroom and tiles direct so not having to pay the 18% BUT it was actually a right pain. One of us had to lurk in freezing cold building site house for most of a morning waiting for the bathroom delivery. As we aren't plumbers etc it was hard to tell that what had been delivered was the correct thing (there were a few problems that needed to be sorted!). And tiles bought on click and collect nearly finished me off. Turns out tiles are very heavy . We organised flooring directly ourselves which meant a few 7am starts at a house we weren't living in to meet fitters whilst juggling work and schoolrun!

Where they've allocated an amount for something in the quote check how realistic it is. The amount for internal doors was spot on, but they'd only allocated £35 PSM for tiles and it turned out a lot of tiles are more expensive than that!

Some very useful things in this thread. The only tips I’d add is that if you are buying materials early to store, make sure they are not an end of line item as you may need more of them at the time. Our builders told us quantities of everything to purchase, and I got all the materials upfront in the sales. The big costs came in when they asked for extras and needed them the next week. It meant I paid premium. Some items were out of stock/discontinued like a particular tile, so it was a stressful search to quickly find a very similar tile or to introduce patterns/borders to reduce the amount we needed

So much useful advice on here, thank you so much.

I have spent most of today doing exactly what @PragmaticWench suggested and walking myself through each room, thinking about exactly where we will need things like plugs and switches and whether they need to be single, double and/or operate multiple lighting points etc. Also listing exactly which skirtings, doors, architraves and picture rails need to be replaced and specifying that they need to match the originals, then typing it all into a spreadsheet ready to add the chosen product/item, supplier, cost and delivery/lead times.

The only room I’m struggling with is the kitchen, as I’m still not 100% sure how to tackle that space. I dislike spotlights, but it has a relatively low ceiling (think quirky cottage) so we may have no other option. I have been trying to look at alternatives that will suite an in frame traditional kitchen style, but haven’t found anything yet. I have all the measurements, but am still finding it hard to visualise the space and as the units are being built to fit the space, rather than being standard kitchen carcass size, that seems to be making it even harder. I know I want a particular style of task lighting above my worktops and how much they will cost to buy, but can’t wrap my head around how many we’ll need and where to have them mounted.

Same with the other end of the kitchen, where the dining area is. The new dining area will have a vaulted ceiling, with velux on the slope and I can’t work out how/where we can possibly hang lighting without resorting to wall lights, which would mess up the interior design plan I have in mind. So many things to think about!

This process is helping me wrap my head around it all a bit better, but I am starting to feel a sense of rising panic and dread as well now.

Dh has been away all week and has commitments all weekend and it’s been like that a lot recently, so we never get chance to go through things together, so I think I might be all a bit too much ‘in my own head’ with it, iyswim.

We have a kitchen with quite low ceilings and we hate spot lights. We looked at some of the dangly lights for a while before realising the ceiling is too low for those to work.

We went for bathroom light fittings in the end and they've worked out really well!

@RidingMyBike Do you mean the flush type ceiling lights? I’ve looked at so many, but nothing seems to fit the space and cottagey style of the room and I’m worried about them not being light enough or casting shadow over the worktops when we’re stood at them.

Not sure how much that matters though, as the task lights we’ve chosen are a bit like vintage/retro mini angle poise (not exactly, but you get the idea - they can be directed wherever you need the light). They can be fitted either to the corners of the ceiling (no wall units so this might work) or perhaps under some open shelving, so perhaps a couple of decent flush ceiling lights as well could work.

The inset spotlights that are in so many kitchens these days seem to trigger my migraines, so I really would like to avoid them if at all possible.

Like this. Ours can fit two bulbs in so they're nice and bright.

https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-miles-led-flush-ceiling-light-white/

Those are very similar to the ones I’ve been looking at. I feel like they may be a bit modern for a traditional cottage kitchen. I have seen some similar very low profile ones with an oak edge, which might work though, as the wood would at least tie in with some aspects of the kitchen.

It’s reassuring to know they work in your kitchen. Thank you.

Great advice. Wish I'd done all of this. Definitely getting a handle on ordering and knowing where you put the deliveries is essential,

@Carajajafipisi
I'm in the process of planning an extension. When you say building regs are in the pipeline. Who did you use for this? And where did you find them? Are you waiting for planning permission first?

@Houseystuff876 Our building reg drawings are being done by the same team that drew up the design plans.

It’s common to wait for planing permission to be approved first, as if there are structural changes you will have to pay to have the drawings changed or possibly a whole new set if there are radical changes.

In our case the design is simple, our architect deals with our local planning department all the time and is as confident as they can be they will be approved, so has started preparing the building reg drawings to save time. They are being done on the basis that we understand they will make small amendments, but any major changes or big structural recalculations will incur a second fee. We’re keen to push ahead as our preferred builder currently has a slot for our build after another family had to pull out of theirs. (Sadly, I suppose that might be starting to happen more and more due to the cost of living crisis.)

@Carajajafipisi How are you getting on with the reno?