Extension costs so varied…

[Jessforless]

We are having work done and it was all booked in for early next year with a builder and for various reasons we lost him. Not either of our faults.

Had a bunch of recommended people come over and got all new quotes. It is so hard, for exactly the same job they range from 120 to 290! How on Earth can that be a thing.

we actually really like the builder who has given the lowest quote (and couldn’t possibly afford the highest one!) but is this like buying a cot mattress, are you supposed to go somewhere in the middle?

We will never be able to afford anything like this again and it’s been a really bumpy road so far, I’m terrified of making a mistake but don’t want to just throw money away if we don’t have to.

would love some advice on how to make this decision. At face value they’re all recommended, they are all covering the same work from the same structural drawings and they’re all nice! But can we just choose the cheap one? Seems like a mistake somehow.

My dad was a builder. He said that if he didn’t want a job, because he had plenty of work, he’d over price it. Usually he wouldn’t get the job, but if he did it was financially worth doing.
‘Don’t worry about taking the cheap quote.

We took the cheapest quote.
Builder had been recommended to us by someone I knew well who had used him a few times so we thought it was ok. Ended up not finishing the job and we had to pay someone else to. Luckily we could afford this and we had also paid in instalments with an agreement we would pay the final 10% only after satisfactory completion. Make sure they are not underpricing to get the job and extra costs will be added after when you have a half built extension. ALWAYS have a realistic contingency.

I like our house now but it was a pretty miserable experience which I wouldn’t wish on anyone else.

they are all covering the same work from the same structural drawings

If they are only going off structural drawings and not a detailed spec of work, there is a huge variance in what level of work they may be assuming.

Eg one builder may be assuming all pipes are chased into the wall (much more £) and another may be assuming they run along the wall and get boxed in. One builder may be assuming cheap laminate and another engineered wood. One builder may be assuming top end insulation and another the minimum required. One may assume 1 socket and one central light fitting per room and another 4 sockets and downlighting and wall lamps. Etc etc.

When we had quotes there was one cheapest by far, when asking more closely he clearly was intending a lower level of finish (eg referred to PVC windows whereas we wanted wood and all other builders had assumed wood).

Thank you.

In terms of contingency the original builder was 200 so we would be okay if costs ended up rising.

They’re not just going from structural drawings, they’ve all visited and we’ve had them all quote to a plaster finish, with us sorting decoration and flooring, tiles etc ourselves, fitting the kitchen but just leaving the bathroom plumbed but not fitted. And us providing garden doors, windows and kitchen.

The number of lights and sockets do vary from quote to quote but not dramatically.

Ah ok so less scope for variation if fittings/finishes not included

If they have gone to the effort of preparing a detailed quote then I doubt they are overpricing as they don’t really want the work as a pp suggested. It’s a lot of time invested for a job they don’t want. So I would be more inclined to suspect the lower ones are underpriced.

Have you spoken to previous clients? They should all be willing to give you a couple of people to call - obviously they will choose their happiest customers but at least you can ask if costs went way over, how was the level of finish etc.

Have they all done lots of this sort of work before? If not then their costings may be off.

How big is the extension, single or double storey?

Single.