Help! Is an extension worth it or withdraw house offer?

[Jellybeans00]

We have just put an offer in a house in North Yorkshire. It is a 3-bed detached for £400k. To make it work for our family we would need to add an extension and that was the plan. However, we have just been researching and think we have underestimated how much extensions are now and now doubting that we could afford to do it.

We would be looking at getting a two storey side extension about 3m x 7m. Hoping to get a 4th bedroom and extended kitchen/utility for that. Researching we have found that average may be 2k per square meter, so would be looking at £84k, but I’m assuming that’s not including VAT?

So all in everything, including VAT - would it be £100k or likely more?

Our alternative is to withdraw our offer and go for a 4-bed at £480-500k to get that extra bedroom we need.

We really don’t know what to do. We don’t want to make a costly mistake

+1 for the 4-bed layout. @Pinkdelight3 is spot on regarding the relative costs. I'd only go for the 3-bed if the location was significantly better and I couldn't afford a 4-bed in a nice area.

Thanks @Pinkdelight3 and @ClematisBlue49

I really appreciate your feedback :). I think when I was looking at the floor plans I wasn't sure that the slightly bigger rooms and extra bedroom were 'worth' another £100k. Totally understand that the cost to make it the same as the 4-bed would exceed that though as you have described. To be honest, I don't love either house but I don't think we could afford what we would ideally like in a nice area within our budget. It's hard going for something that doesn't feel fully right. Obviously it makes sense to keep looking for another house but I'm just worried that these are the best we're going to get in a nice area within our budget. Is it always this stressful? I'm losing a lot of sleep 😭😂

Again, really thankful to hear your replies – it is really helpful ❤