Surrey Building costs

[Floyd45]

I am living in the 80's or I am right to be shocked at being quoted £50K for a 6 metre square extension? This price excludes VAT and doesn't include the cost of the flooring and the utility room furniture. It also doesn't include the £10K it has cost for plans and planning permission?! It's the first quote I have received so I am hoping the other two might be more realistic......When we did building work 20 years ago the same project cost my £5K (and we were in London at the time).

sounds about right to me

oh and if that’s your quote
final spend will be more

I was quoted double that for 7 by 3.
You'll be lucky to get 3 quotes and have them turn up.

If you voted for Brexit you basically asked the cheap builders to leave. They charge what they like now and don't take work because they don't have to.

@Floyd45

When we did building work 20 years ago the same project cost my £5K (and we were in London at the time)

doubt it

unless you’re needing a new extension because the £5k blew down

you did an extension in 2004 for £5k?! i think the passage of time has somewhat distorted that figure op

@paprikaforever you may mock but it really did cost that much - I just dug out the old paperwork in the garage and looked to check I wasn't losing my mind. I also had a loft conversion done too and that cost £25K all in. Even though we don't live there anymore I'm pretty sure it's all still intact - I drive by the street on my way to work so I would have noticed 😂.

@chocolatecoveredpeanut I totally agree that I will be lucky to actually get 3 quotes - I've been ghosted before by tradesmen so not holding out too much hope. Still trying to find a roofer to fix a tile on my roof that came down in a storm.

I was hoping someone would say this is an insane price but it's probably the cost of living in the southeast. I'm from up north and you could almost buy a house for the cost of this poxy extension once it's been fitted out.

screen shot this document which shows you got an extension in 2004 for £5k! 😆

can you feed a family of 6 for a week with one chicken breast by chance?

from the north but you lived in london for decades? so in guessing used to prices

Since when did £60k for 6m2 ……ten grand a m2 sound about right ?

Op they are taking the piss.

@diyextension I know right? Its just sounds ludicrous. I get that there are some fixed costs that are going to be similar whether you build 6 metres or 60 metres but £10K a metre square excluding the costs of the actual units feels like a piss take.

Been pricing similar up recently and costs have risen massively but that still seems really high.

We had a 12 sq m extension last year replacing a conservatory, inc new foundations for £72k inc VAT, to first fix, not including planning, etc. In Surrey.

@notafraidofthebigbadwolf that's still expensive but much more in line with what I would expect. My job only involves building 2 walls as we are filling in an existing covered porch....so no need to even do the roof apart from add some insulation as it already exists. The plumbing is also very easy. Hopefully we get a couple more quotes that are more reasonable. I think that sometimes they just don't want the work round here because they would rather do a bigger project and there's a lot of demand.

so presumably £100k and you had all your existing appliances?

Roughly, yes. We replastered the existing adjacent room area too and redid the whole floor over both areas, etc, new kitchen. A little under £100k I'd say, but perhaps £100k exactly with planning, etc.

and didn’t include any of the white goods, oven, hob?

OP…. is the extension just going to be a utility area or include kitchen too?

Not including white goods, we reused old ones.

OP’s quote not looking quite so shocking in comparison…

Hi, OP -

Your initial costs for planning etc, together with your estimate for a 6m x 6m extension gives a cost of £1,666/sq m. Bad, particularly compared to @notafraidofthebigbadwolf who paid under £700/sq m, but not £10K/sq m as you said yesterday at 17.19!

I mean this to provide a small bit of solace; arithmetic mistakes are the easiest the thing in the world to make and nothing to get excited about.

Think you need to re read the original post …. Op says six m2. Not 36m2. That 6x6. Would be …………i dont think anyone would be shocked at 60k for a 36m2 extension.

I was quoted £60k and £75k for a 15sqm extension last year- to builder's finish, including a shower/loo room (and all its fittings). In Surrey.

I can recommend a good roofer, if you want to DM me. I used him to do the roof on the extension, after I decided to do the whole thing myself! (brought it in for £30k, finished, which I'm very chuffed with).

I took it to mean 6 m x 6 m, is that not correct? I am not British.

If the area is eg
3 m x 2m, I would write ‘6 square metres’ or
‘6 m^2’ with a superscript rather than ‘6 metre square’ in the singular. The latter is ambiguous at best. As OP and you say, it is outlandish.

I am not sure on price - given that two walls and some kind of roof already exist, £1,666/m^2 already seems on the high side. It’s Surrey, not Kensington

Hi @shodan a roofer recommendation would be fantastic!

@poetryandwine the extension measures 2.4 metres by 2.3 (internally) so 6 square metres in area.

Quick update - the other 2 builders have come back to me with and I have quotes for £27K inclusive of VAT and £25K plus VAT which is the sort of price I was originally expecting. I think the first builder probably didn't really want the work.

Those quotes sound much better! Keen for any recommendations too…