Extensions - what sort of price are they and how long does it take?

[KirstyJC]

Hello all! Dh and I are looking to move house soon, and are finding that we can't afford the size house we want in the area we want. (Not that we are surprised by that!).

So, we are thinking about getting a place with scope to extend, with a view to adding more bits over the coming years.

What I wondered was, what sort of costs and timescales would be involved? Has anyone here done any extension work, and could give us an idea?

We are wondering about the costs of:

a) loft extension for 1 bedroom plus showeroom,
b) single height 1 room downstairs extension or
c) double height 2 room (1 on each floor) extension.

Obviously we understand that the cost would vary lots depending on where and what we want, but if anyone could give us a ball-park figure that would be very helpful!

Many thanks!

I can only say what I have been quoted for our extension which will be a 2 storey side extension, adding on a downstairs loo, utility room, dining / living room, plus an upstairs master bedroom and en suite. We had a builder give us a very rough quote of £55ish K exc VAT for the shell, electrics, plumbing etc (he said everything excluding sanitaryware).

Our architect also reckons about 70-80k all in. So we are thinking it will all be at least 80K.

Argh. That's not even including new boiler, moving the electric meter, knocking down garage, decorating, landscaping etc.

AAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHH. Good luck with it all!

The general ball mark is £1k per square meter. So if you are planning 10 square meters of space it would be £10k. If you plan on doing 2 floors 10 square meters on each floor it would be £20k. It may be more it may be less as you said it depends on area but also builder too..

Also ahving 2 storey side extension which will add a new family room, new bedroom, utility and bathroom.

Building costs to include plumbing, electrics is just under £50k.

Obviously the price from there varies widly depending on what you are putting inside. We'll need a new kitchen, new bathroom suite, redecoration throughout. Sky's the limit on this sort of stuff. Our kitchen will be around £5k for units and fitting. My friend spent nearly £25k on hers - but she has all the bells and whistles (integrated wine cooler anyone?)

We are in the North so here it is around £1k per square metre for single storey. That is for the basic shell so anything extra ie if you are doing a kitchen you will have to consider.

We are hoping to move and convert one half of a double garage that is attached to the house, so the cost of knock through from the main house, flooring, plastering, skirting, replacing garage door with window, putting in radiator, electrics and a lick of paint is approx £8k.

You need to think about where water and drains are too in case you need new ones or can drain into existing ones. My mate paid and extra £4k to move mains drains further down her garden so she could build her kitchen extension.