Support thread for those crazy enough to be extending their homes this year!

[ilikeyoursleeves]

Hiya, after hijacking another thread about massive extensions (not massive erections LOL) there seems to be a few of us who are about to embark on building projects this year. So if you are one of them come join in so we can share all the excitement, nervousness and bewilderment at everything that needs done!

We are currently awaiting quotes from builders for a two storey side extension plus a single storey at the rear. We had our first quote in today which is £64k. Not sure if this is good or bad, it will be interesting to compare the quotes when they are all in. We are also awaiting planning permission but should get it fine as our house already has planning for the extension that came with the sale of the house (but we had to resubmit as we have changed it a bit). Awaiting a building warrant too.

I'm very excited but frankly crapping it re the costs as we are going to have to remortgage plus DS2 will start nursery so we will have 2 lots of chilcare costs too.

ARGH!!!

So I for one need my hand held throughout all this process I just keep thinking of the end product and hoping it will all be fine.

What's everyone else doing and when?

ilikeyoursleeves- I meant holding back some of the payment at the end perhaps deferring it for x months after the job has been finsished

If the builder is worth his salt he ought to agree a retention by you of between 5% and 10% (depending on the total build cost) and will come and snag the build with you after a period, correcting any agreed defects/problems..after which you relaease the retention. Negotiate it with the builder, ideally make it a term of the contract.

Sigh, the kitchen man called this morning and our quote is £3.5k above our budget, excluding VAT. Still waiting for the builder to come back to us (and the plumber with the underfloor heating price) so don't know what kind of economies will have to be made. One thing we could cut back on is appliances as we specified Miele and we actually have a perfectly functional Neff oven and combination grill which we could reuse so that's nearly £2.5k saved already!

TDiddy I hadn't realised that you could do a retention payment with builders. I will certainly ask about that although our builder is a very good friend.

sleeves - Your ensuite sounds LOVELY . We aren't getting one in our build. We might get a new bathroom soon or after the extension, will see how the money pans out.

annh - Thats a real bummer about the kitchen coming in so much over budget .

We went to get our kitchen designed today with Howdens. I was pleasantly surprised, with appliances, we've come in £2k under budget . I thought I would have had expensive taste but apparently I have middle of the road / cheap taste. Not sure what that says about me . I'm hoping that freeing up that much means we can seriously consider UFH which is my next thing to start researching.

Rebl, wow £2k under is a lot! Well done you. Do you pay 'designers' ie the kitchen designer or is that all part of the service if you are buying there? The reason I ask is I'm wondering if the same thing applies to bathroom designers- do you think someone could design me a luverly ensuite but I could then get someone (ie BIL with his trade account) to buy it from somewhere else?

Annh, nightmare about the cost of your kitchen! My mate has just had a quote for her new kitchen and it's about £10k after a 70% discount OMG!

Scary how much things cost isn't it. I have absolutely no idea what our internal stuff like flooring, furniture, blinds, painting, bathroom etc will cost. I have tried to estimate but forgot about installation costs. Argh.

Like this post. We are just getting prices back now and the difference is ridiculous from 70 to 120k!!!

It's a large two storey with alot of remodelling to the old part but it's hard to tell who's best to go with.

We've decided the recommendation from a friend who has just had her extension done, if the builder did a good job for her I think that's a pretty good reference. He also happens to be the cheapest.

Hi ebaxter what are you getting done in your 2 storey? We are getting a 2 storey side extension too plus a single storey at the back, we are just getting quotes in at the mo too and waiting for planning to go through.

We aren't even at the quotes stage, architect has come back with a rough plan, we are still debating the kitchen issue.

He roughly said with what we want done about 41K but I think double that all in all. DP keeps having wobbles and thinking about moving.

As I am 4 weeks away from having another baby cannot think about it just now.

sleeves - The designer with Howdens is part of the service and you can only buy from Howdens if you have a trade account, so you need to make sure your fitter / builder has an account with them. I guess their bathrooms are the same setup. You need to call and make an appointment (they told me you didn't when I rang and when we just turned up we were told we did need an appointment).

ebaxter Your quotes are a big range, ours were as well. We also have gone with the cheapest but very good family friend and work is outstanding so we're confident in him.

I'm now very over excited . Just checked on the council website and it says application approved . We have planning permission with no problems what so ever . I'm going to bed very very happy tonight.

Excellent news rebl

ebaxter our quotes are quite a range too. The cheapest one is from builders recommended by friends but has very little detail on it, and I'm wondering how much that matters.

We're still struggling with the whole concept of costs really as everyone says however much you budget it always goes over, and since the building quotes are so big, how we're ever going to finish it with kitchen, decorating etc I don't know. It might be time for a major rethink, or at least working through again to see when we can compromise

Isn't that a great moment? Congratulations Rebl!!

Thanks, TD, I'm sure you're right. We're away this week, but will discuss on return. Sensible to have something written, always, you're right - do really trust our builder, and known him a long time, but clarity of written word is good.

Oh Rebl congratulations!!!!!

That's fantastic! When was the deadline for your application? Our's is the 30th April so hopefully not long til we hear either.

What's your next step then?

See when you are getting quotes in? Are they all detailed specifying everything that's included or are they more vague? The guy we want to go with has only told us his quote over the phone and roughly what it includes, will we then need to meet him and get it all down in writing re exactly what's included?

Our decision date was 12th April so its come in a few days early.

We've had 1 page detailed quotes from all the builders we've seen. We are now about to get a very detailed breakdown from the builder we're going with.

Our next step has started. The building regulations application went in last Thursday.

We've started getting details sorted on things like heating, flooring, kitchen etc.

The other rather LARGE required step is DH to get a job. He's still not managed to find a job after being made redundant in February. Hopefully the 3 interviews he's got coming up in the next fortnight will result in an offer.

Rebl, congrats on getting the planning permission - and with no hassle! On top of the kitchen price today, the plumber has emailed us the cost of the ufh (didn't even realise he had our email address so was waiting for a letter). For just the kitchen, existing and new bit, it is £3.3k! Holy cow! Just waiting for the builder to get back to us now with another over-budget quote to complete the set! Not going to think about it until then. DH is a great one for digging out extra bits of money from somewhere but we really have to decide how much this kitchen is actually worth to us, rather than just pouring money into it.

Well done Rebl great news!!

Is everyone working from detailed plans, or is anyone just working on a Builder's Notice? The reason I ask is because we had a draftsman come round yesterday but he is only doing the plans to get through planning. He says that the builder we've chosen (who built extension on our current house before, only not when we owned it) is very competent and able to work from a Builder's Notice and we'd save time and money doing it that way.

Or is it a giant gamble that's not even worth contemplating?

Hi, Ilikeyoursleeves, our two storey ext is 6x5m downstairs is a lounge (retaining wall required as we are extending a bungalow). The upstairs is our master bedroom with an ensuite.

We are also having a small utility room next to the two storey plus a small extension to the front for a porch and bathroom and a side extension to add some width to the room we are stealing space for for stairs!

On top of all this we are having it re wired, re plumbed and re roofed - so almost a new house really except for the original walls - I hope

We are moving out as the house will just be a total mess for a while, was so exited and now we're almost ready to appoint builder I'm a little nervous too.

I think things must be different in England- is building regs an English thing? I'm in Scotland and we have to get a building warrant, not sure if it's the same thing? We are applying for PP & the BW at the same time so will hopefully hear about both in a few weeks time. Not sure what a builders notice is?????

rebl good luck for your DH getting a new job, how stressful for you all!

annh what type of UFH have you been quoted for? Electrical or one joined to the boiler? I think one of them is far cheaper tho not quite sure what type.

ebaxter lucky you moving out during the build, we will be here the whole time (inc a baby and toddler!)

Sleeves, our quote was for gas ufh, joined to our existing boiler. Yes, I believe it would be cheaper to get the electric type of ufh but then the running costs are much higher?

whoami we're working from detailed plans.

sleeves I'm not sure if things are different in England than scotland. We've applied and got planning permission and now we've applied for building regulations which is with the building control officer (thats my understanding which can be totally wrong!).

annh Thats what we thought. We need to get a quote for both types I think. But considering we're getting a new boiler it might work out cheaper anyway with the plumbing type one. I'm not sure.

whoami we're also working from detailed plans but that because we're having lots of steel work and they need that level of detail. Also we hadn't (or haven't) decided on a builder yet, so we sent buildings drawings to our 4 shortlisted builders and are waiting for quotes back from them.

ebaxter totally understand your nerves. We're also having a new roof, and complete new boiler/heating system so are going to move out too for the worst part of it.

"EX VAT" is code for the builder wanting cash payments

Hello all sorry have been away for a bit loads going on with everyone here how exciting!

We got our planning persmission (finally!) so architect is drawing up building regs plans. Builder says he could start on a building notice but as we know f all about building we want it down in black and white what he is supposed to do IYSWIM. Also so that he doesn't end up talking us into changing things so they are easier for him but not quite what we want.

Anyways I have a quote for the party wall stuff and it's hundreds of pounds! I looked on the website for RICS and it says that all you actually have to do is give notice that you want to build and the neuighbours have to say yes in writing and that's it job done. Now I know the neighbours are going to say yes so what I'm thinking is I'll just do it myself. Does that sound nuts?

Also agog at the quotes people are getting! We are looking at so so much more and I wonder why

RICS party wall info here if anyone is interested