£2500 per square metre ;-(

jovite

Dear Forum,

Our 3 bed house has had planning permission for a 26 square meter single storey extension for 12 months. Initially we were given expectation of a rough cost of £32,500 for the complete work including finishes etc.

The work is the remapping of our kitchen area by knocking out the back wall and building out into the garden to create an open plan dining/cooking area. We were also to add a small room next to the extension which was allocated as a fourth (ground floor) bedroom. Further to this there is some internal wall movement to change around a current ground floor toilet space to be a small wet room. It should perhaps be noted that the extension work will use a number of existing walls so we hoped that would reduce costs.

When we received the lowest quote (of a total of 5 contractors) of roughly double this (highest quote was £94,000!!!) we thought these builders are crazy and taking advantage of us so we held off. It may be helpful to add that these prices were excluding VAT!

We are hoping that the credit crunch may be working on our favour here but appreciate materials may be more expensive. Certainly the 2.5% VAT 'holiday' will help but at these prices it's small compensation.

We are located in Shropshire...anyone else out there think these figures are wildly out of place? Can anyone else shed some light as to why our costs may be so high? The prices were a 'finished' job including plastering,electrics,plumbing etc but I still feel this is a unbelieveable price hike and I'd be interested to hear similar stories.

Cheers

Jason_Jain

I've just finished a 25 sq.meter extension - very similar to what you have proposed - for £27,000. This included all interior walls and new ceilings plastered and concrete base ready for a flooring to go down. Electrical work and gas into the new kitchen cost another £2000.

My one bit of advice is to write everything that you would like doing down. If it is not on the plan then it will not be done from the builders point of view.

All the best!

planning_officer

I understood the 'going rate' for building work (for residential extensions) was between £800 and £1300 per sq metre - so if you work on a figure of £1000 per sq metre, you'll have got a decent price.

wallbash

(of a total of 5 contractors)

You did the correct thing, back came 5 independent quotes.

Perhaps that is the price of the job.

jovite

Hi everyone who replied so far. It's very interesting to see how the 'going rate' is perceived isn't it. We also thought that the 'independent' 5 quotes were a good idea but the prices are the sticking point since they are approx twice what we were told by our architect they would be and also double the 'going rate' at approx £1000 per square meter. We've looked at the job and can't imagine the cost as it has been quoted albeit from a layman view. I would, like you, have expected them all to have come in at around the £30,000 mark but two at £60k, one at £72, one at £85 and the highest at £94k was a bit strange. The planning, design, build standards and interior components have all been included in the tender and were written up by our architect so its not like the contractors have had different plans to work to. As a final point it might be important to point out that our architect was as surprised as we were at the quotes which came back since it was our budget and his penmanship which gave us the final design prior to tender. Sorry to labour the point but everything we've seen and read has pointed at £1000 - £1200 per square meter...at these prices were double that at least. I guess it's an academic question since none of you can see our design and/or wish list but suffice to say...it's a modest extension.

robv_3

1000 per sq meter is a guide price for a new build and not extensions. In most areas this is for a very basic self managed so not surprised your prices are coming in higher. It all depends on the final finish qualify how much over this you will go, eg 500 or 5000 kitchen.

The modifications to the internal walls and anything outside of the extension would not be included in the xxxx per sq meter price.

The only way to find out if its the going rate is to get multiple quotes and speak to the builders to get a break down of prices. Most builders will don't like doing this.

jovite

Thanks Robv,

I completely understand your reasoning on the 'kitchen' being the killer price. Our existing kitchen units are being set aside to be used after the work is completed. Our only new item is a sink which we are buying outside of the build cost...they just need to plumb it in. Indeed the fittings for the wet room, radiators, flooring and internal painting are all being sourced and to some degree (in the case of the wet room) being fitted by ourselves to reduce costs. It's getting more strange now isn't it ;-)

Oh and something else. You mentioned the 'self managed' part...well our build is being managed by our architect...and his costs are also outside of that final bill. I know sometimes the architect/contract manager can take a cut of the final build price as his/her fee...in our case we have separated that out.

We have had a breakdown of costs from the sublime (pencil on a fag packet) to the rediculous (full breakdown to the nth degree) and on the face of it you can see where the money is being spent...albeit that the costs are probably twice those that which they should be. The guy we really wanted to use was the most obscure which was frustrating...we are still unclear on his costs. Our architect says the costs are over and above what he expected and puts it down to local market conditions...has anyone else had this problem and been forced to look further afield for a contractor?

My feeling is however that the costs are not very clear and where one builder may charge £15,000 for the new roof, the others have quoted £4,500.....what about windows? well we're sourcing those outside of those costs too...can you believe this?...honestly we're thinking what you are thinking. Maybe we are embroiled in a local monopoly and all of these 'private' contractors actually work for Uncle Paulie III Snr. - we're new to the area ;-)

My original question wasn't so much 'am I getting a raw deal' since we are pretty sure thats the case anyway. Instead it's more - how is the credit crunch affecting this sort of work? I understand new builds and builders are being hit hard - what about extension work?

Cheers to everyone. Happy New Year

robv_3

In the last two months I've seen the number of enquirers drop but still have double the amount of work I could do.

I try and stay clear of re-using old fixings and customer supplied stuff as the costs to me are unknown. Removing a kitchen can be done in half a day, removing it to keep the units will take at least double the time and will take longer to install. Something is going to get damaged and new parts will be needed etc.

When customers supply stuff there is always something missing or its fitting is not straight forward. I either quote to include the extra or the customer gets a higher bill at the end.

Alexei

We're just finishing a similar sized single-storey extension and it does sound like your quotes are on the high side. We're in Hampshire and are having a 15 sq m garage, with a 15 sq m kitchen extension and cloakroom, all with a pitched roof, along the side of the existing house. Our total cost is £32k + VAT - and that includes a new boiler, electrics, plumbing, drainage, tiling, plastering, supplying and fitting door/windows/new kitchen units and cloakroom fittings, and a new block-paved driveway! The garage will be a little cheaper (no cavity walls) but I still can't see why your quotes are twice as high.

In our case, the builder is managing the project and sub-contracting to complete the extension, there is no architect involvement beyond the initial drawings.

The builders that quoted for us were all still busy (people extending instead of moving?) but that was in the summer before the crunch really started to bite. I can't help thinking that if people continue to have difficulty getting loans, the work will dry up sooner or later and prices will come down.

jovite

Hi Alexei, Thats more like it ;-) I was hoping that I wasn't going mad lol. Their prices ARE extreme and I feel we are being taken for a bit of a ride. Certainly your pricing looks more accurate. Many thanks - keep the feedback coming?

steve-a-builder

We price extensions at approx £1100 per sq metre, this price covers plastering , windows (white pvc), electrics (regular sockets) ,plumbing services to sink area. However a fitted kitchen would cost approx £1000-£1500 to fit but would never recommend trying to refit an old kitchen after all this will be the focal point of new extension and will never really fit and look like a quality installation. Without looking at plans and specs its quite hard to give advise however maybe its worth getting the extension priced separate from internal finishing etc ...