Planning an extension - where to begin?

Allan87

The plan is for a 2-storey extension on to the side of the house, planning permission is clearly a must but how do you go about this?

CKdesigner

Hi

I think the first step would be call a few Architects in your area to ask them to quote for providing plans that could be submited for planning permission. You would probably need to call a few Architects to see who you feel comfortable with or have any friends, neighbours or relatives had an extention and could recommend their Architect?

Good luck

CK

keith969

Had a two storey extension done on the previous house some years ago. We got a friend who is an architect to draw up the plans, he submitted them for PP approval to the local council. Then we got some quotes from builders, picked one, had the work done, had the building regs people round to approve it.

Allan87

keith969 wrote: »

Had a two storey extension done on the previous house some years ago. We got a friend who is an architect to draw up the plans, he submitted them for PP approval to the local council. Then we got some quotes from builders, picked one, had the work done, had the building regs people round to approve it.

May I ask what price range that came in at as I've been quoted at around 20-25k

Darkstar

I have been quoted 17K to 45K but that means nothing as you don't know what I am after any more than I know your requirements.

There are various numbers bouncing about along the lines of £1K to £1.5K per square meter for a single story and then add an extra £0.7K to £1K for a second story. The main cost is getting out of the ground and a small extension will cost more than a large per meter square due to economies of scale. So if you need a small extension 10 to 20 square meters then look to the high side of my figures. This is just build cost and there are a lot of other costs, architect £1K to £2K plus, planning and building regs, etc.

Have fun, as I am not with all the ups and downs.

keith969

Allan87 wrote: »

May I ask what price range that came in at as I've been quoted at around 20-25k

It was around £20K IIRC, but that was in 1993!

Older_but_not_wiser_2

Just had a 2 storey extenson done and the build cost was £29,500. On top of that we had a new kitchen, and bathroom fitted as well, total cost in the end was £44,000.

It all depends on what fixtures and fittings you will need after the initial build stage has been done.

First step is the architect, who will probably submit the plans to the planning dept. for you, then get some quotes from builders (preferably someone who has been recommended to you by someone), then you get your plans approved and a building warrant, then build, then completion certificate.
2 storey extension - DONE.

p.s. this was my experience in Scotland, maybe English planning is a bit different, but expect them to take forever to get your planning application through.

Bikertov

I'd say that the first step is what do you actually want the extension for ?

It sounds silly, but you need to decide what your detailed requirements are - eg an extra bedroom (single, double) bathroom, toilet etc. Also, how much space will you have, so will it all fit in

Make a priority list of the features, because you may not have the space or the money to do everything, so you need to decide what is your 'wish list' in order of priority.

Only when you have an idea of what you are trying to achieve should you then go to an architect.

waveyjane

Having just come to the end (almost) of having a single-storey rear extension built on my terraced house here in London, here are my tips, for what they are worth:

1. Architects: Unless you want to do something "arty" you do not need an actual architect (which is a designated profession, like "doctor" or "QC", and they charge appropriately). We used a "designer" - that is, somebody who knows enough about general building practice and (crucially) can draw plans to the correct level of detail for builders and the council. We basically told him what we wanted to do and used him as a sounding board. It was useful to the extent that he could point out things we might not have considered, but we decided what the layout was going to be, etc.

2. Specification: Together with the designer, we put together two documents: detailed drawings, and a detailed "schedule of works" (aka specification) which spelled out absolutely everything we could think of, from site clearance and demolition (stuff like "Existing door to toilet, shower unit, existing brick partition wall, and existing toilet bowl, cistern and hand basin to be removed to disposal. Isolate and strip out all redundant plumbing. NOTE: Supply to existing external garden tap to be noted as this will require re-installation on new external wall (see 14.2.5)" to fixtures and fittings (like "Supply and fit new timber Taurus (or similar style) skirting board to all walls to match existing living room area."). It ran to over 10 pages in the end.

3. Council: Once we had the drawings and specs, we made a "full plans application" to the council buildings regulations office. That took about 12 weeks to get complete approval because they came back with a couple of amends and can't move faster than about three weeks on anything. Note that we didn't need planning permission for the work as it was within "permitted rights" but you need to check that by reading the rules on the council website (which are damn confusing). If you plan to sell the house any time soon, it might be an idea to apply for a "certificate of lawful use" though, just to prove that what you built was within rights and didn't need planning permission.

4. Party walls: We buttered up the neighbours about a year before we started building, discussed the plans with them at length, got them to meet the designer, etc. We then served party wall notices to them about two months before we started building, and got their approval to do party wall stuff BEFORE we go going with any construction work. BTW we did the notices ourselves - you don't need lawyers as it's a piece of !!!!. Just Google for "party wall notice."

5. Builders: With the drawings approved by buildings regs, and when we were happy with all the details in the specs, we started talking to builders. We got them to look at the house, showed them the spec, had a good old chat (some made some suggestions) and got to know them. We then asked them for a fixed quote against the spec, and for at least three phone numbers of previous clients we could talk to. Not surprisingly, most ran a mile, but the ones that didn't (three of them) gave us quotes between £30K and £45K. After calling their references and asking detailed questions to make sure they weren't fake, we picked the one that we thought we could work with (a nice bunch called 1st Choice Extensions Ltd.). They were FMB members, for what it's worth but we didn't pay much attention to that.

6. Contract: Having chosen the builder, we gave them a contract to sign. This was the FMB "Domestic contract for minor building work" - it's free and pretty easy to fill out. We sat down with them and read it all through to make sure we both understood it. They were quite willing to sign because it protects them from us screwing them about as much as anything else. One of the things it also allowed for is for us to retain a percentage of the payments (we agreed on 5%) for 6 months to fix anything that goes wrong after they finish up, which is nice.

7. Build: Pretty soon into the build, I realised that the builders don't actually read the spec or look very much at the drawings, so you need to police that a bit and make sure it's all OK. Some things slipped (they didn't actually use the exact insulation bats given in the spec, etc.) but I was OK with it. Didn't help having a full-time job though! The thing that was hardest to handle was the lack of notice for things. They'd arrive in the morning, then start on something I wasn't expecting them to do until later, for example, so I found I was often having to play catch up, check the spec, take the morning off work to talk to them and answer questions, etc.

In the end, I'd say we got most of what we wanted. Some things you just can't predict, and we ended up asking them to other work in the house (which we agreed extra payment for), but it could have been a lot worse if we hadn't done our preparation I think.

Good luck though. It's going to be hell. Really.

Pitlanepiglet

We're in the process of self building a 2 storey extension. We had a surveyor draw up the initial plans (friend of the family) he dealt with submitting the plans for consent and revising as necessary.

Our local builder arranged someone to come and dig the foundations, we did shuttering etc., the builder came out when the foundations were poured and did the building of the main shell with hubby acting as labourer for him.

Ours has cost around £30k so I would imagine the costs you have been quoted are on the light side by some distance. To get it all built and finished by a builder I would have thought is more in the realms of £40k plus.

rictus123

Give us a shout if you need a good builder Anything you need to know on the building side of things, give me a PM.