Extensions, where to start?

Enigma80

Hi all,

Fairly new at all this. We bought our house a couple of years ago with the intention of building an extension as we only have one reception room and would like a dining area and some more cupboard space for the kitchen etc.

The previous owner had planning permission of for a conservatory to cover a patio area at the back of the kitchen. She had patio doors put in at the back of the kitchen with the intention of taking them out to put in the conservatory when it was built. However, she became ill, sold the house to us and went to live with her son.

She had already paid £500 deposit to the company and when we inquired about the balance we were told it was a total of £9800. We simply can't afford this and it's been suggested by friends that it may be cheaper to get a brick extension rather than a conservatory.

So what I need to know is where to start? I've been on planning portal and saw lots of information on there about limitations. What I would like to know is:

1. Who to speak to with regards of coming up with ideas for the extension - obviously we know we want an extension, but we're not sure of what we can have in terms of design and budget. - our main reason is for extra space. Do I need to go to an architect first to get him/her to draw up some ideas/plans or do I go to a builder?
2. I'm assuming the builder comes in after so I can show the plans to get a more accurate quote - without plans I assume I'd just be getting a very vague estimate?
3. Do I need to make all checks regarding drains and sewerage, gas safety compliance etc or would an architect do all this?

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure I've probably missed things off the list.


The property itself is a three bed mid-terrace.



I'll update later tonight with details about the available area to build etc.



Thanks

LEJC

obviously size is a factor and you dont mention any sizes of the patio or the previous planned size of the conservatory...but having just been in the position of renovating existing add ons to our house and it costing very nearly £9000 I would be surprised if a brick built construction would come in cheaper than the price you have already said is too high...

I also assume that you would not be looking at doing the building work yourself and employing tradesmen ie roofers electricians windows and plasterers and heating engineers to name a few will probably push the money above £9000 to complete the work.

I agree that a brick built structure may be a better option than a conservatory especially if you plan to use it all year round as an extra amount of living space....but realistically what size room you would get for less than the price you have been quoted for the conservatory is debatable

Firstly I would work out realistically hoe much space you have and how much budget you have,then potentially ask a few local builders/firms to view the area and suggest what you could have...they will very much be rough guestimates until you get some real idea of what you want,but I'm suspecting that you need to do this to have a reality check ib order to see that £10k wont be enough for a usable space...

ik1

Having just undertaken something similar, you will need a good Architect to give you ideas and draw up some plans and whether you need planning permission or you can just do permitted development with building regulations only.

My advice for both Architect and Builder is to try and find someone through word of mouth and you can look at the work and speak with owners to get an idea of what it's like to work with them.

All I can say with money is...extensions are expensive. I have had a lounge done and the cost has been around £5000 and I need to spend another 1-2k before its finished and this is the cheapest I could find with decent build quality...a conservatory of around 5mx3.5m...you are looking at 10-12k. I know someone who has got this done recently. You may get cheaper but unless you have seen the work you have no idea of the quality of workmanship or the materials used.

Its a steep learning curve if you have never done this before but if you are fully involved rather than just leaving to Architect/Builder you will get the satisfaction of knowing exactly materials and workmanships gone into the building.

Good luck

fluffymuffy

As a mid-terrace it's very likely you'll be building over or within 3m of a public sewer - as all sewers which serve more than one property are now classed as public sewers.

Then you'd need permission off your water authority, and they would want a fee, and a CCTV drain survey, and condition report, both before and after the building work. And if there's any work needing doing you'll have to pay for it.

But generally you need to find an architect who can look into this and give you the correct advice.

Enigma80

Thanks all, this is more or less what I was looking for. I was going to call some builders to get an idea of what's possible and a guesstimate on costs to see what I'm looking to pay and whether I can afford it or at least give me a target to save towards.

Cost: this is something I also need to figure out as well beforehand. I just didn't want to call a builder who'd then turn around and tell me he can't give me an estimate if I don't have any plans.

I'll remeasure again tonight and post details here.

So from what I have learned so far, it's feasible for me to contact a builder to give me an idea of what kind of costs might be involved, at least in terms of the construction. I'd have to find someone else to help with quotes for planning and extra work.

I know as much as the neighbor to my left has a drain access point in his garden a metre or two from our fence (they've been in the past to conduct some checks from his access point).

LEJC

Basically if you hire a building firm they will probably guide you through the whole process...this has advantages in that they project manage the build,the dissadvantage being its usually a premium price.

Lots of local builders will have contacts of people that theyy work with forelectrics,plastering etc so you could consider project managing yourself with their named tradesmen or you could consider hiring everyone individually yourself....

We have just done a combination of the last 2 options on the house renovation we are nearing the end of....its been a very steep learning curve and its taken 7 months although we hope to be finished by christmas....one thing you can never underestimate is the cost or the time it takes....I foolishly hoped that our renovation would be finished by the end of august but didnt factor in the weather during the summer!

If I had to give one piece of advice it would be set yourself a realistic budget both in time and money based on research rather than what you would like to bring it in for and then add half that amount again....even doing that for us its been tight but I think we are going to come in not far off our planned budget..

phoebe1989seb

I agree with LEJC - we're nearing the end of having a (20' x 16') kitchen extension built and instead of taking three months and being finished by mid-summer, it has taken six months (bad weather this year hasn't helped obviously ), five of which we were without hot water and central heating......

Presumably ours is larger than the OP is looking at building, but our estimated cost for a shell was £20k and with unforeseen *stuff* that cropped up during the build this has risen to nearer to £25k including architect's plans, building regs costs etc - although fortunately I was expecting something like this to happen and we did have a contingency fund. On top of this there is the cost of fitting it out with limestone floor tiles, bespoke painted solid wood kitchen etc, although we managed to bring these in for less than £10k through contacts of DH who has previously done design work.

Our building is not a typical design though, with a large wall of double-height glass and huge vaulted ceiling, and our original house is a period stone building with 2ft thick walls - not your bog-standard property so it was never going to be cheap to do........we have ended up though (now the wall between old & new had been taken down) with a 36ft kitchen/breakfast room - wonderful and very well worth the aggro involved!

Definitely you should be looking at getting several quotes - and be prepared for this to vary wildly, but bringing it in for £9k or less sounds challenging to my non-expert opinion........

Enigma80

Hi all,

Just some updates in terms of size of area that could be extended to:

17x12ft (5.x3.5m)

LEJC

Enigma80 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just some updates in terms of size of area that could be extended to:

17x12ft (5.x3.5m)

Is that a 3 sided structure attaching onto your house or in effect is it enclosing a space that comes off one of your walls on one side and a neighbours wall on the other?

We did the "building in" option about 15 years ago and managed it with a wood based conservatory,with upvc roof and it cost us diy £3000.....but before you get your hopes up that really was diy,with the help of my husbands Dad who was a builder so could source the materials/wooden structure etc....a similar project to replace now would be £7000 or so....

I think what you need to consider is how much money you could realistically pay for this project....and if your figures are out can you live with an ongoing project or shell whilst you save some more money to complete it?

Its no fun living amonst building work so its always best to start with a reasonable amount of money behind you

Enigma80

LEJC wrote: »

Is that a 3 sided structure attaching onto your house or in effect is it enclosing a space that comes off one of your walls on one side and a neighbours wall on the other?

We did the "building in" option about 15 years ago and managed it with a wood based conservatory,with upvc roof and it cost us diy £3000.....but before you get your hopes up that really was diy,with the help of my husbands Dad who was a builder so could source the materials/wooden structure etc....a similar project to replace now would be £7000 or so....

I think what you need to consider is how much money you could realistically pay for this project....and if your figures are out can you live with an ongoing project or shell whilst you save some more money to complete it?

Its no fun living amonst building work so its always best to start with a reasonable amount of money behind you

Hi thanks for the reply.

It'll be a 3 wall extension joining onto our kitchen. The central heating pipes have already been plumped in but the boiler will need to be moved from the kichten wall

LEJC

Because you have mentioned that your boiler will need to be resighted,if I were you I would contact a plummer/heating engineer for an estimate of the cost/work involved in that first.....as thats not a diy job and will require a gas safe installer to complete...dependant on the given quote that will probably give you an indication of what money you need to complete your project....