Orangery Quote- Reasonable or not?

Aberdeenmannie

Being in need of extra living space after our family increased in size we have taken the decision to have an Orangery extension added onto our property.

First quote (another two expected next week) came in at £44,000, inclusive of VAT, local authority fee and complete project management of the project from start to finish.

External size is 4.46m x 5m (well one side is 4.46m and the other is 4.2m as we are adding the extra 0.26m about 1/3 of the way along one wall with the way the annex of the kitchen sticks out). So around 22m2 externally area. Not sure what size of internal area that would give us. Any thoughts?

Based on the external area this comes out around £2,000/m2. Higher than I was expecting and higher than “recommended” prices I’ve read online!

The company giving us the quote are a local company that specialise in Conservatories, sunrooms and Orangeries. Well established and we know they have a good reputation. We’ve spoke to people who have used them before and the feedback has been very positive. They built an orangery close by us and from the outside it looks well build.


Specs of the quote.
4.46m x 5m orangery extension.
Internal entrance coming from the existing living room with a set of windows being replaced with a set of French doors (this is the 4.2m wall). A further set of French doors from the Orangery to the garden is to be included.
Left-hand wall (5m wall) of the orangery to be a solid brick wall. Right-hand (5m wall) side is to consist of a set of French Doors to the garden, one tilt and turn windows with the rest being the existing external kitchen wall.
Far side (4.46m wall) of the Orangery will be four windows with the middle two being tilt and turn.
Dwarf walls along two sides of fyfestone (to match the brick of the house). One dwarf wall being 4.46m and the other 1.18m.
Lantern (white though an extra £1,350 for black which we think looks really nice) to be approx. 2.3m x 3.1m. Glass is double glazed “Smart Glass neutral” 1.2 U-value, 45% light transmission, 60% solar rejection.
Roof structure to be formed with structural grade timber on weight bearing posts. 120mm thick rigid insulation and finished with sarnafil roofing membrane.

Foundations to be laid, suspended floor constructed with insulation and moisture resistant chipboard.

All walls to be plastered and painted.
Perimeter ceiling to be 700mm wide. Again plastered and finished.
Oak skirting’s, cills and aprons.
Electrics – 4 double sockets, 1 TV point, 1 light switch, 10 ceiling downlighters (we are to provide), 6 external downlights (which we are to provide) and 1 smoke detector.
Plumbing – 1 radiator to be connected to existing central heating system.

Evacuate foundation trench to a max of 650mm. 200mm concrete strip foundations
Build foundation wall to ground level. Build wall from ground level to house level, inc damp course.
Build wall to support timber floor
50mm site concrete solum on top of hardcore.
Build dado wall 600mm high in fyfestone
Build full wall (one side only) in concrete block
Relocate existing drainage rodding point
Floor coving is not included so we will have to budget for tiles in addition to the above quote.


Existing house is 18 months old and detached. The nearest wall is 1.4m from boundary fence.
Aberdeenshire location. No parking issues, skip will be off road on the driveway, no access issue, no parking costs or anything similar. Based about 5 miles from the company’s office.


Based on the above (or any other information you might need) does the price seem reasonable? It’s a bit more than we were expecting but it does seem a quality product that is being installed.

We were debating whether to go for a 5m or 6m length. Are there economies of scale to add an extra metre? Any feel on how much the extra metre in length would increase the cost by?
But mainly is the above quote reasonable?

Trig1903

Hi, also based in Aberdeenshire and about to embark on a 5m x 3.6m pitched roof sun room. We had one quote from possibly the company you refer to (feel free to pm if you want to know who) and another from tradesmen based in our town whom we have used before. Local tradesmen quote works out around the same price you have been quoted per m2, project managed company around ten percent higher. Wooden window frames, faciias and soffits which we are going with added quite a bit more than Upvc. We are going with the guys based in our town as they have performed well for us before. Hope that's of some help.

Babbawah

£2k per sq m is WRONG on sooo many levels and I suspect you know that it's wrong.

What is your whole house worth per square of a metre ?

Trig1903

Hi Babbawah, if you exclude vat then it's more like 1,670 per square metre, which although on the high side compared with figures I've seen quoted in other areas of the country, is consistent with what others in this area I've spoken with are paying.

Great perspective looking at the equivalent cost versus the house as is. Not sure about the original poster but in my case I'm buying at a cheaper per metre rate for the extension than my house works out at or that it would cost to buy the space by purchasing a bigger house.

Aberdeenmannie

We bought the property 20 months ago. Worked out around £2k/m2 then.
But is that really a valid comparison given when you buy a new build house 30-40% of the cost includes the plot of land the house is being built on? For an extension the land element has already been paid for. The above is partially cancelled out by paying the extra 20% VAT that would be included in a new build but still seems a bit on the high side.

Doozergirl

I'd be a bit peeved that the foundations aren't full spec to be a proper foundation for an extension. At that price I'd definitely like the foundations to take into account future needs. If one wanted more brick for a 'proper' extension, it would have to be ripped down.

Wondering what local authority sign off is being made if the foundations aren't of a full spec.

Does this orangerie have wood framed windows?

Yes, there is definitely an economy of scale from 5-6 metres. There is only another two linear metres of detail. Proposed has 14.5 linear metres of work to 22.5 square metres. Add another metre, it's 16.5 linear metres to 27 square metres of space.

The most efficient build is a perfect square.

VfM4meplse

Jumping on this thread as I would love an orangery (kitchen) but have no idea how to go about it. Any tips /pointers?

Nile

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

I’ve moved your thread from the ‘In my home’ board to the ‘Is This Quote Fair?’ board, where it is better suited.

Regards

Nile