Offer price and renovation costs - any ideas on this please?

cstreet

Thanks for all the replies. We are in this for the long haul and want to make it our family home. I was thinking of extending to the side by only 1.6m at the back of the house - which would still leave 1m access down the side of the house which from what I've read on local planning applications is what the planners would consider acceptable.


So essentially we would go out the back 4m and across by 6.6m on the ground floor to give a big kitchen diner, and convert the current kitchen to a utility and downstairs wc. Upstairs we would move the bathroom to the front small bedroom, and create a corridor through the existing bathroom to lead to a new 4th bedroom & en-suite built on top of the new kitchen. The 4th bedroom would also extend out to the side by 1.6m. The old bathroom space would then extend out 1.6m to the side to become an L shaped bedroom / study area.


The pylon has been a major consideration for us but we've walked around the area many times now and have decided it's not a deal breaker. But I do think without it this house would be more expensive. I grew up in a house with a trainline at the bottom of the garden - in the days when trains would make your house tremble as they passed by. It was never an issue and so I'm not going to make a pylon an issue either. We'll just have to be creative with our gardening and window positioning.

ReadingTim

I guess you need to make a decision as to the extent to which the asking price has been discounted compared to a similar property which is up to date - ie kitchen, bathroom, central heating and electrics. From the wording of the ad, and the pictures, I suspect it has, and this isn't likely to be a money making project.

Furthermore, you can't expect the vendor to effectively foot the bill for your extension plans, so I wouldn't try justifying your offer with reference to the cost of extending etc, as I don't think you'll have much luck!

martinsurrey

cstreet wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. We are in this for the long haul and want to make it our family home. I was thinking of extending to the side by only 1.6m at the back of the house - which would still leave 1m access down the side of the house which from what I've read on local planning applications is what the planners would consider acceptable.


So essentially we would go out the back 4m and across by 6.6m on the ground floor to give a big kitchen diner, and convert the current kitchen to a utility and downstairs wc. Upstairs we would move the bathroom to the front small bedroom, and create a corridor through the existing bathroom to lead to a new 4th bedroom & en-suite built on top of the new kitchen. The 4th bedroom would also extend out to the side by 1.6m. The old bathroom space would then extend out 1.6m to the side to become an L shaped bedroom / study area.


The pylon has been a major consideration for us but we've walked around the area many times now and have decided it's not a deal breaker. But I do think without it this house would be more expensive. I grew up in a house with a trainline at the bottom of the garden - in the days when trains would make your house tremble as they passed by. It was never an issue and so I'm not going to make a pylon an issue either. We'll just have to be creative with our gardening and window positioning.

in terms of value for money, the side extension is a waste.

the cost of the structural work to open up the back and side of the house on 2 stories, added onto the roof works required, would double the cost of a pure rear extension, for very little added space.

could you not do a 2 story rear extension and a loft conversion, would come out cheaper at a guess...

cstreet

martinsurrey wrote: »

in terms of value for money, the side extension is a waste.

could you not do a 2 story rear extension and a loft conversion, would come out cheaper at a guess...

Hadn't thought of that - thanks!

cstreet

martinsurrey wrote: »

in terms of value for money, the side extension is a waste.

the cost of the structural work to open up the back and side of the house on 2 stories, added onto the roof works required, would double the cost of a pure rear extension, for very little added space.

We wouldn't be taking any external walls out though - we would keep the current ground floor layout and build the rear and side extension around the existing walls. On the top floor we would only be moving a small part of the external side wall. the rear walls would all stay the same and have a door knocked through to the new 4th bedroom.

martinsurrey

cstreet wrote: »

We wouldn't be taking any external walls out though - we would keep the current ground floor layout and build the rear and side extension around the existing walls. On the top floor we would only be moving a small part of the external side wall. the rear walls would all stay the same and have a door knocked through to the new 4th bedroom.

I'm struggling to picture what you are thinking of doing.

so, its a rear extension with a partial side extension (if the old bathroom space is going out by 1.6m to the side, or is the side extension going allthe way down the side of the house?)

how would current bedroom 2 get light if its a double height rear extension, or is the second story extension not full width?

cstreet

martinsurrey wrote: »

I'm struggling to picture what you are thinking of doing.
how would current bedroom 2 get light if its a double height rear extension, or is the second story extension not full width?

The rear is 2nd storey only goes half way across the back- it would be 2 storey only on one side. the other side we will have a glass roof over the dining area on the ground floor.

misswoosie

Just a thought. Have you thought about using a company who do "prefabricated" extensions? I mean timber framed construction using SIPs. They're built in sections in the factory and then, once the foundations are ready onsite, the sections are brought in and constructed. Often the windows and doors are already in place and it's possible to have a watertight space within a few days. They can be covered externally in a variety of finishes to match, or contrast with, the existing structure. Lot less mess onsite than traditional building , plus you don't have a part built structure that's exposed to the elements for weeks before winodws go in and roof goes on. No coordination of trades as usually the company does the lot, rather than a builder who's using sub contracting to electricians and plumbers etc who work to their own time schedule.