Looking for advice for semi detached rear extension

amodi23

Hello everyone,
We are planning to buy our first house soon (outside London) and looking forward to exchange in 1.5 months time. It is still very early but I am thinking to at-least start with the planning so that we can start the work as soon as we exchange.

This is a 3 bed semi detached house and I am hoping to extend to the rear to make some space for new open plan kitchen/diner. The plan I have in mind is just to add a rear extension (6x5 m if approved) and use existing kitchen for downstairs bathroom and utility.
I would appreciate if I can get some advise on few things I've been struggling with as we are on a very tight budget -

1. Do I need an architect for extension? I've been checking on internet and looking at different quotes I am not sure if I can accommodate a hefty architect fee in my budget. To be honest I know what I want, so not sure if an architect is a must to have for extension. If I really need to have one, how much I am really looking at?
2. Structural engineer - how much they would charge? Do they draw the plan as well? I am not planning to knock down any walls though.
3. Extension cost - I know it varies but how much would be a realistic price for 5x6 m extension?

Thanks in advance..!

Tom99

Go to the LA website and have a look for similar extensions which have required planning permission, download the plans and see who the were drawn by and also who submitted the application.
Even if you have no intention of employing these people you may well get some free information to beef up your knowledge.
You can also call on any neighbours who have had an extension like you are planning, how did they go about it etc.

stueyhants

If you are putting in a new kitchen,bathrooms, nice patio/bi folds to a reasonable spec I’d be surprised if you got much change out of £100k. It depends on where you live though as my experience is the SE.

Doozergirl

You've said you have a tight budget - what is it?

Like anything, the sky can be the limit, but there is always going to be a minimum cost to the building work, even if you put in a second hand kitchen from ebay.

The very, very old rule of thumb of £1,000 a square metre really doesn't apply anymore - it is decades old and was also based on new build, where 20% VAT is refunded. That gives you an outdated minimum of £36,000 for a new space, which I think has to be reasonably more like a ballpark of £45,000 these days, without considering your kitchen, bathroom or renovation work to the house. Rooflights and expanses of glass doors will bump costs up.

Do not pick a builder because they are the cheapest. The true cost of building work to a provided specification does not vary that widely, and whilst they are huge numbers to you, that isn't what the builder is taking home - the margins are much smaller for them.

Choosing the chepaest builder on the basis of budget only is taking a massive risk. If they have underpriced it, builders don't have an amazing reputation for sucking it up and paying to finish builds themselves.

Don't pick anyone that isn't VAT registered. If they do this stuff for a living then just two projects like yours a year will send them flying over the VAT threshold - so what are they doing the rest of the time?! They're either not proficient at projects like extensions or they're cheating the system - not a great idea for you when the contract is created by who you pay. If you pay the electrician directly, that is who the contract is with. You pay for materials directly, ditto. It removes accountability from the builder when there is snagging etc.

It's a bit concerning that you don't want an architect. If you know someone and trust them well enough to do the lot, then so be it, but you are placing everything into their hands. Architects don't cost so much - someone small who does simple extensions will probably charge £1,000 for planning drawings, including submission. Building regs drawings - much of your specification, another £850 or so.

Chop-D

You will need drawings done for planning but this doesn’t have to be an architect. We posted a job for the drawings and planning submission on my builder and checked other submissions they had made on the planning portal to check quality of their work. We paid around £1000 including submission and he was also happy to arrange structural engineer for building regs but we didn’t go ahead with our extension in the end when we got the quotes! The drawings will also help you get comparable quotes from builders. Ours was 3x4m and quote for just basic shell no electric or plumbing etc and was £22,000

amodi23

Thanks @stueyhants. 100k is far more than I can afford .
I may have to scale down the plan a bit may be. My maximum budget is around 65-70k.

amodi23

Hi @Doozergirl.. thanks for taking time for a detailed response. Max I can afford is 65-70k for the whole job (extension, kitchen and refurbishment). If that's not feasible then I better call off the deal now .
Let me know your thoughts.

Doozergirl

It's certainly enough to do something! Are there any other renovations or is it just the old and new kitchen areas?

I think you'd get it done. Be savvy with your kitchen and bathroom choices. You could always make the extension a little bit smaller if it looked like the quotes were going over, but that's realistic in my view.

BennyBanks

Hi - I also will be moving to a Semi-detached 3bed property in Herts. We're looking to do a single storey rear extension (3m out x 5m wide) - Has anyone done anything similar, if so how much did you pay for extension (shell) itself?

Deedee6

Hello @amodi23

Just curious if you ever did the extension and how much did it all end up costing? We are looking to do a similar renovation, 4.5 x 5.5m extension, and convert the current kitchen into a bathroom and utility room. Would be great to hear where you're at with it all