Advice on where to start for a complete beginner!

834843

Hi folks,
I'm in the process of buying a first floor flat in SW London. It's a Victorian end-of-terrace house, about 950 sq ft, and it needs complete renovation. I'm planning to do a loft extension at the same time - to get everything done up front, before moving in, while it's an uninhabited building site.
When I say 'complete renovation' I mean it needs:

• Loft extension (1x ensuite bedroom, likely a Mansard extension)
• 1x wall knocked down between kitchen and dining room
• Gas central heating throughout (i.e. boiler, piping, radiators in every room)
• Electrics (*) 
• 1x bathroom completely replaced
• 1x kitchen completely replaced
• 1x functional fireplace removed and replaced with decorative fireplace
• 2x disused (boarded up) fireplaces uncovered and replaced with decorative fireplaces
• Re-plastering
• Painting
  
  *I'm not sure what is needed from an electrical perspective since I have a "domestic electrical installation certificate" from NICEIC dated 2019 (which is reassuring) but there are hardly any sockets in the rooms and all the switches are very, very old looking. The consumer unit looks brand new, though.

Bearing in mind that I am a COMPLETE beginner, this is pretty scary/terrifying/exciting. You'll probably see a lot of posts from me in due course.
To begin with, I'm looking for help with a couple of questions around design and planning.

1. The neighbour submitted a successful planning permission application for the same extension in 2017. I have downloaded the application, including very useful technical drawings of the planned extension. Is it possible to re-use these to save me some money? (We have the same house, albeit mirror image). I'm wondering if it is possible to get bespoke versions created at a discount since the work has already been 'done' by the original architect / architectural technician / structural engineer. Also, which of these 3 professions is best suited to my needs? I struggle to understand the difference between them.

2. I know that in London, getting a loft extension has become 'productized' in that you can buy such extensions as packages from dedicated loft extension companies. However, since I'm looking for a loft extension AND an entire renovation of the underlying house, should I steer clear of these dedicated companies and go for another type of building company? I'm keen to keep the whole job centralized to one contractor organization, who then liases with all the subcontractors on my behalf. Any suggestions on where to look?

3. Are the neighbours' plans (from the planning website) sufficient to get a realistic 'quote' for my property, even if I don't end up using them and need to get my own designs made up. I'm keen to start the process of getting quotes immediately while the house purchase is processing.

Massive thanks for any input! I'll be sure to respond back. 

Jeepers_Creepers

If the sockets and wiring is 'old' in any sense, then get it redone since you will be creating a lot of mess in any case. The fact that it has a 'cert' just means it 'conforms' and is probably safe. But this could be the best time to future-proof it (let's see these switches...) with new wiring, especially if you will be fitting lots of new sockets anyway. 

Can you reuse the neighb's plans? Not directly as they'll almost certainly be copyright. Can your own archi use them as a good 'start'?! I guess so :-)  Or, consider going to the original archi - they might be happy to give you a special deal.

Are the existing plans suitable for getting ballpark quotes? Very likely yes, but again you need to be wary of infringing copyright (tho' I suspect you'll be ok).

FaceHead

General question: It's a Victorian terrace house split into two flats? You are considering buying the first floor flat, which is 950 sq ft? It's therefore a 1950 sq ft house? That seems enormous.

I'm no expect on flats and leaseholds (wouldn't you have to buy the loft space from the freeholder to extend into it?) and the charges you'll need to pay for this, but you need to factor them in. 

I bought a wreck of a terraced house (c.1000 sq ft, hence the above) in SW London and am in the process of doing it up.  My plan for the works (full refurb, ground floor extension, windows and doing everything exactly how I want) was to get it done for 58k. It looks like it'll come in around 96k all in. The general rule of it'll cost twice what you think does seem to apply. I've been tempted away from doing things on the cheap to add value towards making the home that I couldn't find whilst viewing properties. As a result I'll have only added a little more value than the works, and done quite a bit myself. What's your budget? Is it realistic, and do you have contingency for it to double? If it did double, would you be then looking at losing money?

Start by appointing an architect. There are big firms you'll interact with mostly online, and local people. Contacting the person who did the one you're modelling it on is a good start, but contact several. It'll become clear when you need a structural engineer (after planning permission) at which point your architect will probably recommend one, although you might want to shop around. I found you can't have a meaningful conversation with builders until you have a structural design, at which point you've bought the thing and are down at least a couple of 000's worth of fees. 

Contracting a builder is the hard part. Talk to the neighbor in question - the current occupier might not be the person who did the work (has it been sold since 2017?), or they might be willing to share the plans.  Even having the plans would only save a little in the grand scheme of things - it'll still need re-drawing for you, and the structural calculations would need re-doing for the purposes of indemnity. 

I expect you'll have the main loft conversion, and then you might get other people/yourself to do lots of other little bits. Generally it'll be cheaper to get e.g. a plasterer to plaster a room rather than lump that into your main builder's work, where he's changing you a mark up on his guy's rate. 

I found getting an independent estimate for the main works really helpful, which you can do once you have a structural design. You pay £100-£200 for a professional to quote, give you a breakdown of all the works, materials, costs  and a sensible profit margin a builder will apply. In my case it gave a breakdown which allowed me to compare otherwise not comparable quotes  helped my understand the fair price and was vital negotiating tool.

Good luck,

834843

It's a maisonette - so the building was originally build with two front doors and yes, it's large - 950ish sq. ft for just my (first floor) property within the building.

I found getting an independent estimate for the main works really helpful, which you can do once you have a structural design

What exactly does this mean? What type of place provides these quotes?

Thanks for the reality-check on prices. I think I can still add value; the neighbour property with the same extension was sold for £900k in 2017 (after the works, so the current occupier didn't do the work themselves).

Are you sure I need an architect? Do you think that's who created the initial drawings? I've put an example of one of the drawings below. The drawing details a two-bedroom extension, but the previous neighbour ended up doing a smaller extension when they finally got around to it.

weeg

You don't technically 'need' either an architect or a structural engineer. What you need are a set of drawings and calculations which demonstrate, in detail, to the planning dept and building standards dept that the works you wish to do conform to the relevant rules and regulations. By far the easiest way to do that is to employ people that know these rules.
 
The drawing on the council portals are copyright, so no, you can't legally just use them. And I, for one, would be charging a MASSIVE fee for the use of my drawings if I found out someone had just re-badged them and tried to nick them. Also - what if they come back with questions? What about the structural design?

FWIW an architect designs buildings/ spaces and ensures they comply with access, insulation etc requirements. A structural engineer makes sure they don't fall over. Different, but related professions. You need both. And if you can't afford to pay them, you can't afford to get the work done, IMO.

You are a novice at this, and as such, you really need professional help.

834843

Point taken, thanks. I definitely need professional help! Just working out what type of help, and how to do it cost-effectively. Your input has been helpful thanks Jeepers_Creppers, FaceHead and weeg!