Cost of renovations and extension

FreeBear

Calleja said: Things such as the driveway is definitely a desirable so that could wait too.

I put a block paved drive down last year. Over the last couple of weeks, I've had scaffold up & down, plasterer in to skim, and a few other bits of work. The scaffolders have put dings in a couple of the blocks where they lobbed clamps & tubes down. The plasterer has left snots of plaster where he had been mixing - In fairness, he did throw some water down & scrubbed the worst of it up, but...

I would recommend getting internal work done, plus any external decoration, then put your driveway/patio down as one of the final jobs.

plumb1_2

With Karndean you paying for the name, you can get similar a lot cheap.
Tarket flooring for one, used in commercial buildings so hard wearing.

Calleja

Thanks all. I'm really appreciating the tips and advice! 

Sophie4120

Following this thread with interest - you could be describing exactly what I'm planning with our new house! 

I made some initial inquiries with an architect to try and guage costs - I was surprised at how much was quoted for the 'pre' extension work, it definitely seems more than folks are suggesting here. I sent them an initial drawing/floorplan (two storey extension), and this is what was returned:

£1,500 = Measured Survey

£1,000 = Concept Design (Architect)

£2,000 = Planning Application (Architect)

£2,500 = Building Regs Application (Architect)

£1,500 = Structural Cals & Spec (Structural Engineer)

£750 = SBEM Calcs (Enviro Consultant)

£1,500 - £3,000 = Tender Doc depending on level of detail required (Architect)

£TBC = Contract Administration/ oversee work on site (Architect)

Sorry for piggy backing on your thread - but would be interesting to hear others thoughts! With others saying 4-5k, I'm wondering what's different?

Redwino222

I am certainly not an expert but those prices seem really high.

what is your ballpark total budget?

it must be a large, complex build?

my pre build costs were £2.5k and that included moving the gas meter.  I used a retired architect, who introduced me to a retired structural engineer.  Both great to work with - very experienced. 

rentalforever

Sophie4120 said:

Following this thread with interest - you could be describing exactly what I'm planning with our new house! 

I made some initial inquiries with an architect to try and guage costs - I was surprised at how much was quoted for the 'pre' extension work, it definitely seems more than folks are suggesting here. I sent them an initial drawing/floorplan (two storey extension), and this is what was returned:

£1,500 = Measured Survey

£1,000 = Concept Design (Architect)

£2,000 = Planning Application (Architect)

£2,500 = Building Regs Application (Architect)

£1,500 = Structural Cals & Spec (Structural Engineer)

£750 = SBEM Calcs (Enviro Consultant)

£1,500 - £3,000 = Tender Doc depending on level of detail required (Architect)

£TBC = Contract Administration/ oversee work on site (Architect)

Sorry for piggy backing on your thread - but would be interesting to hear others thoughts! With others saying 4-5k, I'm wondering what's different?

See my earlier post. There's architects and then there's architects. Costs are commensurate with the sort of build you're taking on. If it's something that could feature on Grand Designs then fair enough, but for your average extension, that's overkill.

Sophie4120

Redwino222 said:

I am certainly not an expert but those prices seem really high.

what is your ballpark total budget?

it must be a large, complex build?

my pre build costs were £2.5k and that included moving the gas meter.  I used a retired architect, who introduced me to a retired structural engineer.  Both great to work with - very experienced. 

Thanks - I didn't think it was large or complex at the time, but in hindsight I can now see where we can cut back! 
The plan consisted of a wraparound extension - 1m out the front to align with the existing porch/garage elevation (so extending the living room out 1m), then 28m2 floor area to the side, consisting of a garage, utility and WC. Second storey consists of master bedroom and en suite, same rectangular floor area as the garage/utility/wc below. Original ballpark was 100k-120k, rapidly revised when costs were returned to us...!

I have never renovated/extended before, so I (perhaps naïvely) thought that the pre-build costs would be fairly standard - I'm definitely wrong on that one and will make sure to get a number of quotes for the revised plans. The quotes were on the basis of the original, slightly ambitious plans, which would involve taking out an external wall. Revisions are now 24m2 ground floor/24m2 first floor side extension, no wraparound, no knocking walls out, utilising existing openings, nice and simple... Most of the ground floor will be garage anyway! So hopefully new quotes will come back a bit cheaper...

rentalforever said:

See my earlier post. There's architects and then there's architects. Costs are commensurate with the sort of build you're taking on. If it's something that could feature on Grand Designs then fair enough, but for your average extension, that's overkill.

Thank you - Grand Designs it most definitely isn't - we'll be quite happy with an average extension! The architect came recommended, hence approaching them for the quote first - but will definitely be getting some quotes elsewhere. 

It's all a great learning curve  better at this stage than when we've already parted with some cash...!

Rishi2020

Calleja said:

Hi all,

We are hoping to buy a house which is a little dated and therefore we would like to do some work. It's a 3 bed semi detached house with garage. We'd ideally want to knock through to create a kitchen/diner (and leave the remaining reception room as the lounge) and add an extension to the back and / or side to create a bigger kitchen/diner. I'm also budgeting for a full rewire, new windows (including a bay window) and new boiler (replacement of current combi boiler). 

I've never done this before and we don't have anyone handy in the family. Everyone I know who has had extensions had them done a few years ago, so aren't sure of current prices. I've done some online research and wondered if anyone on here had some thoughts as to whether I am in the right ball park? It is very much ball park at the moment, our offer has been accepted but we are still awaiting surveys etc. But I just want a feel for whether I've completely overestimated/underestimated or somewhere about right! Or I've missed anything major! The floorplan estimates the total floor area for the house to be approx. 100sqm. I'm in NW England.

The total of the below comes to £137,963. 

Thanks in advance for any advice! 

Item	Estimated
Rewire incl moving fittings	£6,000.00
Replaster	£5,500.00
New windows	£10,000.00
Extension (20msq)	£48,000.00
Extend driveway	£3,000.00
Knock through	£3,750.00
Re-render	£12,000.00
New kitchen	£20,000.00
Redecorate	£500.00
Carpets/flooring	£2,000.00
Boiler	£3,000.00
Other extension costs	£5,613.00 (architect fees, planning etc)
Extension doors and windows	£8,100.00
Flooring extension	£2,500.00
Underfloor heating extension	£5,000.00
Misc extension eg extractor fan, skirting etc	£3,000.00

Is the re-plaster for the whole house or just extension? If it's for the whole house I would expect it to be a lot more than £5.5k, but just for the extension it's probably about right. 

rentalforever

Sophie4120 said:

Redwino222 said:

I am certainly not an expert but those prices seem really high.

what is your ballpark total budget?

it must be a large, complex build?

my pre build costs were £2.5k and that included moving the gas meter.  I used a retired architect, who introduced me to a retired structural engineer.  Both great to work with - very experienced. 

Thanks - I didn't think it was large or complex at the time, but in hindsight I can now see where we can cut back! 
The plan consisted of a wraparound extension - 1m out the front to align with the existing porch/garage elevation (so extending the living room out 1m), then 28m2 floor area to the side, consisting of a garage, utility and WC. Second storey consists of master bedroom and en suite, same rectangular floor area as the garage/utility/wc below. Original ballpark was 100k-120k, rapidly revised when costs were returned to us...!

I have never renovated/extended before, so I (perhaps naïvely) thought that the pre-build costs would be fairly standard - I'm definitely wrong on that one and will make sure to get a number of quotes for the revised plans. The quotes were on the basis of the original, slightly ambitious plans, which would involve taking out an external wall. Revisions are now 24m2 ground floor/24m2 first floor side extension, no wraparound, no knocking walls out, utilising existing openings, nice and simple... Most of the ground floor will be garage anyway! So hopefully new quotes will come back a bit cheaper...

rentalforever said:

See my earlier post. There's architects and then there's architects. Costs are commensurate with the sort of build you're taking on. If it's something that could feature on Grand Designs then fair enough, but for your average extension, that's overkill.

Thank you - Grand Designs it most definitely isn't - we'll be quite happy with an average extension! The architect came recommended, hence approaching them for the quote first - but will definitely be getting some quotes elsewhere. 

It's all a great learning curve  better at this stage than when we've already parted with some cash...!

We went through the same with ours. We contacted architects listed on the RIBA site that we liked the portfolios of and were fairly local to us. We almost didn’t proceed with our project because their fees and proposed budgets for the build were starting at the top end of our budget so the likelihood was a massive overspend.

Eventually we spoke to a builder who referred us to a more humble architecture firm. No glitz and glamour, no mood boards or 3D headsets, but sound technical experience and knowledge of the permissions process. As long as we were decisive and clear about what we wanted, they were able to translate that into technical drawings. They knew how to use a tape measure so didn’t need to get someone else in just to do that bit. They used a structural engineering firm that was affordable and not based in an expensive area which again helped keep costs down.

Calleja

Rishi2020 said:

Is the re-plaster for the whole house or just extension? If it's for the whole house I would expect it to be a lot more than £5.5k, but just for the extension it's probably about right. 

Thanks - this was actually for the rest of the house - I was hoping my extension budget would include plastering. So this is for 4 rooms and the landing - I would estimate this to be about 60msq floor space in total (1930s semi so the ceilings aren't too tall - not as tall as my current victorian terrace anyway!). Does this still sound off? We would need the ceilings doing too as we will likely move the light fixtures and we suspect the whole house needs a rewire, hence the need for replastering.