Why is building an extension so expensive?

warning_uk

Hi all.

A quick question, and probably a frequently-asked one.

My house was bought for 90,000 pounds 6 years ago, but the cost for a single-storey extension that we want to build is almost half of that cost (42,000 pounds - the best of 3 quotes).

I realise that the housing market has increased hugely in the past few years (our house is now worth over 200,000 pounds) but has the cost of building work gone up in a similar way? If so, why? I work for an Internet company, and our prices have only increased in-line with inflation... so why the seemingly big price hikes for building work?

An ignorant non-economist.

ormus

its called supply and demand. and the free market.

prices asked will reflect what the sellers can get away with.

warning_uk

ormus wrote: »

its called supply and demand. and the free market. prices asked will reflect what the sellers can get away with.

Thanks... but is it a case of supply and demand of the raw materials (global economy plays a part here), or supply and demand of 'good' builders UK-side?

robv_3

Number of reasons....building material prices have shot up, eg wood is now 50% more than it was 3 years ago but mostly due to any good builder being very busy. As they don't need the work they quote high.

If the economically goes down the shoot the builders are always the first affected. Good time to get a extension built.

booty40uk

Hi
What are you getting for £42k? If its just the shell, then that price sounds very high to me.

Andy

warning_uk

booty40uk wrote: »

What are you getting for £42k? If its just the shell, then that price sounds very high to me

Ah, that would be the topic of another discussion - see page 2 of
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=695369 to see the full plan - a long thin thing (although it widens out at the back) and the 42k is for start to completion, including plastering, plumbing, sparks, etc... just not the bathroom suite.

Image copied below, for ease...


D

gregg1

booty40uk wrote: »

Hi
What are you getting for £42k? If its just the shell, then that price sounds very high to me.

Andy

I agree. We have just had a two storey extension built with new pitched roof and paid £42,000 but that included a new kitchen with a high quality worktop (not appliances) fitting the kitchen, tiling, electricians, plumbers, new radiators and windows, fitting of an en-suite and also included underfloor heating in the en-suite. We had a fantastic builder who was there every day until he finished. Can you not shop around a bit more maybe? It seems very high to me for just a single storey extension.

poet123

I also agree,we have had a quote for a small 2 storey extension(extending porch and bathroom above)inc fitting bathroom from a local builder £15000..I would also shop around.

warning_uk

poet123 wrote: »

I would also shop around.

I got 3 quotes and the 42k quote was the cheapest by quite some thousands. As you can see from the diagram, the extension is twice the length of the house and adds 5 new rooms (while converting the garage). So this is not a small thing... that said, I may well hold off on the decision until I get a 4th quote... although may miss the boat on the current builder, and he may be cheaper than the 4th quote.. .there's no winning sometimes

Emmalou

Does your quote include VAT or are you using a non vat registered builder?
We are paying 55K inc. VAT for a new garage, conversion of old integral garage to living space and a small one level extension adding 10 square metres of living space. This was the cheapest of our 3 quotes by 10K.
I hate VAT!!!

eightpints

the biggest cost in building anything is labour, if you are prepared to tackle some of it yourself you can save £1000's. We have built a double extension along one side and a single all the way across the back for about £30k, however I have tackled most of it myself. Had the shell built, and roof done, and paid a plasterer, everything else I have done myself. Hard work and time consuming, but as we are nearing the end now, well worth it..
If you can't do stuff like this, have you considered project managing it yourself by finding individual tradesmen for each task, can also work out cheaper.