Two storey side extension

[roccles]

Hi all, We have been looking into extending the side of our house for a while now instead of moving, the main reason for this is that we would love for the kids to have bigger bedrooms for when they are older.

I recently walked past a house that was the same as mine with a two storey extension very similar to what I had been thinking of. It is still very much in the planning stage at the moment and don't really want to waste any builders time at moment getting quotes etc. as it could be a couple of years away. What would be the best way to go about estimating the cost of such a project? Any tips would be greatly appeciated.

 

[SimonR]

You can either:
Hire an Architect - they will give you approximate costs;
Hire a Quantity Surveyor, they will give you accurate costs; or
Get quotes in off builders.
We have just had a single storey extension at the rear of our house of a similar size. The cost of the shell was around £25k. Plastering, Sparks and Plumbing will be another £5k. I am in the Midlands. Prices down south are likely to be considerably more.

 

[thezappa]

Get the plans of the neighbours extension from the council planning website and ask a builder for a ballpark based on those (assuming it is similar to what you would like), build costs will be pretty accurate it’s the finishing that will change over the project but you can get a good idea otherwise.

 

[eviled]

I would rethink the downstairs floor layout, it looks very difficult to access the living room.

I would go for an open plan L and a separate living/dining room.

Price is very dependent of ground works, and finish.

ball park would be £1000-1500 per square meter round floor + 50% extra for 2nd story

 

[clubb699]

When I was looking into this what ever you think it costs double it ,I am going to guess round about 50 to 75k all done well that is the Midlands area.

 

[DB_SamX]

ball park would be £1000-1500 per square meter round floor + 50% extra for 2nd story

Correct for budgeting construction cost, but don't forget +VAT + say 10% professional fees.

+ as previous poster said, ask a builder to price the other person's panning drawing for construction cost.

 

[roccles]

Excellent, thank for all the replies guy. As @eviled mentioned the flow to the living room is a bit odd in the existing plan from the other house. I am quite happy with the downstairs of my house at the moment except I would like a utility room. The extensions main purpose is to add additional room upstairs. So based on this and the same plans as before I have changed the layout which I think flows a bit better.



A quick calculation based @DB_SamX figures of £1500 per Sq metre, plus 50% for second story and 10% Professional fees puts it at approx £120k. I think this is around what I was expecting. I would obviously need to budget in a new Kitchen and Ensuite.

 

[SaintJimmy]

We had a similar extension done last year but the ground floor was a garage conversion. Around £1300 per square meter with myself doing all the painting.

 

[PiKe]

Knock on their door and ask them.

 

[roccles]

Knock on their door and ask them.

This application was from 2007 but I will check if the house has sold since and maybe pop round, might be nice to have a nose as well if they will let me.

 

[roccles]

We had a similar extension done last year but the ground floor was a garage conversion. Around £1300 per square meter with myself doing all the painting.

Did you build a second storey on top of the garage? How did it all go?

In some ways I don't really need the ground floor expanding but I don't really fancy having an odd master bedroom on the ground floor next to the kitchen if I went with a single storey.

 

[Maccapacca]

I'm doing pretty much exactly the same right now, 75sqm extension. I'm a quantity surveyor and I budgeted it at £85k plus VAT excluding kitchen.

Such a lot of cost variance is in the foundations and quality of build, location plays a huge cost variance as well.

I'm hoping it'll cost for me £75k all in inc VAT and kitchen but that's with me project managing it, buying my own materials and spending my weekends and evenings labouring and doing a lot of the donkey work and as many jobs as I can myself.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Did you build a second storey on top of the garage? How did it all go?

In some ways I don't really need the ground floor expanding but I don't really fancy having an odd master bedroom on the ground floor next to the kitchen if I went with a single storey.

Yes we built above the garage, utility room and kitchen. Our third and fourth bedrooms were your typical box rooms, not much use beyond a single bed and nothing else.

Probably would have added more value adding a fifth bedroom but the 4 larger rooms are more use to us. Really happy with the builders work, finished on schedule in 3 months and on only 2k over budget due to having to take down the ceiling that end of the kitchen to move a load of pipes. Passed all the building regs no problem and house came with planning permission so that also saved a bit. Biggest perform is dust and noise while they do the work.

 

[roccles]

I'm doing pretty much exactly the same right now, 75sqm extension. I'm a quantity surveyor and I budgeted it at £85k plus VAT excluding kitchen.

Such a lot of cost variance is in the foundations and quality of build, location plays a huge cost variance as well.

I'm hoping it'll cost for me £75k all in inc VAT and kitchen but that's with me project managing it, buying my own materials and spending my weekends and evenings labouring and doing a lot of the donkey work and as many jobs as I can myself.

Thats very interesting thank you, 85k+vat sounds very reasonable, I am based in North Hampshire not far from Basingstoke.

I would be very interested in seeing some more details of extension/plans if you are able to share.

 

[Russinating]

It feels like you could benefit from an architect. That much space seems like it'd warrant a bigger kitchen; I would certainly want room for a double fridge/oven and island.

At the moment, why is the utility bigger than the kitchen? It certainly doesn't need two internal and one external door either, that just loses wall space for white goods and pantry shelving.

 

[Spammeh]

I would agree with @Russinating. Downstairs seems very disjointed to me - very inefficient use of space, and if I was spending £75k+ its worth getting someone in to at least make it the best it can be on paper
Unusual layout in the ensuite as well. Put a large shower against the far right wall, and the toilet against the outside wall, not backing onto the headboard of bedroom 3 - they'll appreciate it

 

[HangTime]

Looking at the new plan I would be worried about the position of the oven being so close to the kitchen door, also I think that route may end up being used as a thoroughfare so more people walking past it than you might expect. If you come in the main door then you might want to put shoes in the utility(?), and depending on how you set up the living room it may be a bit awkward to take the 'short cut' that way through to the dining room / playroom (i.e. without having to keep a pathway annoyingly clear. I might be looking for problems that aren't there but it just looks like an accident waiting to happen with multiple doors all swinging into the kitchen near the oven. To be honest I don't think you are really going to get the value from the double-doors, anyone in the kitchen is going to be typically facing 90 to 180 degrees away from the living space and there no room for seating in there. I get that you might benefit from dual aspect windows but to be honest anyone sat in the living room will be probably be distracted by looking at someone's arse bending down to access the cupboards / WM etc. The doors will just get annoying being in the way when open, personally I'd probably just have a single door opening the other way into the living room to keep the 'corridor' clear.

In general I think the kitchen looks too small now, if you are spending that sort of money I'd be wanting something less cramped.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Thats very interesting thank you, 85k+vat sounds very reasonable, I am based in North Hampshire not far from Basingstoke.

I would be very interested in seeing some more details of extension/plans if you are able to share.

Ha, I live in Basingstoke, well when you come to get some quotes give "Imperial building and landscapes ltd" a call. Let me know if you want any more info on the extension they did for us.

 

[roccles]

Hi all, I think you are all correct about the ground floor layout.

This image shows my current layout next to the proposed idea, as I said in OP this is very early stages so I have plenty of time to plan the layout and as @Russinating suggested I think I would get an architect to give me there ideas.

Any of your ideas welcome

 

[roccles]

Ha, I live in Basingstoke, well when you come to get some quotes give "Imperial building and landscapes ltd" a call. Let me know if you want any more info on the extension they did for us.

Excellent thank you. Always good to get some personal recommendations I will definitely keep them in mind.