Cost for adding a 2nd floor to a bungalow

[tburfield]

Have been thinking seriously about taking this on as a project.

Finances are tight, and so I'm thinking about selling up, buying a cheap 2 bed bungalow, and then adding a 2nd floor to create a much bigger (hopefully 4 bed) place.

My reasoning for considering this:

1. Bungalows tend to have decent size footprint already, so no eating into the garden to extend.

2. Am assuming that cost of the bungalow, plus building work, would be cheaper than buying an equivalent property ready made?

3. Most bungalows are modern(1960s+) - hopefully meaning that councils won't have too many planning concerns.

4. I end up with the house being laid out as I would want.

I'm not looking to make a profit from this - just want to end up with a comfortable family home.

Is it actually worth going any further with this, or is there some glaring point that I've missed?

Does anyone have a (very) rough idea of the likely cost for the building work on a project like this? Just assuming an average 2 bed detached bungalow.

Thanks,

Tony

[Targarama]

Dormer stylee, or a proper second floor to turn into a 'full size' house? I would guess the latter would be cheaper and more practical (room layouts, stronger foundations etc.) to demolish and start again.

Planning permission needed of course - don't buy one in a row of bungalows in Eastbourne and expect to get away with it.

[Dilan]

Just finished doing ours with a main contractor doing everything, and I reckon it's cost me £90,000. We've gone from a 1500 sq.ft 3-bed bungalow to a 2600 sq.ft 5-bed house in Dorset. It's taken the best part of 5 months, as at one point all we had remaining was three external walls, and one of those had to be underpinned.

[Iain328]

tburfield said:

Have been thinking seriously about taking this on as a project.

Finances are tight, and so I'm thinking about selling up, buying a cheap 2 bed bungalow, and then adding a 2nd floor to create a much bigger (hopefully 4 bed) place.

My reasoning for considering this:

1. Bungalows tend to have decent size footprint already, so no eating into the garden to extend.

2. Am assuming that cost of the bungalow, plus building work, would be cheaper than buying an equivalent property ready made?

3. Most bungalows are modern(1960s+) - hopefully meaning that councils won't have too many planning concerns.

4. I end up with the house being laid out as I would want.

I'm not looking to make a profit from this - just want to end up with a comfortable family home.

Is it actually worth going any further with this, or is there some glaring point that I've missed?

Does anyone have a (very) rough idea of the likely cost for the building work on a project like this? Just assuming an average 2 bed detached bungalow.

Thanks,

Tony

How long is a piece of string? I would imagine your primary issues will be

a) Are the foundations deep enough to take the extra floor
b) can you get planning permission

After that then what it costs could vary dramatically depending on what it takes to deconstruct the existing roof and what you build & what materials are used.

In all honesty I can't imagine it would cost much more to just flatten the existing building & start again from scratch. What you lose in material costs etc may well be made up for in simplicity

[bazking69]

I think this is the way we will be going with our next house.
Find an old 2/3 bed bungalow in a nice area in need of 'modernisation' and do it our way from scratch throughout, but doing a loft conversion from scratch also which will enable us to create a large master bedroom with large ensuite (which will be more like a main bathroom) and the option of a smaller room on the other side as an office or a 2nd bedroom if needed.
I've seen a few loft conversions on bungalows and for some reason they really appeal (the sloping walls, the velux skylights, the size, the individual stairs to a private part of the 'house' as it were.
Costwise, it varies wildly depending on how much major structure and roof work is required. A colleague of mine had one done and doing alot of work himself in his own time I think the final bill including finishing was 'only' £18k ish, but then he was working with the existing loft space rather than creating a structure.

[GreenDog]

bazking69 said:

Stuff...

I used to own a really nice bungalow (pre-dovorce ) which was built with loft rooms. As you say the dormers and sloping ceilings etc are really nice, they give the place much more character than your usual box shaped rooms. The main bathroom was on the corner of the house and the ceiling sloped in 2 directions.

[Dr_Gonzo]

tburfield said:

Have been thinking seriously about taking this on as a project.

Finances are tight, and so I'm thinking about selling up, buying a cheap 2 bed bungalow, and then adding a 2nd floor to create a much bigger (hopefully 4 bed) place.

My reasoning for considering this:

1. Bungalows tend to have decent size footprint already, so no eating into the garden to extend.

2. Am assuming that cost of the bungalow, plus building work, would be cheaper than buying an equivalent property ready made?

3. Most bungalows are modern(1960s+) - hopefully meaning that councils won't have too many planning concerns.

4. I end up with the house being laid out as I would want.

I'm not looking to make a profit from this - just want to end up with a comfortable family home.

Is it actually worth going any further with this, or is there some glaring point that I've missed?

Does anyone have a (very) rough idea of the likely cost for the building work on a project like this? Just assuming an average 2 bed detached bungalow.

Thanks,

Tony

I'm in the process of converting a 2 bed bungalow into a 4 bed via a loft conversion. It cost aproximately 21k, although there were no dormers. That was for everything other than decorating.

The road my bunglalow is on also has a few bungalow-to-full house conversions. Whilst direct comparaon isn't easy, as they're all different, one of the converted bungalows sold for 385k in early 07. The bungalows that are currently for sale are up for 325k (and one sold recently for the same).