Extension Advice

[T5GRF]

We are currently looking at a 2 storey extension and have had 3 quotes in ranging between £90-£110k plus vat. This will include some structural alterations in the kitchen, a new kitchen 2 new bathrooms upstairs, and the whole thing finished to a reasonable spec including plumbing, wiring, flooring and plastered finish ready for decorating.

I have got no experience of extending a property before so initially we decided to use a main contractor to do the whole lot. However I am now wondering if we were to sub contract all of the work out to the various trades and manage the job ourselves that there may be a reasonable cost saving to be made.

Has anyone done something similar recently and if so care to share your experience and perhaps an indication in percentage terms of what we might save over a main contractors quoted price?

[esselte]

We had our bungalow extended some years ago,we had the plans drawn and got quotes from a few local builders,we picked one,he did the foundations/brickwork etc and arranged all the other stuff for us..it worked well as he used people he knew and couild rely on..and obviously they had to be good 'cos it was his reputation on the line I suppose,we had a very good job done... I suppose you don't crap on your own doorstep..

[Engineer1]

You can save money but i suspect you can also foul it up massively, when the tradesmen arrive out of order. Have you watched grand designs and seen what can go wrong?

[T5GRF]

Engineer yes I appreciate the potential pitfalls having watched lots of property shows but then we are not really talking about a "Grand Design" in my case, it is really just a fairly bog standard 2 storey extension.

[robinhood21]

Do you know of a good brickie, ground-worker, plasterer, carpenter, roofer, electrician and plumber who will be available as and when required? If yes, then go ahead and maybe save some money.

[D14 AYS]

To be honest, those figures seem around the right sort of money, when you factor in 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. Find a builder you feel you can trust straight away, look at their previous work, talk to previous customers and do your homework.

Getting in the various different trades that don't know/work with each other regularly would be a nightmare for yourself. Whilst you might save some money, I don't think you would be grateful of the saving.

Good luck with your project I hope it runs smoothly for you.

[tobeee]

T5GRF said:

We are currently looking at a 2 storey extension and have had 3 quotes in ranging between £90-£110k plus vat. This will include some structural alterations in the kitchen, a new kitchen 2 new bathrooms upstairs, and the whole thing finished to a reasonable spec including plumbing, wiring, flooring and plastered finish ready for decorating.

I have got no experience of extending a property before so initially we decided to use a main contractor to do the whole lot. However I am now wondering if we were to sub contract all of the work out to the various trades and manage the job ourselves that there may be a reasonable cost saving to be made.

Has anyone done something similar recently and if so care to share your experience and perhaps an indication in percentage terms of what we might save over a main contractors quoted price?

Hi Mark

I'm having some building work at the moment, and have been really impressed with my builders. I met the project manager through work (he also runs an IT company and manages our facilities/network stuff!). I have often wondered if I could PM my own building project, but seeing the tiny detail he picks up has convinced me that, unless you are a competent builder yourself, trying to PM an extension would be a false economy! (just my opinion!).

Not sure where you are in Herts, but I'm in St.Albans so if you want a chat with me or the PM (or a quote from him) let me know and I can put you in touch.

Cheers, Toby

[Vee]

Last year we had a semi extended 2 stories on the side and single across the back.
Internally there was some major work knocking down walls and putting in steelwork.
Search on here for pics.

Total cost, finished was £110k (excluding kitchen and bathroom units/fittings but included installation of them).

This wasn't the lowest, nor the highest quote we got, but this was the builder who gave us most confidence.

[Steve_W]

Interesting topic. OH & I have got DPP on a two storey extension on the side of the house (to replace the exisitng flat-roof kitchen), and to rebuild (bigger) both front and back porches. House is late Georgian so we're going for wooden sash windows etc. to match existing.

Work will include new steelwork in the end wall as the old kitchen opening isn't big enough, also a new WC in the front porch, new en-suite upstairs in the new extension, move exisitng bathroom from one end of house to the other, and provision of a utility room in the back porch.

The two quotes we've had so far are £110,000 and £140,000 finished; another guy's bringing his figures round this Wednesday. This is just west of Reading.

Steve

[T5GRF]

Thanks for the advice and apology for the delay in replying (been on holiday)looks like I might be biting off more than I can chew so main contractor it is!

[King Herald]

Don't forget to issue unobtainable deadlines to everybody. That's what they do on the tv to make people work a little bit faster.

It always seems to work too.

[hairyben]

T5GRF said:

Thanks for the advice and apology for the delay in replying (been on holiday)looks like I might be biting off more than I can chew so main contractor it is!

A good builder should be able to project manage a job beginning to end, you don't need hanger on's like a "project manager" or an architect (once the plans are finalised). If you use a firm of builders, make it clear they're managing the job and that there must be someone on site at all times who's fluent in english. I've been on some jobs that have kept going wrong big time largely due to inability to communicate between the migrant builders/labourers, and the clients and english tradesmen like sparks, plumbers etc. This has still happened with "project managers" and architects all on board, creaming their fat off the top and doing sweet FA for it. Don't think by using a posh company with a architect talking the talk you won't end up with a ongoing nightmare.

Also the tips re: recommendations are very good, no good builder will have issue giving you referrals of work done you can visit. If you can't find a recommended builder I'd walk down the street, and knock on the doors of anyone with a recent extension, introduce yourself and ask what their builder was like.

[ooo000ooo]

We started a sunroom a couple of months after friends of ours started theirs, both similar designs and sizes, they arranged the individual trades themselves and did a lot of the work themselves to save money, we organised the foundations ourselves and then employed a good builder to do the rest. Ours was finished to a higher standard than theirs and quicker, they reckoned they'd saved themselves about 10% of our costs but didn't factor in the number of hours the husband worked on it after work and at weekends and the number of days/mornings he took off to organise stuff.
Our builder reckoned that he could get better prices from his suppliers than we'd get as strangers walking in off the street trying to playing one supplier off another.