Inspiration and advice for your building project
Search:
Extension Costs
A friend of mine has just had a quote through for a small extension that comes in at around £3,000/m2 - it's a for a small utility room extension that can't be any bigger than 5m2 in new space. Builder initially quoted £14,000 but went down to £12,000 (shell only). Still too much for my friend.
Anyone else had similar experiences?
5 answers
Doesn't really add up! Have proper drawings been provided to the builder? i.e. plan elevations and section and details eg foundation design. If not the builder may be pricing agaiinst unknown risks. Have all permissions been obtained? i.e. planning (may not be necessary - but need to know for sure) and building regulations.
If all these have been done your friend should get further quotes.
What’s the builder using gold bars as bricks that’s crazy money
1st thing to do is ask for a break down of the price,
Site Prep
LBC costs
Engineers cost for lintels if any
Foundation
Drainage
Blockwork
Roof
Windows
Knocking through to exiting
Making good
If I was him I'd just delete the number from my phone or he may have Melinda Messenger and Dom Littlewood doing season 2 filming at his gaff
We are getting quotes around £2000/sq.m for a 17 sq.m single storey extension in Greater London. Doesn't compare well with the H&R magazine newbuild guide of £1400/sq.m! Obtaining separate quotes from trades and doing our own project management is not working out much cheaper, however, and will take much longer and carry more risk.
Is £1400/sq.m actually possible to achieve?
The H&R build cost table is for new dwellings and therefore reflects some significant economies of scale across a whole building project. You also need to add in VAT for extension work at 17.5% - new dwellings are zero rated for VAT so the build cost figures do not include any VAT. Smaller extension projects will still have many of the same set up costs, such as scaffold, plant hire, LBC (Local authority building control) fees, design fees, engineer's fees, planning fees etc. which on a bigger area a spread out per square meter. All of this means the costs for smaller extensions can easily end up being nearer £1,800-2,200 per square meter rather than £1,150-1,400.
Hi
I've been looking at this thread and probably a bit late now but if your builder is willing to drop £2k from his original price then i'd leave him alone! If he can drop by that much then he's either over-charging on purpose or has no idea what it is actually going to cost at all!
I can't believe how many "Professional" builders out there actually have no idea at all about how to run a business properly. I've had builders working on my property off and on for 2 years during which time I've had the loft converted, completely converted our double storey garage into a spare annex and had side and rear extensions. As a result I must have sifted through over 30 quotes during that time which range from quotes scribbled on paper (!!!) to a builder I now work with time and again who provides me with a full breakdown of every cost and discusses all different options with me.
The last project was an extension at the back of the house and my builder came around with a laptop and we worked out most of the costs in 30 mins with us sat together. All we did was put the rough dimensions into his computer and it broke every cost down by labour and materials. He then explained how much profit he was looking to make and added that on top. The only honest, reliable and upfront builder I've come across (sorry, i'm sure there are more of you out there but i've not met any others yet).
So, in summary, make sure you get a professional quote that clearly breaks down the materials and labour. The software is called HBXL and not sure how much it costs but would be amazing for anyone who wants to self build!