Boris is not the only one who is levelling up his kingdom, we are too but with a bulldozer!
Not
one for wishing my days away but I’m super excited at the prospect of cracking
on next year with phase II of our house refurb which will involve building a
single storey rear extension on the back of the house to create an open plan
kitchen diner.
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| Before - existing area and kitchen window |
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| After - view showing new extension |
Now
if you’re thinking I’m taking up trowel to learn brick laying then think
again. This is one of those times when
you’ve got to leave it to the professionals and just pay the bills. Building an extension is not something even I
can bodge my way through and I wouldn’t want to either.
I’m
not going to bore you with the trials and tribulations of the extension
planning and costing saga as it’s been nothing but a long slog from start to
finish but let’s just say it’s ended up as an exercise in compromise. Grand plans for a long extension across the
back of the house scaled down to a mere 12 sq metres and even that is going to
wipe out my savings pots. Construction
costs are very expensive so it’s important to manage your own expectations as
well as the project planning.
To
give you a rough idea of how much a small 3 m x 4 m single storey rear
extension might cost you, allow a budget of between £30,000 to £50,000. Forget Google’s cost indications of £2,000 to
£2,500 per square metre as each building company appears to have their own
unique way of arriving at an estimate, the likes of which are not to be
revealed to us mere mortals.
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| What a 3 m x 4 m extension would look like |
My
cheapest quote came in at just under £28,000 not including electrics, plumbing
or building inspection fees and my most expensive quote was just over £43,000
for everything excluding building inspection fees as these have to be paid for
separately or internal decorating.
Set
aside a buffer fund for this type of project as you know that as soon the first
brick is laid, there’ll be a whole host of unaccounted for issues that will arise
like a multi-headed hydra for you to vanquish.
Things such as underpinning foundations, reinforcing or replacing
lintels generally only come to light once construction has started and if the
Building Inspector says it’s got to be done, you have no choice but to comply. You’ll need a flexible, plastic friend to
come to your aid.
And
having paid out all this dosh, expect to get just a finished shell of a
building that’ll still need to be decorated from top to bottom. Set aside a decorating fund to cover new
flooring, lighting, radiators, coving, painting and furnishing.
If
you can, buy as much of your interior decorating or furnishing items in
advance, when on sale or take advantage of those interest free deals that pop
up. I’ve already drawn up a shopping
list the length of 3 football pitches ready for Black Friday, Christmas and the
Boxing Day sales. Vouchers are not a cop
out, please make mine DIY ones.
So,
what’s the plan? To end up with
something that looks remotely like these diagrams, a single storey room added
to the back of the existing kitchen which will become our dining room.
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| Garden space soon to become a dining room |
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| Design blends in with existing building |
The
extension will be knocked through to create one room that flows through into
the other. I’d have loved to also make
the new extension open out into the back garden with a set of fancy glass
bi-fold doors leading out onto a paved patio but this is one of the compromises
I’ve had to make due to the high cost of bi-folds.
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| View of interior plan with extension |
Instead,
a set of French doors on the side wall will lead out onto a paved patio area
and a large window will face the rear garden.
Not shown on these plans, a glass velux window in the flat roof will
allow lots of natural daylight in to brighten up the room and not take too much
light from the kitchen.
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| View showing new French doors |
Of
course, the kitchen will also need demolishing in the process and re-configured
into an L shaped layout to allow for a connecting arch to be built between the
two rooms. More expense! And a separate project on the ‘to do’ list.
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Plan showing reconfigured kitchen |
If
all comes together successfully, I may not have a pension to retire on but I
will have a lovely new kitchen diner. Roll on May 2022.
