How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Nah keep it here! One source of truth for all these types of projects.
Just seen the budget for a build dedraft did recently in e17, it’s dead nice but it was 300,000+, pretty punchy.
The back will be worth the extra 50k, tell Doug you’ll go for an IKEA kitchen for now!

We’re extending a c 1910 built house and renovating and landscaping as part of the same project.

It’s a two storey extension which almost doubles the size of the house. Plus the garage is being demolished and rebuilt to match the house.

It’s a massive job - way bigger than I anticipated. We expect to spend about £300k (this is up north) with me doing as much as I can myself. That has included me doing lots of preparation on the stone for the house, repointing the existing part of the house, putting in underfloor heating etc.

I’ve taken a career break (aside from ~three days a month freelancing) to do it and it has been fun if stressful. I’ve learned a hell of a lot.

We’ve tended to do things the most cost effective way rather than the fastest with an eye on the total spend below the eventual value but who knows what the market will do.

I’d be happy to be out for knock throughs in the summer and back in by Christmas.

Old part of the house on the left, new part on the right. Every bit of stone had to be backed off to 5 inch bed which was a hard few weeks. Two of us did 70 tonnes with Stihl saws and bolsters.

I don’t know what I want to do with my career so we’ll probably buy another house to work on after this.

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Everything is self funded (obvs we have a mortgage but not using debt for the renovation, hopefully!), no help from parents/relatives on this or previous house. One of the aims of the thread was to provide some idea of cost. I’d love it all to be cheaper but just giving the costs I’ve been told from architect/builder firm. Also not wanting to come across as a massive tosser. It’s a very hard thing to do when the quantum of things is pretty big so apologies if I’m coming across that way 😕

Corrr proper project!

Yeah price is one of the things that really frustrated me with even magazines not revealing full costs it was hard to gauge how much we’d need.
For reference this is the place that was a 300k project. https://dedraft.co.uk/projects/ar-residence/

Yeah we aren’t planning on extending due to the fact we’re in a conservation area but the only room not being touched is the WC. So it’s just a lot of work all at once (some rooms are just a replacement rear window or small internal tweak)

not at all. wasn't even directing my comment at you really - was just struck when we were doing our work (and looking into options) etc that there's not a lot of transparency on the costs around these things and how people fund those costs. wish we'd had a thread like this to refer to before we set off on our odyssey, would have given us a better sense of total costs. I had originally thought our build would be one figure - it ended up 40% higher... and that was the lowest of the three builders quotes !

Anyone got any thoughts on the study/guest bedroom area? Our thinking was pull down bed, a desk where two people can work during the day and also have a sofa/tv. We both have parents who aren’t getting younger and thought that this would be a good option for it they were staying as relatively self contained. But not sure if silly. Do we need the shower room downstairs?

This is amazing. I feel I need to see more.

Exactly!

I think downstairs shower room is smart forward planning.

Not sure if kids are in the mix (which makes this worse - but in any case where do you put coats bags shoes scooters etc ? Constant source of frustration for me with a small entry hall-just spills into our single dining living space.

+1 for a downstairs shower and creating an almost studio like space. Planning the same with my loft, if I can ever afford to get it done.

On costs - the “traditional procurement”route gives you the most control and should ensure best quality and the most competitive price -but it’s slower.

Concept design
QS does cost check
Design in almost total detail down to all fittings finishes etc or use provisional sums when you are undecided.
QS review and tender Admin
Tender to 3 -5 contractors
Interview contractors and choose one
Discuss cost savings if you need and agree contact sum
Enter contract with builder (administered by architect or pm)
Build thing -cost variations are controlled within the bounds of the contact only. QS or Architect to carry out valuations at monthly intervals to pay contractor as you go.

But I guess this is too slow / overkill for sub 100k projects. In which case you tender to builders following planning (at which point a lot is unknown) or following completion of building regs drawings (when you know a bit more about steels/foundations/ structure etc. But fittings and finishes have a big impact on overall costs so builders either make assumptions or you guide them or you leave it out to get a cost for a shell and have to do all the legwork on choosing/supplying all the gubbins yourself and adding it all up.

‘Design and build’ procurement-is a bit different - typically tendered at planning stage and architect novated to contractor to provide drawn info as required (but builder has control over detailing which will control finished outcome) - not suitable for domestic work where you want to achieve a very particular ‘design-led’ outcome.

Design and build firms like EC is not the same as D&B procurement - they are architects who also build so the benefit is that they can control quality across the board. Not sure how you know the construction cost is competitive - do they provide competitive quotes for sub contractors Is it all just handled in house ? Regardless the work looks excellent.

Don’t currently have kids but that was thinking for door to utility room as there’s side access on both sides. All those things seems quite bulky so not sure there will be enough storage in utility but 🤷‍♂️

tender to builders following completion of building regs drawings

this is what we did. in terms of fittings and finishes, the majority of ours were fairly standard. no fancy joinery etc. we discussed having walls in new mass clad in birch ply but while we liked it thought it would date, so opted for straightforward plasterboard w.dot & dab/paint finish. cost was much of a muchness betw the two options.

we then sourced and supplied e.g. kitchen cabinets/worktops, fixtures, and cloakroom fixtures (toilet, wash basin etc.) architect handled sourcing of appropriate cladding. builder's quote was basically just breakdown for everything you'd expect for walk-in condition, with a couple of gaps for the items which we were to source/supply.

we had three quotes, two of which were 20k higher than the builder we eventually chose. and the builder we chose was already basically a budget buster 😬... we tried to get another couple of quotes but I think builders often feel the juice is not worth the squeeze in pulling together these (quite detailed) quotes, so never even got a response despite architect keeping on top of them

totally understand why people say hold off on doing this or doing that on your property, until you start your proper build. we got so much stuff done which wasn't quoted for, I guess, ostensibly for 'free' (although I'm sure all that contingency is priced in to their numbers.) they've been back regularly since completion too, doing bits and bobs to make everything 100% with no suggestion of any further charges

To be honest we probably could have done more investigation - we got some ballpark estimates from architects who would contract the work out and it seemed within the same area. Ultimately we liked their work, they got good reviews (inc @chrisbmx116 ) and we liked the idea that it might remove ‘some’ stress. Difficult to scale and maintain quality but I think the concept of inhousing it all is really strong.

Another question is whether the 1st floor plan to make a master suite is a good one or whether it might decrease value as kind of reducing bedrooms. Also making two bathrooms out of one large one is Ok?

I’ll post some pics up when the weather is better. We’re covered in snow today.

t remove ‘some’ stress. Difficult to scale and maintain quality but I think the concept of inhousing it all is really strong.

Totally agree - probably really satisfying way to work. Totally short circuits the adversarial builder/architect dynamic that can happen.

If future potential scenario is 2 kids only looks like a sweet setup IMO. You’d need to loose the en-suite (to storage) and then end up with a small 4th bedroom otherwise.

Hive mind advice needed... having a bit of a melt around how much to tile.
Crude 3d attached.

A. Yeah
B. Prob - or an Oak shelf?
C. Nah.
D. Prob nah, but depends on...
E. Yes, but how high? To the ceiling? Or to the top of the window for a visual line around the whole room?
F. Same as E
G. Obvs bit in bath, same q as E and F.
H. Yeah, as high as the ledge/shelf (A)

SO the crux of it is, how high to tile the walls within the bath. Align with top of the window or go all the way to the ceiling? The former might make the room feel a bit more integrated but think I like the idea ion the later more?

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I'd tile to the ceiling personally - but If i'd had the budget I would have tiled evrythng! We did ash vanity top (worktop offcut) - is nice - has held up well.

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Is that yours? I kinda wanted two one tiles but decided against it in the end...
Any IRL pics? Because that's really similar...

I say this from a place of love... u need to work on ur posture. and tuck that shirt in

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