How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

We have just purchased a white powder coated metal hit and miss vent from Steinberg14. Not hideously ugly.

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Cheers

Whilst having the covered side passage is wonderful, the extension is going full-width boundary to boundary, with a tiny bog going in the end of the side passage.

Will be leaving half the side passage as covered storage accessible from the front of the house, with some form of vertical bike racking.

Here you go.

I've also attached a couple of pics of exterior designs we're going to be shamelessly ripping off.

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2nd extension pic will age better imo

Yeah exactly.
I’m roughly 2-3 years from that.

Did the neighbours have the faces of all the bricks ground off? Eeek.

Yep, front and back. Was nothing wrong with their brickwork before either.

We’ve got pebbledash blighting the front of ours, gonna get it removed which reluctantly involves grinding the brick faces down a tad. Will have the bricks soot-washed to tone down the custard-yellow.

Mad. But here we are!

It's been a bit of a life raft for me if I'm honest. Quit shit highly toxic university job in May super demoralised and with nothing to go to and was about to find another comms/PR job I didn't want when our architects suggested this, which turned out to be a really good idea.

I have aches in places I didn't know were places and I'm permanently knackered, especially as this phase is pretty physical (we're going back to brick and joists). Riding my bike has basicallly gone out of the window. But I'm really enjoying it, particularly seeing tangible progress, sorting out 120 years of bodges, zero office politics and being my own boss. And my cardio might be shit but I've never been physically stronger.

The contractor/client relationship with the architects is a bit funny, but we're very much on the same page (e.g. met up with them last week and explained my proposed underfloor heating buildup and it was exactly how they'd do it) and they were friends before we appointed them which makes it a bit easier.

Loft extension at the same time?
Mind sharing what the estimates for it all were?

Last project took twice as long and that was paying people, so I'm banking on four times, lol.

We will be getting grown ups in to do the structural stuff, the electrics and plumbing I can't do, the joinery, fitting windows, probably various things I've forgotten, so it's not like I'll be on my own.

But yeah in it for the long haul really and that's OK.

Fitting windows is really easy, just need suckers and a few pairs of hands

Are you volunteering to be one of the suckers? Er, I mean pairs of hands ;)

If by volunteer you mean £400/day unskilled labour then yeah, I’m your guy!

Yeah, simultaneous double dormer loft and moving the bathroom from the back of the ground floor to the first floor.

Most contractor quotes came in around £140K+VAT, excluding all of the doors & glazing, roof lights, kitchen, bathroom fittings, boiler etc etc, so a fair whack on top of that to finish.

: ((

I would contemplate the first fix electrics myself if it’s going in new construction, will save a bit and it’s not difficult just need your spark to be ok with that and happy to commission what they haven’t installed.
This is where mates in the trade or local small operators are good as they are more flexible.

I reckon a years worth of and pollution and rain will tone down the bricks.

So just all the prime costs then!

The neighbours had theirs done ~7 years ago, and they look identically custardish now…

Deffo getting ours soot-washed.

Yep, we’re not using a turnkey design & build service, so specifying and sourcing all the materials ourselves.

Really hope I’ve measured the Velfac correctly!

what are you doing for roof for the bit half way down the alley? cant work out how that will work if you're going to boundary edge and extension out back is pitched, will the alley also be pitched with a gutter right at boundary?

Nobody on our road has built a dormer extension, unsure why. If we do just the downstairs we end up with a very generous kitchen diner/ living room but remain 2 bed so unsure if the outlay is worth it. Do you know what % of the cost is for downstairs extension?

That's lovely

Yep, bog roof will be pitched, with gutter at boundary, and a tiny rooflight.

When people are paying architects a % do you pay % of construction budget, or overall budget (including architect fees, planning, etc etc)? And do you pay % of that cost pre-VAT or post-VAT?