Any architects on here?

Halloweeny! We have bought a house too! Congrats on yours as I know you struggled!

We are also building an extension. We speak to the architect next week. He is doing a site visit. Prices depend on size and complexity of the build. I will keep you posted on what he does and the price of ours

Oh many congratulations!! So pleased for you!!

we haven't actually exchanged yet, but it all looks ok so i'm being positive ;-)

It needs quite a bit of work so we thought we'd start making ourselves clever before having to move in.

Please do let me know how you get on with your architect. It would really help to know how they price their work and what exactly is included. The internet is confusing me on this.

Halloweeny!!!! We haven't exchanged yet but it is a private sale with someone I used to work with. Surveys are done so hopefully it will all be fine.

Husband saw the architect last night. He will be back on Friday for 2 to 3 hours to do his formal measurements etc. He is £300. We also have to pay 200 for building regulations as our extension is within the limits and we don't need formal planning permission. The extension includes the knocking down of a few walls, using a steel beam to replace, roof, bifold doors and roof windows. All drawn up by this guy.

I think it costs more to have planning permission.

Oh that's extremely reasonable!! Do you mind me asking where you live?

We're in London and my internet search tells me they charge a percentage of the build cost here. The range is between 5-15%. so £300 sounds very reasonable! Lucky you! :-)

We met with a couple who are both architects and friends of friends. They seemed very nice but are just starting out and can't get the job done till later this year which doesnt suit us. They quoted £2000 including the detailed tender drawings for the builders (the ones where it says where to put the light switch etc).

Will your architect just do the basic drawings or will he do the tender ones too and will he project manage the build? Do you need to pay separately for the structural engineer if you're having RSJs put in?

Your extension sounds the same to what we are planning (big doors in the back, 3 velux windows in the new roof and some steels to hold it all up), but sadly we need planning as it's just 30cm over the permitted development rules. It would look really weird if we just cut that corner short i think... I guess if the cost difference is huge we may just have to do that.

We are in Cheshire. Macclesfield actually. We do have to pay for the structural engineer too. Not sure what that is going to cost. I am guessing no more than 200. No idea what sort of plans they are but I will find out.

We already have a separate project manager who is overseeing the whole house. We need rewiring, cavity wall ties, gable end ties, heating, change to water supply, all flooring, woodwork, decorating, plastering. EVERYTHING! My friend is the project manager but it is his day to day job too.

Meh.... This is when i get annoyed about 'London prices'. We had an engineer draw up some stuff so we can have a chimney breast removed at our current flat and the cheapest quote we could get was £600. Bloody irritating.

Thanks - i'd be interested to know how much he's doing for £300. I'll pay for his train fare to come down here if i need to. That would be cheaper than getting a London architect. haha!!

Oh that's lucky that you have a friend who can project manage. i'm sure he'll have some good contacts and will keep everyone in check. I'm jealous!

OH has decided he wants to project manage himself. I don't think he's quite clear on how much work that will be. He works full time so he can't just bugger off home to work on the house... not sure how it will work but i guess we'll end up with 4 walls at some stage. haha!

Sounds like a big job you've got there. will you be living somewhere else whilst the work is being done?

our list is similar. rewiring, new radiators (removing some as there seem to be radiators on very wall), changing really old tank system boiler to a normal combi, all flooring, woodwork, decorating, taking down walls between bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen etc and if we can afford it removing the pebble dashing

At least the windows and roof look ok.

We can't afford to stay elsewhere so will have to live on a building site for a while.

Halloweeny does your H have any project management experience?

The reason I ask is that you may find your costs/programme spiral if he can't be there all the time. I would think a bit differently if he had experience or even if he worked from home so he could be there to sort issues out right away. Just imagine they find something they don't know what to do with, how will he deal with that? If you've got trades standing around not making progress they will probably still want to be paid.

I work in the construction industry (housebuilding) so know about mass housebuilding. If you need a hand let me know.

Unless you count having our current flat done which included a new kitchen, bathroom, floor leveling, new windows etc OH doesn't have project management experience. I dont think it's comparable as it wasn't all going on at the same time and it's a smaller space so probably easier to stay on top of things? It took sooooo long too. He did an amazing job mind you, but i just think he's biting off more than he can chew with this. Will show him this thread!

Thanks for offering to help Holey! Would you say getting the architect to project manage is the best way forward or can a builder do that? We have worked with a builder before who had several trades within his company. I was thinking that would keep things under control and then OH can 'manage' the builder so he feels like he's doing something. Unlike me he really enjoyed the process of doing up the flat and wants lots of input and having a look at what they're doing... I'll just be glad when they're done. haha!

My ideal plan would be to get an architect to do the drawings for the planning stage and the tender. Then once we have that the builder takes over the project management and OH dabbles a bit. Just not sure if that's realistic/possible...

HALLOWEENY!!!!!!!!!!!

How are you getting on with the house and works? We got the keys last monday and as we had already got plans drawn and the engineer had done the calculations etc we are ready to roll. All the wallpaper and carpet is gone already (thanks to my parents) we have removed the kitchen and bathroom. The chimney stack comes down Friday (the wall below is being removed. And the footings are being dug on Saturday!!!!!!!!! Go go go!!!!!!

Also the architect was £303 for full extension plans. He dealt with the engineer but that was a separate £300 cost. The building regs application was £567 and they come and inspect at various points.

Oh wow! congratulations!!! yey!!! ? That's fantastic news!

Goodness, you don't hang about do you!? That's pretty impressive if you've just picked up the keys. I hope it all goes amazingly well. Do you know when it'll all be finished?

That's such a reasonable price for the architect/engineer Pixie. You've got a real bargain there. Seriously!

We're due to exchange mid July and then complete end of August. The seller's on holiday which delays things. We found out that her husband died last year which is why she's selling. So we don't want to stress her out by asking her to move out quicker.

We've spoken to a builder who has given us a half way decent quote. We'll probably go with him and he'll deal with building regs apparently. Phew! Bit stuck with the architect, but he's recommended some guys who seem a bit more reasonable. Otherwise there's 'architectural drawers' (whatever that is) who can do the drawings for planning. We're not building anything earth shattering so are half tempted to go with that option as it's a lot cheaper.

Most of the architects here seem to quote on a % of the build cost. The range seems to be 5% - 12%, which seems a massive range of price.

Halloweeny an architectural drawer will literally just prepare the plans for you whereas an architect will carry on being involved whilst the works are being carried out.

If you've got a good builder, good plans and the works aren't too complicated you'd probably be ok just using a drawer. However if the works are major your architect will be worth their weight in gold. If you want an idea watch old episodes of grand designs where some people have them and some people don't and see which ones run over time/budget wise ?

Thanks Holey!

Yes - we're weighing up whether having the architect on board throughout might help move things along and keep us on budget. It's really hard to know what to do as our budget is limited.

We're just doing a side return with a standard flat roof, recessed roof lights and some bi-fold doors at the end. I'm not sure if that counts as major work? It's one story high and there is side access which will hopefully help keep costs down. The builder we are thinking of using basically just does side returns so hopefully is experienced enough in that kind of work to get the job done without too many problems...

I'm conscious that it might not be quite as fancy without an architect from a design perspective, but frankly we haven't got a lot of money to build this thing so we can't really afford shadow gaps etc. ?

Thanks for pointing out that the architect also keeps the schedule/budget in check. I'm not sure we'd thought of that enough... ☹️

You've said flat roof with roof lights, do you definitely mean a flat roof? Personally from a maintenance point of view I would try to avoid flat at all costs!

3 of the 5 architects we've spoken to have suggested flat roof as it's supposedly 'modern' so we thought 'hey we'll go with that then'. It makes no difference to us as we don't mind a pitched roof with the standard velux roof lights. I think they like the flat roofs as you can make one continuous ceiling without a bit that's pitched. As we didn't have strong feelings we just thought we'd follow the advice of the majority.

We've asked all of them and a few builders about maintenance and they all said it wouldn't make a difference if it's properly installed and there's a slight gradient.

Oh i feel really scared now! what else have they been making up :-(

on the plus side a friend of a friend has just been in touch to recommend their builder. Apparently he's just done the same job for them. they are really happy with the outcome and it's £10K cheaper than the guy we were going to go with.

Sorry I didn't mean to worry you!

I just know from my work point of view we would try to avoid at all costs!

No, i'm grateful to you for telling me Holey! I'll chat with OH about it and we'll also see what this latest builder suggests.

Argh! why is this so difficult?

Tbh OH really wants to do this blinking extension. I'm sure it'll be lovely when finished, but i'm really worried something will go wrong and it'll cost us more than we can afford. You know - the dreaded Grand Designs situation where they run out of money half way through and are enslaved to their house forevermore. And we won't even have Kevin to come round and tell us it's all worth it because of the clean lines.

Anyway, i guess it'll be ok in the end. We're not the first people to be doing this and Pixie seems to be getting on ok! Pixie - i want lots of positive updates to get me in the right frame of mind.

OK. Positive update number 1!!!! We were naughty and got the architect to do his work BEFORE we got the keys. Just asked the seller for access a few times. This is why we can start already.

Foundations are started and will be finished this week! Eeeeek!

My advice would be to get a firm handle on what you can afford before you start anything. It's not about what you or OH want but what you can achieve without starving!!! ? I actually wanted a downstairs loo and utility but it's just not realistic at the moment.

Extensions are ballpark 1.3k per square metre. Anything under 3m out from the house doesn't need permission and is far easier.

Take into account archtect fees, building engineer fees and the building regs on top.

Whatever your budget is make sure you have at least a 10% contingency.

Glad it's going well Pixie! sounds like they're really trying to get this moving quickly.

Our seller's on holiday and doesn't want strangers there whilst she's not in the house. She's a really sweet lady but seems quite anxious (understandable, she's just lost her husband) so we'll have to wait until she's back from hols.

We've got a couple of quotes within our budget so now it's just a matter of getting the best deal value for money wise. OH has a fancy spreadsheet with all sorts of contingencies etc. I don't really understand it, but it looks very impressive.

We need planning and have had that confirmed by the planning office. I don't think it's a huge concern as other people have done it on the same road. Will still have to be nice to the neighbours though! Hopefully it won't be an issue.

If other people have done the same work on the road then you are usually ok with getting permission. We have also been careful with the neighbours in the attached house (it is a semi) She has our numbers and that of the project manager in case there are any issues.

Halloweeny! How is the house coming on?

We are at the point of the roof going on the extension! Exciting but still a long way to go!

We get the keys on Friday! :-)

Builder is lined up, some guy is coming on Friday to measure up for planning permission (our extension exceeds the limit for permitted developments by 30cm). Our seller was so uncomfortable letting us in to measure the place that we just gave up. THen she was on holiday for a month so it's all been delayed. Anyway, we're almost there now!

THey probably won't start building the actual extension until November due to the planning permission malarkey. Bit annoyed about the delay, but there's nothing we can do.

How exciting! Please post a before and after - would love to see it. How long has it been now? Sounds like they did lots in a fairly short space of time.

So glad it's going well.A re you happy with the builders?

Halloweeny - It will be worth waiting for though. I will cross everything that the planning goes through quickly for you. All very exciting! Extension aside, congratulations on your new house!

It has happened very quickly but there is still a long way to go. The whole house is still a shell!

Oh wow! look at that!! looks good and doesn't seem to have taken them very long. Amazing! even got the windows in the new roof already.

How long do you think it'll be until you're finished?

Are you living there at the moment?

We've started wallpaper stripping in ours and took a partition wall down on the bank holiday weekend. Wasn't too bad actually. I'm quite impressed we managed without doing any damage to ourselves and hardly any damage to the walls/ceiling.

The architect is working on the planning application and we've been round to say hello to the neighbours who seem fairly relaxed. The one who would be affected the most is moving out and is due to exchange next week so i don't think she'll particularly care if we build an extension. The new guys might, but having been in her garden i don't think they'll mind as we're not building up to the boundary.

I am very excited by those ELECTRIC roof windows. Decided they would never get opened if they were manual, too much effort.

I have been told October towards the end. I will be happy if we are in before mid November as it is our daughter's 2nd birthday. We are not living there. It would be impossible. We have been living with my parents for 5 weeks. It's ok though as they go away a lot in the caravan (they retired at Xmas) They are away Sun to Thursday most weeks.

Well done getting started, the more you can do yourselves the better! Cheaper and you also aren't waiting around for trades people to be available. Post some pics!

We gave both neighbours or number in case they had any issues but so far so good. It really is a bit tough anyway if they "mind" if you get the planning then it's a go!

I will post some pictures. i tried getting them off my phone onto laptop this weekend, but gave up as my laptop has seemingly given up the ghost. Might post them later from phone. Be prepared for extra large pics.

Just had the room plastered and am getting excited about having the floor laid and painting it. Almost there! Next job need to get the coving put up and the flooring delivered.

How's it going at your end?

I'm so jealous of the electric roof lights! amazing!! It would be a lovely birthday present for your daughter if you were in by November.

We have 3 rooms plastered apart from around the windows. Windows should be here by Friday and fitted soon after. Kitchen frames are here but not in yet. Hoping the bathroom goes in soon too.

It's feeling like it's actually happening quickly now!

Get some pictures on! I want a nosey :-)

Right - the first pic is before. The pret owner had a wall put up dividing main bedroom into two. You had to walk through one room to get to the other.

second pic is with wall down and half stripped. Will post an update once it's painted and has floors in.

Ps: Excuse the dirty curtains. They were left by the previous owner and I'd rather get hers dirty before putting mine up.

Much better space now! It's a lovely size. Very exciting!

Any more progress on the extension?

No!!! he's sooooo slow! he was meant to get back to us last week with a date for a meeting. heard nothing from him at all since. Going to chase him up this week. The builder and he work together and he said he was dead slow so at least we were warned. Apparently he's good though so fingers crossed.