Extending home rather than moving?

[D J Fryer]

My detached garage is falling down and needs to be rebuilt. Thinking we will get it done and incoprorate a single storey downstairs extension to give more living space/utility/wc etc.

Now my thinking is that moving at the moment isn't a good idea and that builders may be getting desparate for jobs and therefore keener with their prices.

I don't think we will recoup full cost of extension in the house value (local estate agent's opinion).

Work will be partially paid for from savings and increased borrowing on mortgage current account.

Because I am a cautious person I am slightly worried about extended borrowing (albeit likely to be less than £40K) and we have plenty of equity in the property (declining everyday it seems!).

Are there any risks/issues that I should be considering. Does anyone have any current experience of whether builders are becoming desparate for work or not? What is likely to happen with interest rates in the next 2 to 3 years?

Anyone doing the same thing?

[Kryten]

The only risk is if you cannot afford the increased payments or are forced to sell the house if overall equity drops below 0. Other than that there is not a big risk financially.

No one knows what will happen with the interest rates in the next 2-3 weeks let alone 2-3 years! If inflation goes rife then they will go up, if this crisis remains around a while then they will stay lowe or maybe even lower.

My sister was considering doing the same thing, but decided in the end to just redecorate the house etc from savings and a little mortgage extension on re-mortgaging.

[D J Fryer]

I think I am willing to gamble on base rate staying at broadly the same level for the next year or so (within 1.5% either way). The extra mortgage burden is affordable and I won't need to remortgage. I think I just need to put the 'disaster' type scenario to the back of my head! :D

So what sort of sq/m cost should I be looking at as a ready reckoner for this extension then!?

[Ricinus]

If you do decide to do it - get on with it!
We prevaricated about a loft conversion for 18 months and the price went up 14%. A combination of rising raw materials and a change in fire regs needing more expensive doors.

[vast_girth]

Currently having an en-suite added and in January we are adding an single storey rear extension. (would have been done sooner had it not been for the the stupid 12 weeks it took to get planning and then the goverment changing the rules so you didn't need it at all!)

Total cost all in (inc all fees, additional costs) will be a bit under 35k. Im not expecting to make much if any profit on it regarding house value, but we are not intending to move for a good few years and it will make the house a much nicer place to live.....

[D J Fryer]

vast girth - same circumstances as me, not intending on moving but more reception space and somewhere to hide the laundry etc would make the house more comfortable - if you don't mind an ever so rude question - what per sq/m cost would that be and whereabouts in the UK are you?

ricinus - I think I am going to play hardball and not rush - I really think that builders will be more competitive over the next 12 months or so bearing in mind all the new build work will have dried up

[vast_girth]

I can't remember the exact size but its about 2.5metres out by about 4-5 metres wide. We were told to expect about £1000 per square metre, but its certainly a bit more than than. Although we have some complications which add to the cost...

What we are doing extending the kitchen to become a kitchen diner, and adding a small study/utility room off the side of it. Because of where the drains are we need to dig deeper than normal and have extra concrete to re-enforce them, and also slightly off-set part of the build because of a drain cover.

We are also turning the door from the kitchen to from room into a double door. Because its a load bearing wall this will need strengthening.

As mentioned we are also having an ensute put in. This part of the job is costing about 5-6k.


At the moment we have a 3 bedroom house (2 doubles, 1 single used as a study), with a front room, small kitchen and downstairs bathroom.

At the end of the work we should end up with a 3 bedroom house with an upstairs shower room and downstairs bathroom, more spacious feeling front room, study/utility room and good size kitchen diner...

Im in Surrey (Farnham) by the way. Out builder seems pretty good, was the best quote, considerably cheaper than some of them, and has done a good and effiecent job so far... http://www.buildsure.co.uk

[stevejm]

I got an quote of £50k to put in two single rooms above the garage.

I was stunned.

[vast_girth]

I got an quote of £50k to put in two single rooms above the garage.

I was stunned.


get more quotes. We had about 20k difference between the cheapest and most expensive....

[stevejm]

get more quotes. We had about 20k difference between the cheapest and most expensive....

This was from a surveyor neighbour ... he said expect to pay between £40k and 60k. Chances are by the time we can afford it we won't need the room! :lol: