When considering a home extension, there are two key factors to consider. What you don’t want is a load of BS, and that is precisely what we strive to avoid. The most important thing is the cost. You want to know the price.
You may want to invite several builders around to give you a ‘ball park’ budget cost.
Builders’ costs vary significantly. You should not expect one builder to adhere to the quotation of another builder. It really can be hit and miss trying to get a realistic cost from builders. Some builders use quantity surveyors to cost the works, but they need drawings to do this.
The most accurate method for assessing the budget cost of your building work is to use a cost-per-square-meter approximation. In the Southeast of England, build costs vary from a budget basic build quality cost of £2,500- £ 3,000 per square meter, intermediate build quality is around £3,000-£ 4,500, and high-end quality is £ 4,500 to £ 6,000. These figures are based on my personal experience working on extensions in South East London over many years.
You can only obtain proper, fixed, and accurate build costs when you have completed architectural and structural drawings. I know that you don’t want to pay for that until you have decided to do it ahead, but it is very risky to do it the other way around because builders will lose interest quickly when they realise they are not making a profit. They are less likely to make a profit when unforeseen work is needed.
Once you have deduced that the build is within your budget, you will want to know if the local council will allow you to build it.
Some building work is so minor that it is considered ‘permitted development’ and does not require planning approval.
For larger building work, you will need planning approval. Once the drawings have been submitted to the council, they can take 8-11 weeks to make a decision. Councils publish planning advice to help homeowners and designers prepare compliant designs, thereby reducing the likelihood of their application being refused. We have accumulated a great deal of experience.
And know that nine times out of ten, you’ll know what will be approved and what won’t. Sometimes our Clients go against our advice and choose to submit a design to the council that we have advised is risky. You may want to test the water and see if they will accept a particular design. If refused, you may wish to appeal the decision with the Planning Inspectorate, which is separate from the council and sometimes overrules it.
Like most things in life, you won’t know for sure unless you try. We are all prone to procrastination and want our questions answered to gain clarity, so please do not hesitate to contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Once you have decided to proceed with the project, we will help you choose the design using our three-dimensional visualisation tools.
