Be Excellent To Each Other

Just got my plans from our designer for our house extension.

Not gone through planning yet so this is really the first pass and a chance for us to price up some of the features, the main one being a huge triangular shaped window in the master bedroom that is 6 meters along the base before we submit.

Never done this before so what I'm doing first before anything else is

Prices for windows and doors

Price for Kitchen design

Bathrooms (need 3 of them)

Measured all the floor space and added 10% and have total floor space that needs carpets etc

After this I will have an idea of what the construction costs with basics like doors. plaster wiring and plumbing

The construction is not huge we are making use of a house with a good footprint that has bad use of space.

No question we are moving out whilst this goes on!

Not sure if I pay a builder to manage it all or do it myself, anybody have experience with this sort of stuff?

Pay the builder. Get the cost of materials agreed on up front.

I take it the triangular window is under the roof eaves or something, and not in a square wall?

This the proposal, (rear of house) we would have no ceiling as such in the bedroom just use all the gable end space

Very nice.

Yes I like the idea, but if its a huge cost it might have to go in favour of something else.

Also wonder how you deal with the light and heat, a windows that size would go a long way to making the bedroom like a greenhouse in the summer, we have a set of patio doors and a balcony there now and the sun shines right through mid afternoon.

Obviously the problem with a pointy window is that it's impossible to put a lintel above it. Do you know if that's a supporting wall? You could have problems if it is. Given the pitch of the roof I'd have assumed the supporting walls were the ones running the other way, but you appear to have a roof with a parallel pitch the other end of the house, so it's hard to tell.

Once we have agreed in principle then I think we send to as structural engineer who advises where we put steels and have load baring walls, so not sure yet!

Nah, you just have an arched lintel.

Huh.

Yeah, a big-ass apex lintel is what you want there. If you go online and search Keystone or IG Lintels, you can fill in a form with all the critical dimensions to get an idea of what the cost will be.

The main way we save the client money when building is to get away from the products the Architect specifies and find more economic alternatives. Names you need to look out for, and try to find alternatives to, are Catnic lintels, Kingspan insulation and Gyproc plasterboard. You'll pay price the rate per m2 for Kingspan insulation as you will for Celotex or Xtrathem for exactly the same specification.

I don't know your financial situation but assuming you don't have a bottomless pit of cash, it's also advisable to pick a bathroom to compromise on at this stage. In our house, our en-suite is the highest spec, followed by the family bathroom, followed by the upstairs shower room. The complete shower, plus WC and basin costs us £310. I've set a budget of £10/m2 for field tiles for the walls, with a little extra for a feature band or mosaic in the shower, and it'll have vinyl on the floor. It'll look absolutely fine and pristine and new but the money we save there will go towards my sanctuary downstairs!

The most important thing you can do as a client is get your brief and performance spec finalised. You (your designer) need to specify absolutely everything, from the level of solar control you want for your glass, to the type of sub-floor you need. The builder is pricing to win the job, he will not voluntarily price things he knows he can leave out or reduce the spec of, and that leaves you open to lots of extra costs once the work begins.

If you'd like, I could take a look over the plans and suggest what things you should consider now and what you should be looking at. It's so easy to blow your budget before you even get as far as finishes.

Bit of background, I'm a quantity surveyor working for a contractor so I'm all about reducing costs and noticing the things the architect has left out!

That's I'll send them over in the next day or so, have them on PDF on work PC but not on home one!

The parents of someone I once knew had windows like that in their bedroom. It led onto a small balcony. It was lovely. Good call.

Had some "budget quotes" back from a local Windows company

The big triangular window £5200

The 6 panel bi-folding doors almost £7000

Don't think that the triangular window price included any sort of tinting or any other privacy options

Also had a quote for just the triangular done in a special glass that turned a number of colours when you flicked a switch that was £1000 a square meter so £15,000 or more for just that window!

You'll have to cut the corners of your curtains.

Still looking at moving house as well as this scheme

Viewing a house tomorrow that is fine space wise but needs new windows and decoration as well as the kitchen replacing and knocking into one.

Its got half an acre of back garden\woods though! That's as much space as my entire house plot plus the houses on either side

Don't hold out much hope as this one is in the middle of 2 others on the same sized plot, both of these have been extended and are worth a million each. Although I could afford to buy the house and do the basic improvements I will be up against people with deeper pockets

Its also probate so the beneficiary's are always after the biggest price.

Still you never know!

House was fantastic, turns out much of the woodland is protected so hopefully that might put off people wanting to make a huge house with half and acre of manicured lawn!

Also the people who inherited the house want to sell to a family and sat on the house for a year after their mother died before putting it on the market so maybe money is not the only motivation.

Had to put an offer in by email today by 9am so sent a personal note to the sellers telling they how much we liked it etc, can only wait and see now

Fingers crossed!

Good luck!

Wow, 2015! How are things now Asfish?

Our build is coming on nicely now, we've got three walls up and might have a roof in the next few days.

We've got a big hole now (yes, yes... I know).

Bold move making a big hole on a Friday

Heh, hopefully the steels are going in as I type.