I know its been asked before but how much for an extension

[Ged]

Folks..

Been going through hell for the last year..Living in Edinburgh and decided to extend the house given 3 small children etc etc etc...

Basically it's taken about 12 months to get to this stage of tender- couple of months working with architect... 3 months planning and then a further month after resubmitting changes and building warrant stage

- 5 months...I kid you not..Claimed they are busy...

Basically we are extending the bungalow out the back by about 4 metres, putting a new roof on and creating 3 new bedrooms upstairs.. On the architects suggestions and given i am extremely competent I have decided to " perhaps " undertake all internal work, insulation, plastering, stud walls, flooring, wiring and plumbing etc etc..

Architect quoted circa £ 70K + vat...12 tenders out so far...10 don't want work for a variety of reasons..too busy, not in business anymore etc..

Two quotes have come back at £137 + Vat and £140K + Vat...Both architect and structural engineering company laughed at these but we've just had a 3rd company out and he was giving a ballpark figure of £120K + Vat...

Even with me doing all the internals etc they are knocking about £10K off the above prices..I was led to believe about 35 to 40% would be knocked off.

This to me is so far off the planet I won't go ahead with the extension..Anyone any thoughts on what the above would typically cost?

Thanks and regards for any comments...Even jokes to cheer me up!!

Ged

[Owain]

"Ged" wrote | Been going through hell for the last year..Living in Edinburgh

yeah :-)

| Architect quoted circa £ 70K + vat...12 tenders out so far...10 don't | want work for a variety of reasons..too busy, not in business anymore | etc.. | Two quotes have come back at £137 + Vat and £140K + Vat...Both | architect and structural engineering company laughed at these but | we've just had a 3rd company out and he was giving a ballpark figure | of £120K + Vat...

That's what it'll cost then ...

| Even with me doing all the internals etc they are knocking about £10K | off the above prices..I was led to believe about 35 to 40% would be | knocked off.

They probably aren't knocking much off because they don't really want the hassle of working around an 'amateur'.

Presumably these were 'main contractor' quotes for the whole job. You might be better being your own main contractor or having your architect manage the job and hiring subbies directly (with yourself as one of the subbies for the apporpriate works). You may find it easier to get more than 2 quotes for each subby job as well, which should help.

Owain

[N. Thornton]

There are several ways to get a job done. Bringing in a company to oversee the whole thing is about the most expensive option. Its nice if you can afford that, but as you see many cant.

Running the project yourself and hiring subbies is cheaper, as long as youre not stupid.

Employing someone out of work full time for a year is cheaper still. You get one person who will have some of the skills, you show them how to do the stuff they dont already know. While theyre working youre reading up on the next job.

Asking around for Cheapskate Charlie who will quote you a third the price is another. You get to tidy up his little foibles afterwards, allow for this ahead of time. The work wont be brilliant but its often chosen because it makes the project runnable, and things can be tidied up when more moneys available later.

Hiring passing vagrants is the cheap and dirty end of the market, I dont know how often that happens, or what the legalities are. I would avoid it.

Learning how to do it all yourself is the cheapest, if you have the time and energy.

Its your pick.

Regards, NT