Quote for an extension

[GoogleFox]

We recently had planning permission to build a 2 story extension to our house, about 23'x12' - in theory pretty 'standard', although we asked for that to include fitting of kitchen, bathroom and converting a neighbouring room to a downstairs toilet.

Our 'guesstimate' prior to planning permission after talking to a builder was around 30k (at 100GBP per sq ft, seemed reasonable to me, based on what Ive read here).

Our first quote is at 73k, our second is at 93k (oh plus VAT! - the first quote isnt VAT registered).

Talking to a friend of ours who had similar work done around 4 years ago, theirs cost 30k!

Now our house is only a few miles away but in a more upmarket area. Given the change in market conditions, does anyone feel our quotes are somewhere in cloud-cuckoo land? (We live in Camberley, Surrey).

When asking for a quote should we be asking for the minimum work or add in these extras. Ideally I would like an itemised quote so we can see where the costs are and decide to scale back based on where the most expense is.

Any comments or guidance on how to approach this? We're still waiting for more quotes, and tried to be open with our builders but maybe they think we are made of money and can take advantage. (Of course the quotes they gave us amounted to about one paragraph and a single price so we cannot judge except by comparison).

I'm about to downgrade the local building population to something not much higher in evolutionary scales to something about the same as a can of beans.

Oh and for more amusement, we had a local 'good' double glazing guy come out, spend a couple of hours going over our requirements etc, etc. No hard sale - we wanted to buy! Have yet to hear a word from the scumbag about our 'quote'.

I guess its the state of the market - but have yet to meet a 'bad double glazing' salesmen as they seem to just 'ignore' us even when we sign up for those people dishing out leaflets in shopping centres.

[Mike Taylor]

If you really want to get a full breakdown it may cost you some money up front

1st of all you will have to prepeare a full specification, a "Bill of Quantities" and full architechtural drawings. The bill of quantities will be prepared by a quantity surveyor. The stipulation of quoting will be that you can call for the priced bills before offering the job to compare them. I doubt if some small builders will be prepared or even know how to price them so you will have to go to larger contractors. Good luck but I think you will have an enormous job finding contractors willing to price a fairly small contract in such a way

[Michael Mcneil]

I imagine labour has doubled since what 3 or 4 years ago in that area. The land is not part of the price though, so what the rest of the price difference is is worth investigating.

There is no need to tell any of your prospective builders any more of your business than they need to know. Play your cards closer to your chest.

You might want to get into CAD and have a more hands on understanding of what is going to be going on. I've never been able to follow it myself. That's the best I can do you for.

[Scott Mills]

Well, he bloody well should be. The compulsory VAT registration threshold is a turnover of 55k/year now unless he only does 1 extension every 18mths (doubtful) he is doing some dodgy cash deals . I wouldn't use him

[David Hearn]

Our builder friend who works for a local building company gave us a very rough idea of a 2 story extension when we looked at a house a year ago. He estimated about £35-£40k for the building work - not including internal stuff. So £30k fully finished does sound low. No idea whether the higher ones are realistic though.

We're in Guildford and went with S+C Windows based in Farnham. No hard sell, just did a quote, left a contract to sign after he'd gone if we wanted to go with it. We were told we may get 1 call after that, but no pressure. We went with them anyway and have been pleased so far (just started installing yesterday).

If you do decide to get a quote from them - it would be great if you could pass on our details (email me for more info) as we do get a nominal £25 for recommending people who proceed after quote.

David

[Neil Jones]

converting

threshold is

Maybe he has an arrangement where he gets the client to pay the subbies direct, and the client also pays the BM for the materials. In effect his turnover would be below the threshold.

But I agree it sounds a bit dodgy and should be trested with caution.

Neil

[Wheelbarrowbob]

When you have your planning permission published in the local rag you will morer than likely get builders merchants asking for a copy of the plans to quote you materials. Phone all your local builders merchants, ( have you got a Tippers down there ? ) and ask for a quantity surveyor quote based on your plans . My extension 19` x 14` , the builder charged me 13750 2 years ago, for building, studding, roofing and tiling and inserting windows. I dug out footings, plaster boarded, wired, hung doors, skirting archetrive and decorated etc. Still cost me between 35-40K but kitchen was probably near 10K. So your quote is maybe a little high, but you have room to bargain on bricks, blocks, sand etc, its the labour that costs, do as much as you can yourself, have a go, if you balls it up , rip it out and get a pro in. be interested to see how you get on.

[David Hearn]

Was yours a 2 story extension? The OP's extension is 2 story. Just want to make sure we're comparing like for like.

David

[Wheelbarrowbob]

yes, with a pitched roof and valley into next doors roof, although I live in the country and things are more likely cheaper, I dont know ?

[GoogleFox]

many thanks everyone who has posted here. Very enlightening. I certainly would be interested in doing some of the leg work myself but that would be a cost-benefit analysis really (time off work vs paying someone else). I can understand labor costs being higher (maybe ought to wait for housing crash :-) ) and if I can get an understanding from any of the quoters where they are placing costs, that would be a great start.

Should get another quote this weekend and another builder coming out next week, so I fear we may retire before the work gets done or the planning perms will expire at this rate.