I'm considering putting a side extension onto the house (a top and bottom one). It'll be 12ft wide and 27 ft long. Approx how long could/ should it take to complete? How many people should there be employed/ working on such a project?
TH
I take it your next posted question will be "how long is a piece of string?" :o)
It's a bit of a silly question and begs the silly answer that it will take longer than you think and the builder will employ as many as it takes. Even with a good builder you will have to leave it up to him, he won't start when he says he will and unforseen problems will make it take longer. Never bank on a finish time is the golden rule. If it's a side extension you will need planning permission as well as building regs approval which means someone to draw up the plans and time for the planning process. If you get a crap builder he might be able to start straight away. Asuuming you find a decent one through personal recommendation (and depending on the area), you may have a long lead time. For an extension of that size you could be looking at a very small outfit of 4-5 people or a larger one of up 8-10 working on it at one time or another. Some may only attend for a short time as subs (eg electrician, roofer) and some will attend as required (chippy). If you start the process now, you may get actual building started before Christmas (assuming you go the decent builder route).
There's no simple answer!
I suggest that you beg, borrow or steal a copy of Laurie Williamson's excellent book on "Planning, Managing and Completing your Extension" - then you'll have a much better understanding of the whole process.
You can buy it from Amazon:
P.S. It's usually better to build extensions bottom up!
In the US when houses get rebuilt sometimes the top of the building is left in place while the rest is removed and rebuilt. This is a way to avoid new build regs, what they call 'grandfather clause' He must be Santa's dad. :)
NT
I rebuild a barn, mostly on a part time DIY basis, arround 75m2, 1m thick walls, with a poor access site, took 3 years (3000-4000 hours) before we moved in, and another 200 or so in painting and the like.
Its a how long is a bit of string question really.
The right tools make the job so much easier - he says with about 10K invested in tools (including a bobcat) right now.
Rick
Thanks, very helpful. I I have a garage next to the house with a 3 ft wide path so I was just considering attaching to the house but a couple people think I should get the top/ down extension and I'm hoping it'll be around 65k though not had a quote yet. Anyway, I'll definitely look into it!
guess it out at arround 1000-1200 per m2 of new floor space, and you will be in the ball park, unless you go stupid with expensive finichies and fancy work.
Rick
3-4 years ago I had an 2 storey (1 dry room upstairs and 1 dry room downstairs) extension built. Probably 12m2 up and down, making 25m2 in total.
I had 3 quotes for the identical work for the shell plus electrics and plumbing (windows extra). £25k, £35k and £45k!
Fortunately, the only one with a personal recommendation was the £25k one and he did an excellent job. I suppose the windows, wood floor and the DIY internals were another £10k (5+3+2k).
Add 20% for inflation to get todays prices and I was in Oxfordshire.
Hi
I'm not an expert but our neighbours are having an extension of roughly the type and dimensions you describe built and I can tell you that:
a) Some days 3 people turn up, some days 2 people arrive to work on the project.
b) They started the job in March, are still working on it pretty much every day, and I reckon there's about a month to go.
Hope this helps,
David
Thanks, yes I'll have to get use to the fact my life will be disrupted for a few months!
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