Whether you’ve been in your home 12 months or 12 years there will always come a time when you need more space. It might be for a new member of the family, a bigger kitchen so you can finally host Christmas or maybe you just need a sound proof room where your son can practice with his band mates. Whilst the idea of it might put people off, building an extension is one of the most popular home improvements homeowners undertake. It’s the perfect way to add some much needed extra space (and value) without having to move house. Moving house costs money, there are agent fees, stamp duty, legal fees not to mention the endless scrolling through Zoopla or Right Move plus having to deal with estate agents who have the perfect comb over and unnaturally white teeth. There’s also the premium you might pay for that desired extra bed room or bigger kitchen diner. For the same price you might well find that you can build a decent extension, adding both space and value to your existing property in the process. How much does an extension cost? This is probably the first question you’ll ask before deciding to take on an extension project. As with any new build the cost of your extension will come down to a number of factors, including size, specification, the number of storeys and location. A large bedroom with a couple of windows isn’t going to cost as much as a large kitchen with folding patio doors – glazing is expensive! A single-storey extension will cost roughly the following: Basic quality: £1,000 to £1,680/m² Good quality: £1,680 to £1,920/m² Excellent quality: £1,920 to £2,160/m² And the cost of a two-storey extension will cost roughly: Basic quality: £1,320 to £1620/m² Good quality: £1,700 to £2,000/m² Excellent quality: £1,800 to £2,500/m² or more. A two-storey extension will not cost much more per m2 because, aside from the extra interior fixtures and finishes, you are only adding walls and floor joists — a roof and foundations are required whether your extension is single or two storey. VAT is zero-rated on new build in domestic properties including self builds, but this does not include extensions. If you are renovating or extending a property that you can prove has been empty for 2 years or more, it will be treated as a conversion and therefore be charged at the reduced rate of 5%. The VAT concessions are only available via a VAT registered contractor. What should I consider before extending? Any shared walls You don’t want to burn any bridges with your neighbours by knocking down one of their walls. If you’re planning any building work that will affect a shared wall between you and your neighbours, then you’ll need to be clued up on the Party Wall act. If your extension involves building or digging foundations within the 3m of the boundary, party wall or party wall structure, or digging foundations within 6m of a boundary the work will require you to comply with this act. Easy Access Most extensions will require large materials so you will need to factor in how trucks, lorries and deliveries will reach the property and unload large items. Is there space for your builders to park and to leave their equipment and tools? Insurance Your current insurance might not cover the building works so it’s important to notify them beforehand. You don’t want to start a project without sufficient insurance cover and your existing policy may not cover any works undertaken as part of an extension project. You wouldn’t walk around a building site without a hard hat would you? Burdens on your boiler Will your existing boiler be able to cope with the extra demands of the new extension? Replacing the boiler is an option but you might want to avoid this additional cost and consider alternatives such as underfloor heating. Other considerations Your neighbours (not just your neighbour) Soil conditions on the site Surrounding trees Rights of way Any history of flooding It might seem like a daunting task but with the right planning and the right builders an extension will definitely feel like the right move once it’s finished. ‘Extension’ is our middle name here at Balma Building Services (we don’t use it as we like alliteration) so give us a call and let us handle your home improvements. Don’t move house and say goodbye to the memories, add an extra room and say hello to more space.

Hi v_lavender, The design you currently have looks great for adding lots of usable spaces, but not necessarily adding enough space to the most important rooms. Here are a couple of quick designs that I came up with. I thought the angled side wall wouldn’t add anything and make it more complicated for furniture placement and roof construction. So I’d suggest the walls be made perpendicular with a step to allow side access. The utility and shower room are smaller so that you can walk straight from the hall into a larger Kitchen/living/dining room suitable for a large family. Upstairs the shower room is made smaller so the front bedroom can be made larger. The rear bedroom continues further back over the ground floor extension to give a master bedroom with a little balcony. However, I realised that this still leaves you with 1 small bedroom which might be undesirable for fairness to one child. So Concept 2 enlarges the master bedroom and incorporates the existing small room as a dressing area. This gives you 4 equally sized rooms and 1 generous Master bedroom suite. Please let me know what you think? I have a few more alternative ideas as well. And I wish you all the best with your extension project!!

some great suggestios here, so thank you . the existing render on the sides of the house is a bit tired and crackng and some cases attemtped to be repaired in the past . Hence why i was drawn to the idea rendering all the way around .i had a chap over who suggested, like some here, to render over the concrete based edging stones and trim ( not sure what you call upper and lower sandstone looking bands that go around the whole house ) . He suggested using a different colour for the details and we liked the polar white ( white with a hint of of grey and offwhite in it ) foer the main facsia. this would avoid the repointing and sandblasting off the exisitng paint only to paint over it again. I love thise pictures from Marina Drobot @ cinnamin space and the darker shade of render with a lighter shade on the detail seems to look nicer then the inverse of that . That being said, the white painted brick also had some nice character to it , although my current painted brick doesnt, so im not convinced a new lighter colour will really enhance all that much. Another option was to render down to the sandstone trim and then paint the existing bricks to match the render colour...but then would that look off, modern mixed with not modern ?

You don’t have the pitch to do a traditional style elevation. To be honest, a more modern design looks better and a more deliberate delineation of old to new. When we did our extension, the architect designed a sloped zinc roof but with windows upstairs, it’s practically flat so the zinc is not really visible from the ground level. We could have therefore saved with a cheaper material. Inside it has good height and I am very happy with how it turned out. Light is an important consideration. Originally we had smaller velux windows in our design but we settled on larger roof lights to improve the light. Again I’m happy we did that as the light in our north facing kitchen is great at all times of the year.