Major house renovation

[neilypokie]

The basic extension isn't what costs the money. That will be less than 50 of a 150 build.
It's been very difficult to justify for me, but we want a new build house with a big garden in the location that we live and there's just nothing. So the only option really is to do ourselves.
The costs will appear higher on ours as we're terrible at DIY, so can't do anything ourselves (we've also got 2 kids aged 3&6).

Some of the 150 will go on rental accom (prolly 10k)
New drive, patio and garden landscaping (say 15k)
Decorating throughout and then bathrooms, kitchens, stairs etc. it adds up frighteningly quick.

This will be our forever home, so even if I don't quite get our money back, I'll happily accept a modest loss to give us the house we want for 20 years.
The other thing by doing it ourselves and Doing everything at once is that it should be maintenance free for a long time!!

On the positive side, mortgage rates are low :/


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[neilypokie]

As far as where to start, we used a draughtsman to do the drawings required for planning permission. I already had a very good idea what I wanted, but he really helped to visualise some of the things we were unsure of. The plans and planning permission were about 1000, but the application passed first time.

We made our decision on draughtsman based on recommendations (a facebook post or two to my friends worked wonders).
All of the tradesman we have picked have been based on reputation. Whilst they're probably not the cheapest, I want a quality and timely end product.

Depending on the size of your extension, you may not need planning permission, as the regs have relaxed over the last five years. As ours was 2 storey, we did though. This website should help you decide whether you do or not.
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/


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[arniep]

The basic extension isn't what costs the money. That will be less than 50 of a 150 build.
It's been very difficult to justify for me, but we want a new build house with a big garden in the location that we live and there's just nothing. So the only option really is to do ourselves.
The costs will appear higher on ours as we're terrible at DIY, so can't do anything ourselves (we've also got 2 kids aged 3&6).

Some of the 150 will go on rental accom (prolly 10k)
New drive, patio and garden landscaping (say 15k)
Decorating throughout and then bathrooms, kitchens, stairs etc. it adds up frighteningly quick.

This will be our forever home, so even if I don't quite get our money back, I'll happily accept a modest loss to give us the house we want for 20 years.
The other thing by doing it ourselves and Doing everything at once is that it should be maintenance free for a long time!!

On the positive side, mortgage rates are low :/


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Thanks for the info, very interesting. I love DIY but couldn't do any major job.
Our house wasn't big enough for what we wanted (especially the garden) so we are upsizing. But to get exactly what we wanted was too much. So we've gone in reasonably high with somewhere with potential, not sure what yet but I can see we can do numerous things to it to make it work for us. We have 4 and 1 year olds but not planning on moving out, makes it more interesting ok, probably plan over the summer and send them to Granny's for a few weeks for the main work. I was hoping for 30-40 for loft conversion with bathroom or 2nd floor extension. Pretty sure we will need planning permission but we won't really overlook anyone so can't see too many issues.
Definitely thinking getting someone in to see what options there are available as I've come up with 3 options and not sure if any are possible or typical costs.

[jen]

It sounds amazing and given the costs of moving, even if you don't make what you spend the house will be exactly what you want and you have saved those costs. At least you have budgeted for renting while the work is carried out so you will not be living there, eminently sensible with a 3 and 6 year old!

We are having some internal reconfiguration done on our house starting next month, so I am feeling your stress! Like you we like the area and to get what we wanted (big kitchen, big square living room) we were looking at spending a lot more and then not have the house to our taste. Like you we have gone for a builder we have used before that we trust, however I will still be around to keep an eye on things! He is not the cheapest however another quote we had from a recommended builder was way more expensive.

Good luck, keep us updated.