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aligning expectations and budget for extension

  • 08-03-2021 8:19pm
    #1
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭


    We have lived in our house for the last 10 years, and 2 children later, we are now looking at an extension to ensure the house better suits our needs into the future.

    As the house is a semi-detached house, with space at a premium, the gold standard extension is a two story side and single story rear extension. However, we are not sure this will align to the current budget.

    So in order to reset our own expectations, and budget, it would be good to engage a professional to provide some level of Rough Order of Magnitude costs with various combinations, to see what would work best for us.

    The question I have is whether this would be better suited to a QS, an Architect or someone completely different ? We are obviously willing to pay for the service, and its more to provide us with an idea of what the options are, before we get carried away with ourselves.


Comments

  • #2
    adocholiday
    Registered Users Posts: 1,923 ✭✭✭adocholiday


    Going through similar at the moment. We had some ideas for what we wanted to do and a max price that we were willing to spend which we kept to ourselves. We had a local builder call out for a 'finger in the air' estimate based on some sketches we had and talked him through the project on-site (pre-covid) and we were careful not to give a budget at all. We sent all to him and he asked his QS to eyeball it too, then he gave us a figure based on that which let us know we were on the right track. If he came back with something 50k above our budget say we'd have to completely rethink it.

    We then engaged an architect which we were planning to do anyway and gave her our top budget so she could design with that in mind. Now we're out for tender with proper construction drawings and the prices have come in a small bit lower than the estimate price we got, but it wasn't too far off at all.

    My recommendation: do some sketches yourself of what you want to do with some idea of the overall size of the build. Ring a couple of builders and tell them you're looking for a rough price for this just to check if it's even feasible. All you need is one or two to give you a quick estimate to know if you're within a reasonable range and it won't cost you anything only time.


  • #3
    mickdw
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,451 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    adocholiday wrote: »
    Going through similar at the moment. We had some ideas for what we wanted to do and a max price that we were willing to spend which we kept to ourselves. We had a local builder call out for a 'finger in the air' estimate based on some sketches we had and talked him through the project on-site (pre-covid) and we were careful not to give a budget at all. We sent all to him and he asked his QS to eyeball it too, then he gave us a figure based on that which let us know we were on the right track. If he came back with something 50k above our budget say we'd have to completely rethink it.

    We then engaged an architect which we were planning to do anyway and gave her our top budget so she could design with that in mind. Now we're out for tender with proper construction drawings and the prices have come in a small bit lower than the estimate price we got, but it wasn't too far off at all.

    My recommendation: do some sketches yourself of what you want to do with some idea of the overall size of the build. Ring a couple of builders and tell them you're looking for a rough price for this just to check if it's even feasible. All you need is one or two to give you a quick estimate to know if you're within a reasonable range and it won't cost you anything only time.
    Keep in mind also that materials are inflating wildly at the minute so build quotes are going nuts at the minute due to this and expectation of continued inflation.


  • #4
    ted1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,644 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    Had planned this, but building prices are coming in at 2500-2700 sqm , It’s much cheaper to just move and buy a house that has the work done.


  • #5
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭gnf_ireland


    adocholiday wrote: »
    Going through similar at the moment. We had some ideas for what we wanted to do and a max price that we were willing to spend which we kept to ourselves. We had a local builder call out for a 'finger in the air' estimate based on some sketches we had and talked him through the project on-site (pre-covid) and we were careful not to give a budget at all. We sent all to him and he asked his QS to eyeball it too, then he gave us a figure based on that which let us know we were on the right track. If he came back with something 50k above our budget say we'd have to completely rethink it.

    We then engaged an architect which we were planning to do anyway and gave her our top budget so she could design with that in mind. Now we're out for tender with proper construction drawings and the prices have come in a small bit lower than the estimate price we got, but it wasn't too far off at all.

    My recommendation: do some sketches yourself of what you want to do with some idea of the overall size of the build. Ring a couple of builders and tell them you're looking for a rough price for this just to check if it's even feasible. All you need is one or two to give you a quick estimate to know if you're within a reasonable range and it won't cost you anything only time.

    Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly I don't know too many builders so I will need to see what I can do in that regard ! But I understand what you are saying, and of course it makes sense. I was thinking that engaging a QS would be the next best thing !!


  • #6
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭gnf_ireland


    mickdw wrote: »
    Keep in mind also that materials are inflating wildly at the minute so build quotes are going nuts at the minute due to this and expectation of continued inflation.
    Yeah I think my head is stuck in 2011 prices and I am struggling with the way things are right now. I think it will be a year or two before we undertake the actual job, so hoping things will have calmed down somewhat by then (or at least somewhat stabilised)


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  • #7
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭gnf_ireland


    ted1 wrote: »
    Had planned this, but building prices are coming in at 2500-2700 sqm , It’s much cheaper to just move and buy a house that has the work done.

    Would you believe my wife actually looked at myhome today to get an idea of whether this would be a valid option. The prices of the houses she was looking at made my eyes water even more !


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