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Extending your Property

In any recession, the housing market is usually the first thing to suffer and often the last thing to recover. As we climb slowly out of the worst recession to hit this country for several decades many of us have had to shelve our plans to move to a larger property or a better location, and more and more people are considering extending their existing home instead.

Whether it's a small extension to your kitchen, or a larger one to add more space upstairs as well, extending your property can cause lot of problems and worries and can turn from a dream into a nightmare. Extending inevitably means crossing three potential minefields, building regulations, planning regulations and finding a good builder.

Venture Construction Ltd, Stevenage, HertsRichard Hare is a parent with two young children at a lower school in the Samuel Whitbread pyramid. He is also a qualified architectural technician and a Contracts Manager who works for a large construction company, Venture Construction Limited, based in Stevenage. Richard has 23 years of experience in construction and has been involved in projects both large and small. When he heard we were planning this section of Best Advice he kindly offered to share not only his knowledge and expertise, but also that of his colleagues at Venture.

Richard told us:

"Doing things right from the start can save a lot of hassle and wasted money and the old adage 'The Devil is in the detail' is never more true than setting out to extend your property. Getting it right from step one is very important"

Useful advice

Richard and Venture Construction Limited gave us some useful tips for starting out on a building project. Just click on the link below.

Ten tips when you're thinking about an extension.

How much will it cost?

Richard told us:

"Architects fees vary greatly, depending on the work you are asking them to do. An architect can charge an hourly rate, a lump sum payment or ask for a percentage of the total estimated projected cost of the project."

"Their costs will be less if they are just drawing up a set of plans than if they are submitting those plans for planning permission on your behalf, and will of course be much greater if they are managing the project. If it's the latter remember to factor in their expenses as well, as they will need to visit the build and may want to be present when the building inspector comes to look at the work, so factor in things like mileage and incidental expenses."

"To give you some idea, to draw up plans for a two storey extension, say an extended kitchen with a bedroom above, which will need planning permission and fall under the building regulations, you should expect to pay between £1200 and £1500 depending on the complexity of the build."

"Costs for planning applications are pre ordained , and only vary depending on the size of the project. These planning fees have to be paid up front when the application is lodged, and if its turned down , they are not refundable."

"Costs for the actual build? Well, other than suggesting you shop around, that is entirely dependent on what you want doing, how quickly you want it done and any problems the builder may face while doing the work."

To help you get some idea of planning costs, buildings regulations and whether or not planning permission will be need for your project we have included in this section articles on each of those topics, together with some information on how to proceed if you property is a listed building.

A Special Offer from BEST Advice

Finally Richard and Venture Construction Limited were kind enough to make any parent of a child at school within the Samuel Whitbread pyramid this offer.

"We are committed to ensuring the highest standards within our profession and to helping the public, regardless as to whether they are customers of ours or not, in getting their building project completed with the minimum of hassle. If you have a question or query, on any aspect of your build, from initial design, planning regulations or building regs, then you can contact us, free and without obligation, and we will do all we can to give you the information and advice you need."

You can contact Venture Construction Limited by Email: enquiries@venture-construction.ltd.uk or Richard@venture-construction.ltd.uk. Or you can speak to Richard direct on 07917 850 388 or in the office on 01438 367055 (9.00am – 5.00pm) Out of hours phones are diverted to mobile.

Further information

As always, we include some useful web site address where you can find further information for yourself. For details of planning application fees and charges go to the Government's internet planning portal fees and charges page at: (also available in this section in the piece on Planning). For general information on building work, visit the home page of the same site.

For details of builders who are members of the Federation of Master Builders: www.fmb.org.uk

For details of The Royal Institute of Architects: www.architecture.com

For architects who are members of the Architects Registration Board: www.arb.org.uk

Finally three sites which are full of useful information of a general nature and are well worth visiting:

Finally, BEST Advice would like to thank both Richard Hare and Venture Construction Limited for the unstinting help and advice they gave in the preparation of this section and for their kind and generous offer of help and advice to the parents of pupils in the Samuel Whitbread pyramid of schools.