I cannot believe I am having to consider 1960/70/80’s developer houses to live in. 🙁
.
However
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We have this one local, that is a good price, on a good plot. A total do-upper. We would need an extension – like the neighbour to the right, but full length.
The extension would be two bedrooms and a loo / washing & drying room, one doorway from existing bungalow, one window each end and one smaller window in middle.
I estimate costs at £800-900m2, assuming I can do lots…Am I far wrong?

Bungalow by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

What can you do lots of? Footings, bricklaying, services, plastering, windows, roofing …

“I cannot believe I am having to consider 1960/70/80’s developer houses to live in”

stuck up much ?

ex council house here – it was snubbed by mates at the time …. the same mates who are skint now covering the astronomic mortgage.

other than needing an extension what exactlys wrong with that house? – as you well know older houses tend to have bigger plots.

Bearing in mind what Matt is sued to i understand entirely where he is coming from. Souless, characterless, utilitarian.

£800-900m2 should be OK if you can do a bit yourself. The tricky bit will be getting trades to the other bits IME, I’ve ended up doing a lot more myself than planned so it is even cheaper but slower. Site looks easy to access and work on. Are you keeping structural work to a minimum? ie punching through for doors rather than removing whole walls.

i could understand if it was mcmoonter towers to that ….

trail_rat – I would take an ex-council house over these if it comes up. Sadly, those in the ex-council houses round here know they are onto a good thing and they just never come up.
More the (lack) of quality build and wee gardens than anything. 🙁
I (hope) it is not snobbery. It isn’t intended as such.
As Rob says, we have come from lovely old terrace house and nice garden; to huuge house and huuuge garden with *the* best view in Scotland.
Work and practicalities and personal choice have dictated a chuffing expensive and snobby part of Scotland to live in – and house prices reflect it. 10 miles down the road, this house would be £60k less than it is. 🙁

The idea was:
Me – site prep etc
Me: Structural work (minimum – one doorway, I can do that).
Footings: get someone in to lay upto and including a flat slab.
Me: Lay thin-bed, solid wall block exterior and interior walls and install windows.
Chippy / Roofer: Do the roof as the detailing could be a faff/possibly flat roof that I could construct.
Plumber and sparky to install a new boiler and wire etc.
Me to board out ceilings etc
Plasterer to skim inside.
Me to clad / render outside.
Chippy for doors / skirtings.

doesnt that garden go back behind the house a fair bit to the trees and out to that green fence ? (looking at the properties either side )

Looks a decent size for that type of property.

The garden doesn’t go as far as it looks.

Check the roof pitch-line, neighbours looks shallow, don’t want future issues with roof.
Also worth considering timber frame, may result in thinner walls for better insulation and get frame up roof on faster?
Where are the drains/services, may add costs, check window overlooking neighbours, first consider planning/ BR implications, size extension verses house area and planning rights.
Good luck.

Out of everything that’s on your DIY list I would leave the rendering to a pro.
I’m all for DIY but areas that size could look shit if you’re not well practised at it.

Would you get planning for the side window overlooking next doors garden? (Friend had something similar turned down due to the side window.)

BTW – I like the house!

edit – too slow re the window!

surely there are already windows down the side ? either that or its a very small house with only 4 rooms?

I think the windows down the side will be a) a planning issue (overlooking) and b) Blg Reg’s to do with fire risk/spread near to a boundaryline.
Next doors extenion does look narrow, maybe due to roof line, so check dimmensions, maybe need a sketch plan to consider…I appreciate Matt was just asking about £/sqm, we’ll just come up with more questions to consder….;)

Souless, characterless, utilitarian.

You know what makes a great home? Not the manner of construction, the age, the number of downstairs toilets or the fake olde worlde wooden trim around the front door, it’s the people inside.

10 miles @60K i would be looking there but if it has to be there it has to be there. next door ext. looks a bit narrow, is it subdivided or a long thin room have a look in their window. good luck

£8-900 per m2 seems achievable, built an 86m2 extension on our bungalow 5 years ago did most of the work myself, no bathrooms or kitchens though, £60000.

10 miles @60K i would be looking there but if it has to be there it has to be there. next door ext. looks a bit narrow, is it subdivided or a long thin room have a look in their window. good luck

next door ext. looks a bit narrow, is it subdivided or a long thin room

I’m thinking that too. About 6ft max is it not? I’ve looked at houses in the last year where they’ve added a similarly narrow extension/lean-to and it’s just completely pointless.

Bit different if you’re opening up the existing external wall.

Matt, have you considered going up and making it two storey? Are ALL the houses in the area bungalows?

matt – you’re not a snob. trail rat appears more of a forced reverse snob than anything. As for ‘it’s the people inside’ – yeah, right. That’s the sort of thinking that permits the construction industry to keep on throwing up gash buildings that don’t perform very well or support the wellbeing of the occupants.

I hope the house is at least in a good school district 😀

Forced snobsry/living within my means – you say potato i say potatoe

If that what matt can afford in the area he needs to live for work then thats what he can afford.

I know people that would love to own/rent a house like that.

life should be marked by the things you do and see not the house you live in

But i do agree the contruction industry today does churn out some crap.

There are no others on the street that have ‘upped’ the roof – no precedent, so planning would be very unlikely to say yes.
Next doors extension is narrow, but is that way as that is narrower plot (they seem to have ~10ft to boundary so ~6 feet extension is all they would have been allowed)
‘Ours’ has ~18 feet, so a ~12feet wide should be allowed.
We would not need windows in side, other than high level or even roof light for loo/laundry. Bedroom windows would be front & back.

built an 86m2 extension on our bungalow 5 years ago did most of the work myself, no bathrooms or kitchens though, £60000.

I am erring towards it isn’t worth the financial outlay. My dread is that an extension would take the house up to the cost of an existing 4 bed, without the hassle…

You say thin bed solid block wall? Are you able to get the u-values using traditional block work construction?
Might be worth looking at a timber frame with block work around it.

Souless, characterless, utilitarian.

My house is 400 years old and none of those things.
It is **** shit as dwellings go, and probably the worst I have experienced.
😆

[prepares to be flamed]Have you thought about an architect[flame proof pants now on]

If this is a long term proposition for you then making the most of what your going to do is key. If I was investing a decent chunk of money I’d want to know I was making the most of the space, light and all the rest.

You say thin bed solid block wall? Are you able to get the u-values using traditional block work construction?

Is that a trick question?

A 12 ft wide addition with a flat roof will look crap; 12 ft wide will mean that the roof is too shallow for drainage if built like the neighbors. So, consider a gabled roof over the addition that intersects at 90 degrees to your current ridgeline. It will look much better IMO.

Kind of like this

Not the prettiest house (but I don’t always favour prettiness), but the plot seems to suggest you could do a few things. So long as you don’t overspend, why not?!

I personally think you’d be putting lipstick on a pig. It’s a bungalow on a plot for a bungalow and any addition would be a huge compromise IMHO. What are your other options in the area?

Looks good to me, I’d take anything a the min, havig injury meaning im limited to what work I can do, My selfand the missis are currently living at my parents.

why dont you do the skirting and the doors yourself out of the whole list that and prepwould be my go to work.

10 miles down the road, this house would be £60k less than it is.

For £60k I’d add 10 miles to my commute

For £60k I’d add 10 miles to my commute

It would be a shorter commute. But the three kids that need running up the road to schools would be the hassle…

you say potato i say potatoe

nobody says potatoe, sorry.

How much for your soul Matthew?

How much for your soul Matthew?

About the price of a small, generic bungalow.

And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies bungalows that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!

😉