We’ve been thinking about building an extension on our kitchen – side return on our terrace between the existing kitchen and next doors wall.

Space will be about 4m x 3.5m and single storey.

I’ve never done this before and haven’t a clue about where to start – do I need an architect or can I just get planning permission and a builder?

Any ideas of how much it will cost? perhaps an average price per square metre?

B

what part of the country are you?

I’ve had a couple.

Do a set of sketches yourself, Sketchup, pencil, whatever.

Get an architect round. Talk through what your plans. It’ll be £1000-odd for him plus a few hundred for the planning permission (can’t remember exact number but it’s not traumatic).

£1000/m2 is a good place to start but finish/where you are etc makes a big difference.

We had a similar sized extension built last year, cost was ~14K IIRC. You may not need planning permission, we didn’t. Worth checking your local planning portal. Get architect and do some plans, then get builders to quote. Then put together a water tight contract with said builder to avoid/mitigate additional cost 🙂

EDIT: Our plans didn’t cost anywhere near 1K, presumably because it wasn’t overly complex. They were about £300 I think

Wait, stop! Go now to a kitchen showroom and say “we’re thinking about having an extension done. Next year, hopefully ready for Christmas. We’re just looking round for design ideas really.”

We kitchen designers love that shit we do! 😆

(Ninja smiley edit!)

Cheers,
Jamie

We’re out Gloucester way.

Jamie – I was thinking about doing that just to get a feel for what we could do.

The trouble is with us we’re totally bespoke, people often leave even more confused than when they came in! Without having a catalogue of 10 kitchen styles to choose from some people are completely lost.

As mentioned above, get a sketchup model knocked up and get a feel for the space. Throw a few units in and see what floats your boat. Pick up a few kitchen magazines and see what kind of thing you’re after, grey units and white stone worktops seem to the the order of the day round our way.

Cheers,
Jamie

If you were closer to Cardiff I’d offer to get some drawings done for you and sort out the planning application and B Regs.

For planning you need some basic (but to scale) drawings of existing and proposed works. For B Regs you’ll need to show what your proposing complies to the B Regs. Quite easy if you know what your doing, otherwise get an architect / technician to knock up some plans for you. You might also need structural engineers calcs for the B Regs depending on what your planning on doing.

If you’re after a deal on a fridge-freezer, I’ve just sold one this afternoon for the bargain price of just over £19k. Inc. VAT.

Cheers,
Jamie

Cheers for the advice – will get the measuring tape and Visio on the go.

You’ll need to consider the following;
Planning – either consent or cert of lawful development
Building Regs – to ensure it is at least the minimum building standard
Party Wall Act – at least Notice on your neighbours, possibly an Award
Build Over Agreement – if there’s a common drain near or below where you want to build.

Don’t rely on you builder to know, let alone deal with the above items.

A sole practitioner Professional – Architect, Architectural Technician, Surveyor, Structural Engineer – would be able to sort the above out. I’d budget £2,000.00 for their fees (if all of the above is required) plus application fees and fees for a Party Wall Surveyor (if the response to the PW Notices is dissent).