House Extension, where to start, please help.

New Lady2014

Hello,
Apologies but am new to this site and am pretty despearte for any help/information. Any info at all is really appreciated.

I bought an old bungalow in Co. Cork 2 years ago and have been living in since however wish to double the house as the house is small on large piece of area and I need more space.

I do know I need an architect to ensure this task is completed correctly but I have no idea where to start or what im taking on. Basic and silly question but how do I find an architect thats the right fit for me?


I despeately need help with budgeting as I know the job isnt cheap but I need a rough idea. Do architects complete the budgeting?

Although I have fair idea what I want the new layout of the house to be Im really open to new ideas to get the best out of the task. Also this is an old bungalow, the kitchen and bathroom need to be knocked out, every window and door needs to be replaced and needs serious insulation, the walls were dry lined before I moved in but this seems to have made no difference.

I have a family member who would complete the brick work for this job but does anyone know if its possible to get contracter to do all the other work ie. roofing, plumbing , electrictiy etc.

Also, the house has a septic tank and I want to go on the mains but dont know if this is good idea or not?

Please Please help, where do i start

Thank you.

corkdad

I have just had a new house built on a greenfield site by a main contractor using a local engineer to oversee the process, who I basically found by using the internet. Word of mouth would be better. The process was as follows:
1. We had a basic idea, which for a fee, the engineer fleshed out, in other words acting like an architect, creating drawings.
2. Then he applied for planning permission on our behalf, and made any necessary changes to the plans, to satisfy the County Councils concerns.
3. Having gotten planning permission, he then, for another fee, drew up working drawings. These drawings are more detailed than the ones necessary for getting planning permission, they are full of detail as to how the house is to be built.
4. Having done these he sent them to a few builders of my choice and based on his experience of them. Having gotten the prices back from the builders, (only 3 of 5 responded, hard to believe in this day and age, but true), we then had a basis for examining the prices received. We asked for a breakdown of the building costs, not just an overall figure. We did this so that we could examine the prices, to see if they seemed to 'overcharge' or on the other hand not allow enough money to complete the job properly. This judgement was based, to a large degree, on the engineers experience. This is important as the builder will be looking for ways to increase the money he/she makes during the build and all you will be hearing is 'that will be an extra'.
5. We chose a builder based on looking at other houses he has built, and the price. He was not the cheapest, but was not the most expensive. We sat down with him and had a really good look at what he had priced and then did the deal.
6. For another fee, the engineer conducted periodic inspections of the house during the build. He did this to ensure that the build was being done correctly and because he had to send in valuations of the work completed to the bank so that they would release more of the mortgage. He did not visit the site each day, but he was there if I needed to check something with him over the phone. He could have overseen the entire build process, but would have charged around 30k for that. As far as I was concerned, he would still have had to ask me loads of questions so I thought that I would be as well doing it myself.

The rules have changed now relating to self-builds, by which I mean, a project where you get a friend to do the blockwork, another to do the electrics etc. The building work must now be signed off by one of a few people, one of whom is the director of a building company. You will need to check what that means for you.

If I could give you a few general pieces of advice, following my experience of the past 18 months, I would advise the following.
1. The clearer you are as to what you want at the start, the better. By all means take the advice of an architect, but when it comes to the building side of it, if you have a clear vision from the start it will be easier, and probably a little cheaper. If you know the overall look, flooring, tiling, fittings etc that you want, it helps a lot. That was not my strong point, and we probably paid more for what we got than we needed to.
2. Try to get agreed rates from the builder for everything. An example, we had what is called a 'pc sum' for a number of aspects of the build, for example, flooring and tiling. However, though lets say 8k was allowed for flooring etc, this does not specify how much is the cost of putting it down and how much is the cost of the timber flooring itself. Basically, try to have as few pc sums as possible, as they will lead to uncertainty in the pricing later on. The builder or architect will tell you that it is not possible to avoid having pc sums, just try to have as few as possible.
3. If you have a change to the plans, which is almost inevitable, do note it down, and insist on a costing for it before the work is done. Some changes can be quite reasonable or incur no cost, some can be quite amazingly expensive.
4. Do your own research, ask friends who are building / have recently built. For example, I knew exactly what type of heating system and who would supply it, what level of insulation we needed etc. I wasn't great on the finishes though, and though I am happy with the result, it was practically a surprise to me how it turned out.
5. Ask literally everbody involved in the build if they can give you a better price. You will save a lot of money by doing this. I felt awkward to begin with, but people seem to expect you to ask, and it doesn't hurt.
6. Do have a look at things that you think you can't afford. You might be surprised.


Hope this helps somewhat.

TowerCross

Even though I am not the OP thank you very much for that very detailed explanation corkdad - it is a great help to me!
T

New Lady2014

thank you so much cork dad