Extension Design Costs

RonnieL

Hi,

We'd like to get a single story extension built to the rear of our house, roughly 30 square meters. We've got ideas of what want, but we feel we need help with the details. We had an architect call in, and he seemed to get the brief. His quote for an initial design was 3250 excluding VAT. The quote was broken down by stages after that, for an all in price of over 16K, excluding engineer fees (which were estimated at 3500). Since we had been thinking of a budget of 100K for the whole thing, it seems like a big chunk, but we're completely new to all of this.

So,

• Does 3250 seem reasonable for an initial concept design for a relatively small extension that shouldn't require planning permission?
• What ways could we look to save, without sacrificing quality?

Interested in hearing peoples thoughts! Thanks :-)

jmBuildExt

Bit steep alright IMO.
Depends what you will get out of it.
If you know what you want and are set on it, then you probably better to go to an engineer and ask him to spec out what you want. An arch might be able to tell/show you something you didn't realise you wanted though

The arch can add value if you want something a bit different than a box with a skylight bolted onto the back of the house.
Think i paid about 10-12k for architect fees from design to finish (managing stage payments to builder etc) - extension was about 40sqm and build cost was about 140k
There was pretty extensive rennovation of existing house in that too (external insulation, new windows, full re-wire, full mechanical re-fit, chimney removed, walls moved )

Biker1

I would say these prices are excessive on all counts. That sort of price would normally cover a new build house. As for the budget, 100k for a 30m2 extension works out at €3333/m2. ???

Dudda

Biker1 wrote: »

I would say these prices are excessive on all counts. That sort of price would normally cover a new build house. As for the budget, 100k for a 30m2 extension works out at €3333/m2. ???

In reality though who ever spends absolutely nothing, not even a lick of paint on the existing and everything on the extension?
It's probably going to be something like 25k on the existing and 75k on the extension which is 2,500/m2 including kitchen, floor finishes, painting, fees, etc.

RonnieL

Thanks for the replies!

jmBuildExt wrote: »

Bit steep alright IMO.
Depends what you will get out of it.
If you know what you want and are set on it, then you probably better to go to an engineer and ask him to spec out what you want. An arch might be able to tell/show you something you didn't realise you wanted though

The arch can add value if you want something a bit different than a box with a skylight bolted onto the back of the house.
Think i paid about 10-12k for architect fees from design to finish (managing stage payments to builder etc) - extension was about 40sqm and build cost was about 140k
There was pretty extensive rennovation of existing house in that too (external insulation, new windows, full re-wire, full mechanical re-fit, chimney removed, walls moved )

Interesting. I think you touched on a few good points. We know what we want to a degree, and it's not a box attached to the back of the house! The rear of the house is east facing, so we don't want to extend along the whole back of the house, instead we want the extension to be on one side, facing south so it gets the best light (and doesn't plunge the rest of the ground floor into darkness). In my mind I'm picturing something with a fair bit of glass, opening up into the garden. To achieve that, our current kitchen will need to move from one side of the back of the house to the other (it's a fairly standard 4 bed detached house in an estate).

Biker1 wrote: »

I would say these prices are excessive on all counts. That sort of price would normally cover a new build house. As for the budget, 100k for a 30m2 extension works out at €3333/m2. ???

We were hoping to get the extension built and new kitchen for that. The architect seemed to think it was about right. Obviously depends on the finishes etc, but it would be a relatively small galley kitchen with an island.