SA Footy

I'm in the process of gathering information regarding a house extension. I have weighed up the pro's and con's of an extension and am looking for any information that could be useful or any tips for do's and don'ts.
I know there was a 'building a new house thread' a while ago but I wanted info more specific to extensions.
Have any users had an extension done? If so what size and at what costs? Any recommendations for builders would be good as well. I'm looking at having a 13m X 5m extension done which would include a bedroom with ensuite and a big family room.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

make sure has bar, pool table and the like

We've done pretty major reno's to the front of the house, the back extension/modification is the next bit...

Will be watching this thread.....

mickey wrote:make sure has bar, pool table and the like

yeah the missus thinks the big family room is for the family but I've already measured up for the pool table!!

I used to work for a construction company that specialised in this sort stuff but I have now moved on but there are couple factors to consider.

1. What is required to be demolished from the existing. Is the house still habitable? You could also negotiate with your builder to do this yourself all you need is a large skip some hammers, shovels etc and a few mates and in a weekend its all over with more $$$$ in your pocket to buy that pool table

2. When comparing prices make sure you request a detailed description of what you are getting. Nothing used to sh1t me more when tendering was customers comparing prices with competitors. People were only interested in the bottom line. If there is no detail in what they have priced then the chances are they will hit you for six with variations for things you thought were included and at the end of the day you fork out more $$$$$$$$.

For the price some people pay for extensions, they could just buy a bigger house

heater31 wrote:I used to work for a construction company that specialised in this sort stuff but I have now moved on but there are couple factors to consider.

1. What is required to be demolished from the existing. Is the house still habitable? You could also negotiate with your builder to do this yourself all you need is a large skip some hammers, shovels etc and a few mates and in a weekend its all over with more $$$$ in your pocket to buy that pool table

2. When comparing prices make sure you request a detailed description of what you are getting. Nothing used to sh1t me more when tendering was customers comparing prices with competitors. People were only interested in the bottom line. If there is no detail in what they have priced then the chances are they will hit you for six with variations for things you thought were included and at the end of the day you fork out more $$$$$$$$.

We have a small 6m x 3m lean-to extension(dodgy) that will need to be demolished............I was thinking of doing it myself to save money but it will really depend on what price builders charge for something like that to demolish??
The extension will be at the back of the house so I'm hoping to still live in the house whilst extending.
Heater, is it worth me contacting your old business for details/costs? you can just pm me with their details if possible?

Footy Chick wrote:For the price some people pay for extensions, they could just buy a bigger house

That is true, but alot of people enjoy the area they live in and don't want to move......

I was told to allow $2000 per square metre of extension and when we got a quote that was about the mark. Give or take a small amount depending on whether a wet area is included, floor coverings, fittings, etc.

We then found out number 2 was on it's way so have temporarially delayed our renovation plans for a few years.

Will definitely go ahead tho when we can, we love where we live is conveniently close to everything, including the tram line.

hearts on fire wrote:

Footy Chick wrote:For the price some people pay for extensions, they could just buy a bigger house

That is true, but alot of people enjoy the area they live in and don't want to move......

That is exactly why we are looking at an extension. Good area and the cost of moving these days is crazy anyway. stamp duty, loan fees, relocating etc. all adds up.

hondo71 wrote:I was told to allow $2000 per square metre of extension and when we got a quote that was about the mark. Give or take a small amount depending on whether a wet area is included, floor coverings, fittings, etc.

We then found out number 2 was on it's way so have temporarially delayed our renovation plans for a few years.

Will definitely go ahead tho when we can, we love where we live is conveniently close to everything, including the tram line.

Hondo, who did you use for your quote if you don't mind me asking? We are close to the tram line as well!!

Hey Amber

I've been in my place since 2003 and renovated all rooms bar the original bathroom. I've pretty much done as much as I can myself, without touching wiring, major construction, plumbing and the like. I've left building the kitchen to the professionals as well. The old house was just a blank canvas internally with everything original!

First things to consider - can you stand living in a place full of gyprock dust, tradesman etc? Can you have part of the house 'untouchable' whilst the others are being renovated? Do you have one bathroom - and how will you cope showering etc whilst that is out of action.

In those 6 years we painted, gyprocked, got the floorboards polished, roller shutters, new kitchen, demolished and rebuilt the back room, rebuilt fences, did the front yard, paved about 130sqm, put a carport and verandah on, new roof, guttering & did the back yard. All this at great cost.

The first thing we say to anyone thinking of reno's is - we wished we'd demolished the house and rebuilt.

The back room cost us in the vacinity of 80k in 2006. My next door neighbour is getting an extension from the same company and he's been quoted about 130k for roughly the same area.

If you do go with the extension, work out what space you want, then add 2 metres to every dimension (except height which is normally determined by your roofline). I say that because although we got an 11.5 x 5.5 extension, you can always do with the extra space. Given that though, if we went with 13.5 x 7.5 we'd be saying the same thing - 'give me more room'.

The builder and designer gave us some good tips - 1. build an extra bathroom into the plans. 2. get an ensuite if possible. 3. don't skimp on space 4. render if possible (that way they don't have to match bricks).

The major things I keep in the forefront of my mind;

never live in the place you're renovating (too hard to co-ordinate the missus and kids with hammering/drilling etc)
build a bit bigger extension than you need
when my fences were down out the back to bring the building materials in for the extension - we got stuff stolen (we back onto a reserve!)
be careful with tradies or sales reps who say "sign now and we'll take of x%" (got caught BIG TIME once)

So in summary, if you can - demolish and start again. The thing is, despite having a "new house" inside, we're still in a 1973 house!

I can send photos too if you want.

Cheers

gadj

amber_fluid wrote:

heater31 wrote:I used to work for a construction company that specialised in this sort stuff but I have now moved on but there are couple factors to consider.

1. What is required to be demolished from the existing. Is the house still habitable? You could also negotiate with your builder to do this yourself all you need is a large skip some hammers, shovels etc and a few mates and in a weekend its all over with more $$$$ in your pocket to buy that pool table

2. When comparing prices make sure you request a detailed description of what you are getting. Nothing used to sh1t me more when tendering was customers comparing prices with competitors. People were only interested in the bottom line. If there is no detail in what they have priced then the chances are they will hit you for six with variations for things you thought were included and at the end of the day you fork out more $$$$$$$$.

We have a small 6m x 3m lean-to extension(dodgy) that will need to be demolished............I was thinking of doing it myself to save money but it will really depend on what price builders charge for something like that to demolish??
The extension will be at the back of the house so I'm hoping to still live in the house whilst extending.
Heater, is it worth me contacting your old business for details/costs? you can just pm me with their details if possible?

Save yourself about 2/3k Amber and do it yourself. It took me 1 day with a couple of mates. Ours was similar to yours in that it was a lean to that was dodgily put together and was in the midst of falling down.

amber_fluid wrote:Hondo, who did you use for your quote if you don't mind me asking? We are close to the tram line as well!!

These guys:
http://www.diyconstructions.com.au/

They did our bathroom and did a good job. They were thorough and prepared to come back to fix small things so we were happy (as they should!).

Ours is also to remove a home-made lean-to extension (done by prev owner) and re-do it properly and bigger so we end up with a bigger back family room and 2 new bedrooms.

Footy Chick wrote:For the price some people pay for extensions, they could just buy a bigger house

Friends of ours saved $75,000 by demolishing their house and building new instead of extending as originally planned
Do your sums properly, it may well be cheaper to build exactly what you want instead of doing the best you can with what you already have.

gadj1976 wrote:Hey Amber

I've been in my place since 2003 and renovated all rooms bar the original bathroom. I've pretty much done as much as I can myself, without touching wiring, major construction, plumbing and the like. I've left building the kitchen to the professionals as well. The old house was just a blank canvas internally with everything original!

First things to consider - can you stand living in a place full of gyprock dust, tradesman etc? Can you have part of the house 'untouchable' whilst the others are being renovated? Do you have one bathroom - and how will you cope showering etc whilst that is out of action.

In those 6 years we painted, gyprocked, got the floorboards polished, roller shutters, new kitchen, demolished and rebuilt the back room, rebuilt fences, did the front yard, paved about 130sqm, put a carport and verandah on, new roof, guttering & did the back yard. All this at great cost.

The first thing we say to anyone thinking of reno's is - we wished we'd demolished the house and rebuilt.

The back room cost us in the vacinity of 80k in 2006. My next door neighbour is getting an extension from the same company and he's been quoted about 130k for roughly the same area.

If you do go with the extension, work out what space you want, then add 2 metres to every dimension (except height which is normally determined by your roofline). I say that because although we got an 11.5 x 5.5 extension, you can always do with the extra space. Given that though, if we went with 13.5 x 7.5 we'd be saying the same thing - 'give me more room'.

The builder and designer gave us some good tips - 1. build an extra bathroom into the plans. 2. get an ensuite if possible. 3. don't skimp on space 4. render if possible (that way they don't have to match bricks).

The major things I keep in the forefront of my mind;

never live in the place you're renovating (too hard to co-ordinate the missus and kids with hammering/drilling etc)
build a bit bigger extension than you need
when my fences were down out the back to bring the building materials in for the extension - we got stuff stolen (we back onto a reserve!)
be careful with tradies or sales reps who say "sign now and we'll take of x%" (got caught BIG TIME once)

So in summary, if you can - demolish and start again. The thing is, despite having a "new house" inside, we're still in a 1973 house!

I can send photos too if you want.

Cheers

gadj

Thanks mate for the info...............we have been weighing up the extension verus knock down and rebuild but we decided to go the extension 6 months ago and in the meantime have been renovating the front part of the house......painting, floorboards, roller shutters etc.
Our house is an old house but it is a nice old double brick house............would have been a shame to demolish it. Ask me again when the extension is done and I might have a different opinion.

hondo71 wrote:

amber_fluid wrote:Hondo, who did you use for your quote if you don't mind me asking? We are close to the tram line as well!!

These guys:
http://www.diyconstructions.com.au/

They did our bathroom and did a good job. They were thorough and prepared to come back to fix small things so we were happy (as they should!).

Ours is also to remove a home-made lean-to extension (done by prev owner) and re-do it properly and bigger so we end up with a bigger back family room and 2 new bedrooms.

I used to work for Banner Hardware and these guys had a very good reputation amongst blokes who knew a fair bit about the subject...

Cambridge Clarrie wrote:

hondo71 wrote:

amber_fluid wrote:Hondo, who did you use for your quote if you don't mind me asking? We are close to the tram line as well!!

These guys:
http://www.diyconstructions.com.au/

They did our bathroom and did a good job. They were thorough and prepared to come back to fix small things so we were happy (as they should!).

Ours is also to remove a home-made lean-to extension (done by prev owner) and re-do it properly and bigger so we end up with a bigger back family room and 2 new bedrooms.

I used to work for Banner Hardware and these guys had a very good reputation amongst blokes who knew a fair bit about the subject...

Someone else I know actually recommended these guys as well.............said they were good to deal with.

amber_fluid wrote:

heater31 wrote:I used to work for a construction company that specialised in this sort stuff but I have now moved on but there are couple factors to consider.

1. What is required to be demolished from the existing. Is the house still habitable? You could also negotiate with your builder to do this yourself all you need is a large skip some hammers, shovels etc and a few mates and in a weekend its all over with more $$$$ in your pocket to buy that pool table

2. When comparing prices make sure you request a detailed description of what you are getting. Nothing used to sh1t me more when tendering was customers comparing prices with competitors. People were only interested in the bottom line. If there is no detail in what they have priced then the chances are they will hit you for six with variations for things you thought were included and at the end of the day you fork out more $$$$$$$$.

We have a small 6m x 3m lean-to extension(dodgy) that will need to be demolished............I was thinking of doing it myself to save money but it will really depend on what price builders charge for something like that to demolish??
The extension will be at the back of the house so I'm hoping to still live in the house whilst extending.
Heater, is it worth me contacting your old business for details/costs? you can just pm me with their details if possible?

This thread is obviously a joke, because the Amber i know wouldnt contemplate this !!!

Next you will say that Browny is coming over to help you !!!

Interesting thread.

Eventually, i want to build a second storey (1 room) on our house with a small balcony, full glass frontage. (it would be a great view)
love to know what the approx ball park figure would be?

I guess it would cost much more for a balcony, stairs, etc. rather than building on at ground level? the house was built 1981, I will have to get some quotes done one day.