An extension is a great way to add value to your home and provide that much needed extra space. Whether it is an extra bedroom, a kitchen extension or you want to lengthen your front room, you need to prepare carefully. Home extensions can end up expensive, but if you take care in the planning stage, you can eliminate many of the hidden costs.
Designing your extension
The first step in planning any home extension is to identify exactly what it is you want. You need to be realistic. It is highly unlikely you’ll be able to turn a two-up two-down terrace into a five-bedroom house. Therefore, identify how much space you have and how best to utilise it. You may find you are restricted by planning laws, or by the existing design of the property as to what you can do, so ensure you know what is possible and what isn’t.
All home extensions require a proper plan, so hire an architect that has experience in the type of work you want doing. You need to ensure you clearly communicate what it is you want, and be specific. Some people like to draw up a rough plan themselves to help explain exactly what they want. The architect can then use this to draw up proper plans.
Plan your budget carefully
Never plan to spend every penny you have on your home extension because any problems or hidden costs could leave you with a half-finished project. Always have some spare cash for the unforeseeable. Don’t just consider the cost of the project and materials, but think about extras, such as the plumbing, electrics and any equipment hire, You may need to have a lot of ground dug up, so contact a digger hire company such as Scot JCB, who will be able to quote you the price of hiring excavators and other heavy equipment.
Planning permission
Never build a home extension without first getting planning permission. Your local authority has the power to get you to pull down any extension if you don’t have the right approval, so make sure you liaise carefully with the people at your local planning office. If you require planning permission, make sure you start the process early, well before you sign contracts, as local by-laws may restrict the types of materials you can use and the overall design of the extension. If you live in a listed building, you may not be allowed to alter it at all or you may be restricted to ensuring it is in keeping with the original aesthetic. It is also a good idea to speak to your neighbours too, explaining what you intend to do because if they object you may find getting planning permission is a lot harder and more time consuming.
Find a good contractor
Make sure you find a contractor that you trust and are happy to work with. Speak to people you know that have had extensions built and get recommendations, and don’t be afraid to ask for references or examples of a builder’s work. Make sure you are clear in your communication and explain exactly what you want. In addition, ensure you are both clear about the costs and who is paying for what and when. Most builders will require a deposit to pay for materials or may want regular payments throughout the project’s duration, but never pay for the entire project up front, as this could lead to problems if the contractor goes out of business.
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If you are planning a renovation, new build, extension or conversion project this year or even if you are simply planning on remodeling what you already have then these are our tips for great trades shows to visit.
The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show
Birmingham NEC 21 March – 24 March 2013
More than 450 specialist companies will exhibit in the UK’s biggest dedicated self-build & renovation event.
Show features include:
- Tricks of the Trade Theatre – Presented by DIY Doctor
- NEW Big Ideas Theatre
- Do It Yourself Zone
- Traditional Skills Demonstrations area
- Home Improvement & Interiors Pavilion
- Eco Home Theatre
- Construction Systems Showcase
- Seminar and masterclass theatres
- FREE one to one consultations with experts in The Advice Centre
Go to the National Homebuilding and Renovating Show website for more information.
The Ideal Home Show
Earls Court, London, 15 March – 1 April 2013
This is the 105th Year for the show, and it is a marathon exhibition with its eight dedicated show sections:
- Interiors – Ideal Home Magazine Room Sets
- Home Improvements
- Gardens
- Food & Housewares
- Technology
- Woman
- Shopping
- Show Homes
and not forgetting:
- Gregg Wallace Seasonal Restaurant
Website for the Ideal Home Show.
Grand Designs Live
ExCeL, London, 4 May – 12 May 2013
Based on the Channel 4 TV series, and presented by design guru Kevin McCloud
Over 500 exhibitors
Stands, seminars and shows covering interiors, gardens, home improvement, self-build, renovations, technology and shopping.
More information is available at the Grand Designs Website.
The National Home Improvement Show 2013
27-29 September at London Olympia
Website
Show includes: Talks and demonstrations by industry professionals including DIY Doctor
Hundreds of trade stands, all directly relevant to the Home Improver and self-builder
The National Home Improvement Awards – allows the public to vote for their choice
The organisers make a donation to Centrepoint - a Charity committed to helping young homeless people regain control of their lives
More information on what is happening at the show from the National Home Improvement Show website.
DIY Doctor at the National Homebuilding Show
Free tickets to see us at the NEC
If you want to come and see DIY Doctor on the Tricks of the Trade Stage at, at Birmingham NEC between 21 March – 24 March 2013, click here for free tickets to The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show
DIY Doctor will be on the Tricks of The Trade Stage at the National Homebuilding and Renovating Show at the NEC in Birmingham next month.
The show starts on the 21st March and runs until the 24th March 2013. Mike Edwards from DIY Doctor will be running a series of talks and demonstrations including how to plaster, how to lay tiles and how to avoid cowboy builders.
Are you planning a build?
The National Homebuilding and Renovating Show organisers have asked us, to ask you, how you intend to use finance to fund your build, renovation or extension, for the coming year. So if you have a moment to fill in their survey, they are offering a chance to win 1 of 5 prizes of £100 worth of high-street shopping vouchers.
The National Homebuilding and Renovating Show have partnered up with Experian for this survey. The idea is to examine the use of credit and financing on the homebuilding and renovating industry.
For your convenience the survey has been designed to make it easy to fill in on what ever device you prefer to use. You can complete it using a PC, Mac, iPad and most smartphones.
It will be very interesting to see what the research reveals – so if you have the time Please follow this link to complete their survey.
We would also like to see you at the show – so if you want free tickets as DIY Doctor guests then please click on the image below.
Have you completed a grand design in the last two years, and would you like to gain recognition for it?
If so, you could enter your self build project into the Grand Designs Award 2013, for the chance to win this sought-after accolade, and then brag about it onstage to Kevin McCloud at the Grand Designs Show.
The Judges are Kevin McCloud (obviously), Lisa Allen – editor of Grand Designs Magazine, award-winning architect Phil Coffey, and Naomi Clever who is an interior designer and design consultant (you will have seen her on Channel 4 home design programes such as ‘Other people’s houses’, and ‘Honey, I ruined the House’).
The deadline for Grand Designs Award entries is the 7th March 2013 and it is an easy online registration process.
It is free, and is open to anyone who, within the last two years, has built or transformed a building; whether they are in the trade, or a related profession (such as an architect), or not.
The judging process is done anonymously to be completely fair and open – according to the Grand Designs website these are the criteria they will use to judge the award.
Entries will be judged anonymously using a points scoring system, and will consider the following criteria:
- Function
- Originality
- Innovation
- Aesthetics
- Sustainability
- Attention to context
- Cost
So if you have built or transformed something truly grand/amazing/eco/beautiful, then why not have a go? let us know if you go for it, we would love to see pictures of your entries.
If you win we would be proud to feature you and your build on DIY Doctor too, as we love to hear of people’s Home Improvement sucesses.
Click here to go to the Grand Design Awards application form.
Would you be prepared to send us your DIY disasters?
So many people own smartphones these days that videos are becoming the easiest way of telling a story.
DIY Doctor is reacting to this trend by supplying more and more video versions of our How To guides and Product Review videos, to help you with your Home Improvement tasks and when making choices on which equipment to use for your building projects.
We used to get emails from you telling us what was going wrong, and we still get posts on our forum that highlight common problems, but we are looking for something a bit more graphic.
Now we would like your videos showing the challenges you meet when carrying out building, renovating or repairing jobs at home.
Send us your videos and we will advise you
If you have a project that is going horribly wrong, or you have started a project and found a job that you simply can’t tackle, please make a short video and send us a link. We will then use it to answer your questions.
You can tell us whether we can use it on the site, to share your problem with other users, which could help them if they find themselves in similar scrapes. If you say you want it kept private then we will, of course, respect your wishes.
How do I send videos?
Take your video on your phone or video camera and then upload it to your choice of video service.
Three good video sites that offer a free uploading and sharing system are
There are probably others available – use whichever you prefer.
If you like you can set your video as ‘private’ on any of these three sites, this means they are not available online, but they can be shared by invitation. Otherwise you might want them to be freely available – they might go ‘viral’ and make you famous!
We will view it and comment and, if you allow us to, we will publish it on the DIY Doctor website.
You have been framed?
Now those of you who have a more evil sense of humour may want to send in videos of your friend/spouse/workmate doing something stupid and funny, while carrying out building work and Home Improvement tasks. We would be lying if we said we don’t want these.
Who doesn’t want a laugh?
So if you spot some idiot tiptoeing on a bucket to reach the last bit of painting on a soffit and you just know they are going to fall off covering themselves in paint, or they are about to drive a digger into a foundation trench, or they are carrying too many bricks and are about to trip over the dog or step in a bucket of plaster, then by all means set the camera rolling.
Send in the results – name and shame the victim!
Email us your Video
Send your video link, your name and contact details to office@diydoctor.org.uk. Don’t forget to tell us whether you want to remain anonymous or not.
In the mean time you might want to watch DIY Doctor’s Mike Edwards on stage at the ideal home show, talking about DIY Disasters.