House Extension Typical Costs - How do they vary?

The typical cost for a house extension can be influenced by many things such as location, complexity, size, site access, level of information provided by your house extension designer or architect etc.  It is therefore difficult to state exact figures but a possible range per square metre could be from as little as £1,200.00 per square metre up to £2,700.00 per square metre.

All clients and homeowners considering a house extension are in a difficult situation as money will have to be spent in fees and professional services in order to get to a point in the design where builders can provide you with fixed price quotations for the works scheduled and illustrated on the house extension approved plans.

Therefore, many homeowners will have to take a leap of faith by accepting estimated costs provided by their home extension designer or architect and hope that it still comes in on budget - over 30% of schemes will not.

The reasons for this are often down to two main factors:-

1 - Client / homeowner has allowed the scheme to run away by adding in extra works as part of the inclusive 'wish list' during the various design stages.

2 - The home extension designer or architect has not advised the client correctly or lost control of the scheme due to complexity, size or level of specification of fixtures and fittings.

So how does the home owner keep control of house extension typical costs so that it can remain within their budget?  Well the first step is ton accept mentally that you do actually have a finite budget cost in the first place.  I always ask my client what they have to spend on the house extension project for very scheme I initially go and see to offer advise on as part on my initial site meeting appointment.

It is without doubt the most avoided answer.  I get excuses, lots of talk around the issue, and complete falsehoods such as 'we do not actually have a top end budget'. Talk about denial.  If you cannot answer this question then you should not be embarking on your house extension until such times you have formulated a budget cost that you wish to spend on the works.

This will also allow the house extension designer or architect you are interviewing at the time to give you his opinion as to whether or not you are living in the real world.  Believe it or not many homeowner seem to have expectations on building costs set within the previous decade.