[MegsW]

We are considering extending our house with an extra lliving area, bedroom and a shower/toilet/hidden laundry.

I want to find out a rough guide to cost with comparison of building up or out plus making sure it is possible to do with our current home.

However, realistically it will more than likely be a couple of years until we can afford to do it, but I need some sort of price to work out the best way to be able to manage it financially. I feel bad if I get someone out to give us an idea of cost if we aren't ready to go ahead because we are basically wasting someones time.

Should I worry about feeling like this or just go ahead and get a couple of company's out to quote?

[hubbymeand3]

Company's are in the business of providing quotes, so really it is up to you. You can be honest when you speak to them and say you are in the early stages and aren't sure what you are after, so they don't expect a signature quickly - and let them decide....

There are also some handy calculators around on the web which will give you a bit of any idea (like a laundry is about $x and bathroom $y, but it is often handy to have a professional as they might have better ideas of you as to what you should/could do!

[Kay1]

Definitely go ahead! How can you strategise if you don't have a ballpark figure? And if one of the companies provides good service in quoting then you are more likely to use them when the time comes.

I did this and actually found a great guy who treated me like a daughter and told me we'd be wasting our money to do what we wanted and we were better off moving, even though he could have made money out of us. It was good advice for us.

[babycuddler]

i've heard people say that extending is $x per metre (varies according to your area) and building upwards i.e. adding a level is always more expensive. Some local builders may be able to give you a rough guide like that so you can budget. Whatever you budget you are always going to have to add a bit extra and of course the longer you wait the more it will be. As a PP said, many people find it cheaper/easier to move to a bigger place but if you have the time & can make some good contacts then it can get a good result.

[kelsey82]

We are considering extending our house with an extra lliving area, bedroom and a shower/toilet/hidden laundry.

I want to find out a rough guide to cost with comparison of building up or out plus making sure it is possible to do with our current home.

However, realistically it will more than likely be a couple of years until we can afford to do it, but I need some sort of price to work out the best way to be able to manage it financially. I feel bad if I get someone out to give us an idea of cost if we aren't ready to go ahead because we are basically wasting someones time.

Should I worry about feeling like this or just go ahead and get a couple of company's out to quote?

Wow that is EXACTLY what we are doing early next year. Extending out to include an extra living area, master bedroom with WIR and ensuite and an internal laundry (laundry currently outside). I got 3 quotes. They all quoted around the $120K mark. We ended up going with the builder we had heard the most and best feedback on and he in turn put us in touch with an excellent draftsman/designer. Plans have just been submitted to council with approx. cost of $110K. This is not including a new kitchen bench and splashback (as the back wall or our house will be knocked out and our current kitchen bench will become a breakfast bar), a reroof of the entire house in colorbond and reclad of the entire house in 300mm Weathertex and a deck out the back. We estimate the job to cost around $130K-$140K for everything. We're in Sydney.

HTH?

[kelliev]

We are a little the same. We are unsure whether to extend or move, however it won't be for a few years yet. We can't make our decision without getting quotes on extending so we'll be getting some quotes later this year. I feel bad about it too but you kind of need to. I'll be upfront with them that we are weighing up our options at this stage.

[duck-o-lah]

Have a chat with a few people, you'll pretty quickly find out who is keen to help you line their pockets and who is keen to actually help. I spoke to three draftsmen before I paid a cent. One of them said I could have everything I wanted for the price I wanted. The other two told me that was very unrealistic!

The one we eventually chose to do our plans was very helpful and honest from the start. If it helps, he said we were looking at approx $3.5k per square metre, and extra if plumbing was required.

[meggs1]

Archicentre will do this kind of estimate and concept drawings for you for a fixed fee, without expectation of getting the work.

[lisafromcamberwe...]

We are the same! We basically want to extend the family room and install a new kitchen.

We got a large construction mob out to quote and were shocked by the price - $110k to add on a small square box 6m x 4.5m NOT including the kitchen or flooring or plumbing or electrical. But it gave us an idea and we think a smaller builder without the huge overheads and profit margin should be at least $20k cheaper.

We had friends who went with a large construction mob and were able to get them to do the work for $70k less than the original quote! So the profit margins are huge with some places.

[paula32]

I would go ahead, also have to take into account the time to get things drawn up and submitted/approved by council. Depending on the council it could take a while.