Top tip 1 – Saving money
Beware, it’s not all as it seems… the seemingly obvious cutbacks you make could be the very ones that save you money!
I will begin to explain…
To save money on a house extension everything needs to be finely tuned, from initial ideas to final completion of the project; consisting of one smooth journey with no problems, no nasty surprises and no retrospective changes.
It is easy to think that minimising professional services, such as architects and structural engineers, is saving you money but is this the case?
This is part of the budget that contains the people with the skills to plan and prepare your house extension, allowing you to have a smooth journey of construction and, in turn, saving you money. Even on the smallest of builds, these services have a big hidden impact on other costs in a positive way.
Top tip 2 – Put all your eggs in one basket at your peril!
When you decide to have a house extension, loft conversion or home modification, there are a lot of choices to be made and the route you decide to take will hugely influence the outcome.
It seems cheaper and easier to not involve anyone other than the builder at first, allowing them to be at the helm of the project. Ultimately you are placing all your trust in them and them alone.
What if…
as a result of crossed wires between you and your builder, you thought a critical aspect of your design was included in the builder’s quote and, halfway through construction, it is revealed that it was not included? You are left in a situation where you can not afford the extra cost, or there are so many add-ons occurring due to this miscommunication that your initial ideas become unaffordable.
or…
the builder says an aspect of your idea cannot be built and as a result, ruins the design you were after when in reality it could have been built but maybe not by that builder? You would never know. A professional there with specific knowledge and expertise would be extremely beneficial.
Using independent experts with specialist skills (who have no bias towards the builder) who have your project’s interests at heart, and are able to prepare designs and drawings will vastly help to avoid such troubles. It will also help the project go according to plan and may even make your idea become better than you imagined.
In most instances, you will be doing the builder a favour by using such professionals. Many builders like straightforward jobs and preparing the project in advance of their involvement takes the sting out of the tail.
Top tip 3 – See it before you build it
Normally, before purchasing an item you see what you get for your money, so why not for a house extension? Surely, when you are spending thousands of pounds on a project you need to know that the finished build will be what you wanted in the first place.
For instance, would you buy a new £65k car having only seen some 2D plans of the design?
2D drawings can be difficult to read and the amount of information on them obscures the building design. Therefore, a 3D visualisation is ideal to give you a clear picture of your final build. A 3D visualisation may bring to light design elements that you would like to change. A lot of money and time will be saved by making these changes before building work begins.
One of my clients had a 3D visualisation produced and this was placed on a board and kept on site.
It helped everyone on the build to focus on what they were creating so they were all on the same wavelength.
Until recently, visualisations have only been the domain of the largest architectural practices and developers. Extended Ideas brings homeowners a new service that specialises in visualisations, one-to-one advice and support from Stuart, a UK-registered architect. Better still, because Extended Ideas is an independent consultancy you are offered excellent value for money.
Extended Ideas fully encourages creating 3Ds and drawings of your ideas while you are in the thinking stages before anyone else is involved with your project. This way, expense is spared while you are checking out your thoughts.
