How much will my home renovation cost?

Planning fees, specialist consultants and architects, all before you've even started building your project. Home remodeling is a complex business with unknown costs on most projects. However, there are some basic fees you should be aware of from the outset. Here we break them down for you.

Professional fees up to construction:

Every project will require a team of professionals to coordinate the project and provide the drawings and information packages for you to A- obtain permissions from the council and B- hand over to a contractor to build the project from. On a typical residential extension you will require at the very least: someone to draw and advise on the design and process (usually an Architect but not essential), an Engineer (depending on the scale of the extension) an Approved Inspector, (who will ensure the project receives Building Regulations approval), and Surveyors (Drainage and measured building surveyors). For the services mentioned above, for a relatively straightforward rear extension, you'd be looking anywhere between £2000 - £10000 in total, depending on the level of service you require.

Council fees:

Council fees are a tricky business and often catch Clients off-guard if they haven't been explained clearly at the beginning of their project. Most extension project cost either £103 or £206 across the UK depending on whether the project is submitted as a Householder Panning Application or Permitted Development. Things get complicated if you're proposal involves the development of more than one property, change of use or you want to seek pre-application advice. In these circumstances the fees are determined by the council, in which case you'll have to speak with someone at the council directly or most council websites enable you to find this information out directly from their website. The same is true for Building Control services.

Build costs:

To keep things simple we usually break down the build costs to 3 separate areas of fees:

Construction: This covers everything from structure and waterproofing to plumbing, electrics doors and windows. For heavy structural work, including new walls, roofs and structure, we work to a principle of £1500 - £2000m2 inside the M25. For light refurbishment involving new partitions, painting, plastering and plumbing we'd look at anywhere from £500 - £1000m2 in the M25.

Fit-out: This is adding the fixtures, finishes and fittings to the completed building shell. Unsurprisingly, this is where you can make most of your savings or end up blowing the majority of your budget. We all know kitchen and bathroom fit-out companies range in price massively, so it's good to shop around at this stage to find a good local supplier. For these services you'd be looking at anything from 20%-100% and more of the construction price.

Project management: Usually charged as a percentage of the overall construction cost (5-10%), and is charged by either a main contractor or the architect. For most small construction projects there are plenty of good contractors out there that can project manage the build themselves, without requiring an architect to oversee everything.