Loft extension alongside other renovations – would I save money doing both?

Very quick finger in the wind question…

We live in a small 3 bed 1930s mid-terraced house and we’re about to start renovating by…

Ground floor…

• knocking some walls down
• removing a single chimney breast (throughout both floors)
• new kitchen
• reposition boiler and replacing it with a combi
• retrofit underfloor heating throughout the ground floor

First floor...

• refit bathroom

There’s a lot of work going on and is going to cause a fair amount of disruption and cost.

Now I'm no builder so go easy on me here… If we decided to do a loft extension at the same time, bearing in mind the trades that are going to be coming in and out with the work that is currently planned, could I expect to save much money compared with completing the work stated and then doing a loft extension in a couple of years’ time.

And if the answer is yes, what would be a rough estimate of that saving?

I know that taking the disruption hit once would be a bonus, but a bit of a saving might just seal the deal!

Thanks.
Dave.

Proper thumb in the air question, maybe 10-20%. Maybe not.

freddymercurystwin said:

Proper thumb in the air question, maybe 10-20%. Maybe not.

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20%? when can you start?

10 to 20% sounds like it might be becoming an option. We’re going to start to get some quotes in over the next few weeks and hope to have the work done in the spring / early summer.

Our son is coming home from Uni this coming year and (since we have two younger sons that share a double room) he’s stuck with our small box room. If we don’t get the loft done now, I have the feeling we’ll be kicking ourselves this time next year and will be tearing up some of what we’re about to do.

Having said that, if we make him too comfortable, he might never move out!

To be honest I don't think you will save much if anything at all. We once did two loft conversions for neighbours together and gave them both a reduced price. To be honest we shouldn't have really, in all honesty it cost us the same to produce the two lofts as if they had been separate jobs. It did make the two jobs slightly easier though. Likewise for you, if you can afford to do it now , I would, whilst the house is in chaos anyway.

chappers said:

To be honest I don't think you will save much if anything at all.

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C’mon @chappers, that’s not what I want to hear!

Suppose what I was thinking is that as part of the renovations that are already planned, we’d be doing some of the jobs that the loft would benefit from. For example pulling the central heating around (combi making the pipework in the loft redundant and rerouteing the plumbing for upstairs radiators), having electrics being altered in the kitchen and bathroom, plumbers, plasterers, builders, tillers on site etc. And if the builder were able to schedule these things more efficiently in a single job, I was wondering if that would impact the price to any extent?

I know that these are little things compared to the project in hand, but I was hoping that they may add up to a few grand.

As I say, I'm not a builder so I have no idea on how these things work, which is why it’s great to hear your experience so I can manage my expectations.

Thanks again,
Dave.

Yeah to be fair I was looking at it in a very general way of course it will be a little cheaper than having to open up floors walls etc a second time but don't expect huge savings. Also when it's two o'clock in the afternoon and the sparks has finished wiring the kitchen he may well spend the afternoon on the loft rather than knocking off and still charging you for the full day.
But as I said the convenience factor is huge.