KLC Architects Guide to a ground floor or loft extension
01: Introduction
Thinking of extending your home?
With this article, you can carry home extension projects in England with ease. Also, the basic steps to follow when setting up an extension would be stated here to avoid issues before, during and after the completion of the project.
Having a ground floor extension is an amazing project for home owners, and most important step is obtaining planning permission, permitted development rights, and building regulations before any construction can be undertaken for your project.
KLC Architects have assisted numerous homeowners each year when it comes to improving their homes. This guide will assist you before embarking on your ground floor extension project, and improve the functionality and design of your building by an addition of a study, to kitchen expansion
02: Reasons for building a ground floor extension or loft extension
Ground floor extensions and loft extensions not only create room for extra space, but they are flexibility in numerous ways too, depending on your tastes makes it a popular project for most home owners when increasing the value of their building. Extensions are built by retaining the original structure of the building, creating an extra bedroom with/without an ensuite, provide more open kitchen, dining and living area, and receiving a wonderful view to the garden.
03: Choosing your extension.
When considering an extension to your home, a lot of factors have to be put in place before the onset of the project. Firstly, what type of extension would be suitable for your home?
Lots of designs are available to homeowners, and KLC Architects can assist you in developing a design that is right for your home and it’s cost you can handle in order for fast completion with ease of the project.
Tendering
The architectural design by KLC Architects is submitted to the building regulation department at which point getting quotes from different contractors, and agreeing on timelines and payment plans are set out. The detail drawings produced in the building regulation phase will help prospective contractors put together more accurate prices to compare with the Builders.
Construction/ Project management
So you have appointed your contractor, obtained Building Control approved and secured the Party Wall Awards, works can now begin. it’s advisable to employ a professional for project supervision, which KLC Architects as provide and as additional service for quality control and any defects and problems arising on site can detected by us the professional project manager and corrected immediately by the contractor.
Fit out
Adding finishing touches to your property can be done at a little expense with interior designing, as it is a great way to add style your home. All these changes made on the kitchen or floor gives the home a new dimensional look.
See examples of our Ground floor extensions below
05 Picking the right professionals
Homeowners find it difficult in making a choice of getting the professional for the task. Appointing the right professional for your project is extremely important save you a money for unexpected faults, and time wasted in achieving nothing but a failed project that could even devalue your building by giving it a bad appearance. Getting the right contractor, would provide you with a quality result, less stress, and the completion of your dream project with ease. KLC Architects have work with a set of Contractors who we can invite during the Tender stages. Here are tips on how to hire the suitable professional in the construction market.
Shop around
You can never go wrong with approaching different professional contractors and making your choice from the selected options, as you could sense each weakness and strength by having an intellectual conversation with them concerning the project at hand, a choice from 3 is a good number to pick the best out from.
Check references
We feel this is an important aspect when making your decision to who you want to award the contract to, as checking references boosts your confidence in the professional. Speak to the contractors past client about the outcome of their project, if it was finished at satisfactory standard, if any problem occurred during the course of construction, if the project was completed on the homeowners budget, was it completed on time as agreed. You can request to visit the contactors past client to have a view and make your decision.
Experience
Just appoint a contractor by simply recommendation, research their experience on the type of extension you are undertaking to keep the project on going and finishing it in desired quality to your taste. The more experience on their belt, the more likely they are to avoid mistakes.
Selecting the right contractor
Anyone can go into construction in UK without any license or qualifications, resulting in the rise of cowboy builders which has put a lot of homeowners at risk financially by selecting a wrong contractor. When selecting a contractor, pick the right contractor in order to save yourself the stress an headache that could be gotten on a failed project. A good place to start would be to find out if;
Is your builder FMB accredited?
The FMB (The Federation of Master Builders) is the largest trade body, accredited to small- or large-scale builders in UK, by approval. Employing a builder with an FMB accreditation is set to adhere to conduct guidelines as all professionals within this trade body are ranked as the best builders in UK, FMB accreditation assure the homeowners of no poor practices by the builder, we at KLC Architects are in full support of builders who have a FMB accreditation.
Protect against builders going bust
Developer Insolvency Insurance can be used to insure your project to be at a safer side if anything goes wrong with the builder. As most builders can be incompetent cowboys, who can be really tricky, as they could apply for bankruptcy due to a lot of unsatisfactory building projects, and no one wants to hire them. Applying for bankruptcy provides them a chance in setting up another construction company as they could put a new director at the wheel, but the construction company is still very much operated by them which would still be very much unsafe for homeowners.
Another option that could protect your finances is making a payment to the contractor with a credit card. The credit card offers valuable benefits such as protection against contractor fraud, screwed up projects by contractors, and return protection for compensating of loss if a service wasn’t delivered. All these benefits fall under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. A payment of more than £100 and less than £30,000 would have to be made for all these benefits, as it is the suitable for protection against small construction projects
Know what payment plan keeps you safe
A reputable builder, wouldn’t ask for an upfront payment, as he should be able to complete the project with an initial agreed deposit made by the homeowner. Any builder who asks for an upfront payment is like taking you through a risk, because before completion, errors can occur, and the builder may put it on delay or not even complete it. We at KLC Architects would advise a payment plan of employing a builder who could fund the entire project, or a deposit can be made, and project plan with key milestones would be agreed on project completion and payment. KLC Architects can be employed to oversee the project for errors and immediate correction if you have little or no knowledge of extension projects. As this payment plan, would make the builder deliver quality and at the right time.
Another payment plan is a JCT homeowners’ contract, but it isn’t well recommended as losses can be made within this payment plan, as it is limited to your own basic knowledge as no professional in extension would be there to supervise the project.
In conclusion avoiding all this expected issue which comes with an extension project can be limited with the help of a project manager, though expensive to hire, but expect your project to be completed in no time with quality.