Ideas for your House Extension

Good design will enhance your quality of life – and your property’s value. If you need more space, it’s well worth investing time and money exploring all the possibilities. Many inspired extensions evolve in response to a site’s characteristics: its strengths and its limitations, and the planning system. The ideas on these pages have evolved as a practical reaction to real-life needs and desires.

The importance of bringing in a good, professional designer as early as possible cannot be overstated. They will come up with ideas that may never occur to you and advise on achieving your aims within your budget. They can also steer the project through development, minimising compromise so you end up as close as possible to your ambition, adding space and that elusive ‘wow’ factor, too.

The Royal Institute of British Architects has a good library in London where you can find many books and material related to house extensions, ideas for designs and planning and how to refurbish them. Find material like this, directly from proven architects is a good point to start finding ideas for your house extension project

Another idea is to study the house extension designs from well-known architects as a way of determining your extension design.

House extension in Chiswick (provided by architect your home)

You can also find a good amount of useful online home design websites. We would recommend taking a look at our house extension category for house extension ideas, galleries and planning information – we have worked hard and searched the web to give you modern house extension design ideas.

Most popular types of home extensions:

Single Storey Extensions

Extending your home with a single storey extension as opposed to moving to a new house can prove to be a more economic and satisfactory solution that suits your family’s present and future needs. A new extension is a sensible investment that can add to the value of your home and provide the additional internal space required enabling you to make the most effective use of your accommodation.

Double Storey Extensions

A two storey extension can make a substantial difference to your home, not only giving you extra space in your lounge, kitchen, dining room or other living areas, but also increasing the available bedroom accommodation or providing an additional bathroom. This type of extension often gives you enough space to avoid having to move home, at a cost which is far more affordable.

Side Return Extension

A side return extension is usually used to create extra space in existing rooms or to re-arrange your interior floor plan to create extra space that could include: bedrooms, bathrooms or living space. Side return extensions can also be combined with rear extensions to form a wrap-around extension.

Conservatory Extensions

Investing in a conservatory extension is a wise move that will add value to your property and provide room that is flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways. By purchasing a conservatory, you’re not just buying another room… ‘you’re investing in a whole new way of life.’

The Cube:

‘The Cube’ design has been developed with the following key functions in mind; sustainable development, pre-fabricated construction methods, visual impact and cost efficiency.

The major benefit of The Cube extension is that it can be installed for the same cost as a glass roof conservatory, which means you get the benefit of thermal mass construction providing great energy efficiency, large glazing with bi-fold doors and frameless skylights, allowing maximum day light penetration and amazing opportunity for evening star gazing when relaxing or entertaining.

Where do I start?

A general process for getting an extension built might be
1. Sketch out some plans/ideas yourself
2. Approach an architect and get some detailed drawings made
3. Apply for planning permission
4. Get some quotes in (can be done before planning permission if not sure on budget I guess)
5. Agree contract with builder. A useful suggestion that some people have done is to break down the payment into different sections based upon completion of job.
This is just a simplified overview, you will also need to get building regulations approval and permission (at least no dispute) from your neighbours as well.

Prices:

An extension to your house can be a easier option to moving for gaining more living space, but how much will it cost for types of extension of different sizes? See our general uk building price guide.

As a rough idea you can typically say that it will cost £1000 per m2 or  93 per ft2 including basic plumbing and electrician work. This price is per unit area of internal floor space and so a 5x4m single floor extension will have a total floor area of 20m2 and a double storey will have 40m2.

Typically, single storey house extension costs will cost more per metre squared than a double storey. In theory a triple storey would cost less still. In practise the difference in cost may be small though. The price per square metre also depends on the size of the property.

There are basic costs that don’t increase too much with size and hence the cost per square metre will decrease as the floor area increases.

We have recently added a more comprehensive list of resources for your house extension with our article House Extension Inspiration and Planning Guides Feel free to have a look! (July 2010)