Kitchen and Open Plan Extensions
The extension, the structural opening and the fit out, run as one job rather than three.
This is the job that changes how a house feels more than any other. You are not really buying square metres, you are buying one room where the cooking, the eating, the homework and the sitting all happen in daylight.
Typical works can include
Every project is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Extension shell, roof and glazing
- Structural opening into the existing kitchen with steel to calculations
- Roof lantern or flush rooflights
- Insulated floor build up, underfloor heating and screed
- Full electrical first fix and second fix, including island and lantern circuits
- Plumbing, waste runs and appliance provision
- Plastering and decoration
- Kitchen installation, worktop templating and tiling
- Flooring, skirting and finishing carpentry
Elements such as decoration, flooring, structural engineer fees, Building Control fees and any professional or design costs are dealt with according to the individual project, and are included only where the quotation says so.
Getting the light right
The mistake we see most often is a deep rear extension with glazing only on the back wall. The far end of the new room is bright and the middle of the house goes dark, because the original back wall is now an internal one. A roof lantern or a run of flush rooflights over the middle fixes it, and it costs a lot less than regretting it.
Bifolds or sliders is a genuine argument. Bifolds open the whole wall, which is lovely three weeks a year. Sliders give you bigger panes and thinner frames, so more light on the other forty nine. For most families we would point at sliders, but it depends on how you use the garden.
Opening up into the house
In most cases the existing back wall is load bearing, so the opening needs a steel beam sized by a structural engineer and supported on padstones. We prop, cut, install and pack the beam, then fire protect it and box it in. Done properly you get a clean flush ceiling rather than a downstand that shows where the old wall was.
If the wall carries the floor above as well as the roof, the beam gets heavier, the padstones get bigger and occasionally the foundation under the pier needs looking at. Better to know that at drawing stage than on the day.
Underfloor heating and the boring bits
New extension floors are the one chance you get to put underfloor heating in cheaply, because the insulation and the screed are going down anyway. If you are laying porcelain or engineered oak it is worth doing. Get the electrics planned early too: island sockets, extractor runs and lantern lighting all need to be in before the screed and the plaster.
Good honest and knowledgeable work. They gave a fair quote and carried out repairs to my house wall that had some subsidence cracking. The mortar and replaced bricks were all matched well. I would use them again for any other house job.
Examples of this work
Some of these are mid build rather than finished, because that is where you can see how something was put together.
Worth knowing
Kitchens are the longest lead item on the whole job. If you are having one made rather than off the shelf, order it early. We have seen otherwise finished extensions sitting empty for six weeks waiting on doors.
Common questions
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Can we stay in the house while you work?
Usually yes, and most of our customers do. On an extension you can live fairly normally right up until we break through into the existing house, which we leave as late as possible for that reason.
On a full renovation it is harder but still workable. We go room by room, keep a working kitchen and bathroom going as long as possible, sheet up properly and clean down at the end of each day.
Do you supply kitchens and bathrooms, or can I buy my own?
Either. Plenty of our customers buy their own kitchen from Howdens, Wren, Magnet or an independent maker and we fit it. Send us the plan before you order and we will tell you whether it works in the space.
We can also source it if you would rather one company was responsible for the whole thing. We will talk you through which route tends to work out better for your particular project.
Will I need planning permission for my extension?
Often not. A single storey rear extension can usually go to 3 metres on a semi or terrace and 4 metres on a detached house under permitted development, with a 4 metre height limit and a tighter one within 2 metres of the boundary. You also cannot cover more than half the land around the original house.
The Larger Home Extension route can take those depths further, but it requires prior approval from Milton Keynes City Council before work starts and that process takes time. Conservation areas, listed buildings and properties that have had permitted development rights removed are all different again.
This is general guidance rather than planning advice, and the position depends entirely on your property and what has been built before. We can flag the likely requirements at the first visit and advise when confirmation should be obtained from the council or an appropriate professional.
Talk it through before you commit
The site visit and the written quotation are free. If you want to know what we are like to work with first, check out our five star Google reviews.