Book a consultation with me to discuss your property - www.reallifearchitecture.co.uk/online-services please read the terms and construction before you book.
I can't remember if you said why they need 5 bedrooms but do they really? The big open kitchen diner accross the whole rear of the house would be nice and would definitely feel like the money had been spent. Would it be possible to ge the rough original layout (bedrooms at front, new kitchen living dining space on the back) for the budget if the could live with 3-4 bedrooms? Or is it the extension work that pushes it over the limit?
@@RealLifeArchitecture It is at the point where either homeowners can't afford it or tradies can't make money so they're going into commercial jobs or giving up. This only resolved itself if ordinary homeowners get paid more.
@@phoenix-xu9xj Neil's quotes are always higher than my gut tells me they should be but then when he breaks it down I'm always like oh okay I guess each item is kind of reasonable? There's a guy on youtube called Gosforth Handyman or something who redid his 1930's semi and did a good chunk of the work these guys were looking for and he says he did it for I think like £60k all in. He project managed it and did a lot of the labour himself and kept a really close eye on the costs etc. Most people wouldn't be in a position to do that and it's very tempting to have a go but you could end up swamped and ruined. I think if you go to Neil you'd have a good experience and a good result with minimal stress and obviously have the whole thing fully manged.
10:25 - Put the kitchen along the external wall of the dining room. It would leave a clear path between the front and back of the house. - Leave the living room at the front of the house and put the dining room in the new extension. (It makes sense to have the dining room and kitchen next to the large patio doors since that's where people spend most of their time). - I would remove the vestibule to make the living room larger and then build a porch onto the front of the house to separate the front door from the living room.
I was thinking the same, for me it makes more sense to have the kitchen in the back next to the patio and the living room at the front of the property. I like the idea of the porch as well, so you are not taking away from the living room.
Likewise. I would also prefer to have a wall/door between the kitchen and living room, because as much as some people like an open-plan, having lived with one for an extended period of time I actually prefer not to have all the food smells ending up in the living area. It’s not a huge amount of space you’re losing, and helps separate the two areas. It’s also much easier in winter to heat smaller rooms you are actually using, than heating a large open-plan space with a bunch of glazing at the far end. If you’re in the kitchen, the heat of cooking will help with warmth if it’s in the extension, while if, like us, you actually use the living room, it will be warmer if it’s in a room without a huge glazed external door.
It’s pretty much at the point where (depending on the location) it is cheaper to move than to extend these days. Spending 200k on what was probably a 200k+ house to begin with and it’s not a 400k house when finished. Not in my area at least
I'd love to see you tackle those super narrow victorian terraces - but without a ground floor extension - so many of them just seem to add an entire extra ground floor on the back, I want to see creativity and leaving the outside pretty much as it is and working woth existing square footage. By extending, more and more of these "ideal first time buyer" homes become unaffordable.
Great to see this video's performing well! You're content has always been really informative and thorough - keep up the good work! Would be good to see a wee visual aid of the cost breakdown - everyone loves a spreadsheet, right?😅
Amazing video format, incredible quality of production great visual representations and tonnes of detail! I’m excited but nervous about getting into property
I like the design but the only thing I can think of that would be a mistake is having a sliding door/barn door for the main bathroom in the house where guests would be using at parties or family gatherings. They usually are really bad at insulating noise and could be really embarrassing for everyone if someone has a stomach ache or feels sick as everyone else outside would probably be able to hear it very clearly. Makes sense to save that space for the ensuites also, something that I think is a smart move that is very used in Japanese homes is dividing the shower to the toilet, which makes a lot of sense if there are more occupants then bathrooms, for that a nice way to save space in the toilet area is using a combination 2 in one wash basin and toilet and in the shower room a normal basin and a shower
Go to Eastern Europe (i'm from Lithuania) and you will see the same house. Different materials etc but generally the same layout, size, height. One difference is they are usually turned side on to street.with windows on the side.
I hear you but in almost 16 years altering and extending private homes, only a tiny number of people use garages to store a car, usually a classic with shoddy electrics. Most people fill their garages with other stuff and some (myself included) convert them to usable space. My garage is my home office, although we kept the garage door and 1.5M behind it for storage, fridge / freezer, bikes and lawnmower.
We had a large garage, it became a dumping ground, after converting part of it to become usable living space its forced us to declutter and be more organised - however, we still have a "workshop" from part of the garage to use if need be, I can see the annoyance of have zero garage/indoor workroom space.
@@RealLifeArchitectureI park my daily in mine, because it keeps pollen/rain from making it dirty or washing the wax off, and it also means there’s no frost or snow to clear before leaving in the winter.
I don't like how the vestibule only goes into the kitchen. I would make it part of the hallway, that way you don't have to go through the kitchen unnecessarily when you are not bringing back shopping.
How about swapping the kitchen and the dining area? The kitchen can be to one side, leaving a clear passage to the living room. It can have a peninsula on one or two sides, maybe even with barstools on the living room end.
The change is Ok, What I would look at, and know to be slightly more expensive is the following: - Leave the living room at the front - Change the proposed dining room be a the utility room, pantry and WC - Back extension to be accessed from hallway via doorway where bathroom was - Back extension to be Kitchen Dinner (should be about 10'4 * 17') - Rather than the wardrobe space from the porch area, add 2 ensuites one for main and one for new garage bathroom running full width of garage
I am grimacing at spending 8000 EUR on a renovation of one room and new roof ... and new facade. ( 4 weeks) I DIY'ed the other 40 sq.m. gutted and re-built. ( 3 years elapsed ) Thanks for updating me on renovation budget's.
When house hunting, I’ve seen so many of these expanded in the most awkward meandering sorts of ways. I’m guess via sequential DIY expansions. A room here, a room there, add a sun porch, fill it in, who cares there’s a hallway that zigs and zags between three rooms to get to the newsy addition at the back. Who cares the new kitchen is now 4 rooms away from the original and still dining room. Who cares if a bedroom is between the lounge and the new great room concept room, and you have to duck under the stair landing to eat to it too. So thanks for this.
What about energy efficiency? The dormers really reduce the insulation making the upstairs bedrooms a lot hotter and colder than necessary. Addressing the general cost of running the home would be a good idea. Also with a large south facing roof it would be a good time to add solar.
You aren’t wrong but it’s about priorities. Doing the work you describe would take money from the budget, making some other aspect of the job unaffordable. Check out this video from made on the reality of upgrading old buildings th-cam.com/video/TaHnkE13tn4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hwnZkRPdD5PtR_ok
On the ground floor, turning the bathroom door around the corner will allow the master bedroom door to line up with the ensuite wall giving better clearance to access the ensuite 10:23
Just a note of caution to anyone thinking about changing the walls in their house. Not all load bearing walls are made of solid brick/material they can be hollow stud walls. I found this out in my property. (mid terrace).
I made a video earlier this year about the cost to remove internal load bearing walls. th-cam.com/video/A0mwMMOHhm0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=T0rVJRt0llSwtbyv in it I mentioned that in the UK the owner should always get building regulations approval prior to changing the internal layout by way of demolition.
I suggest a extra window in the dining. Making the entry to the stairs from the dining with a more open staircase (with a bend), erase the walls of the utility to make straight hallway to the bedrooms and extra living space. utility in the old up part of the stairs. I don't like it so much that you enter the living space in the kitchen, i prefer the old situation but would idd add a closet. Is the glazing requirement a regulation? In Belgium we don't have limits for glass. Cool to see the situation in a other country.
I believe you know what you’re talking about with these costs but they’re always four or five orders of magnitude higher than I’d expect and I think most people can afford. Surely if you have a spare £250k or the ability to borrow it it’d make more sense and probably be less disruption to just move to a bigger house? I love my house and I’m interested in a kitchen extension but these figures are so eye watering and I find it hard to believe you would make anything close to the money back since the uk housing valuation seems to focus on bedrooms rather than floor space. All seems a bit of a mess.
I have a house with an awkward downstairs layout I need help with. We had one architect draw sketches but we didn’t like them. Would you be able to help still? Consultation terms on your website say no other architect involved?
Hi Nick, I can’t get involved in a project if you are currently working with another architect. I should also say that I don’t take on projects if they are outside the Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife area.
The cost of renovation work and even just general maintenance is crazy now. Makes me rethink even owning a home in the UK. Imagine buying that house and then spending £250k on renovation. Would you even get the money back?
It’s a serious issue. The only way out is for construction costs to fall or house prices to crash. Both would cause significant negative economic problems.
@@RealLifeArchitecture even finding people that will come and and do things locally is a problem. It took me four years to get someone to change the guttering after being messed around by people. Getting a reliable roofer is really tough which worries me but the roof is obviously a critical component of the house!
@@timsyoutube6051 and then what happens if you need to move? Houses are a financial commitment even if they are a place to live. At the moment they are a massive liability and personally I would be happy not owning one at all.
The two are not connected. The cost to buy and the cost to build are two different things. This could catch out a lot of people if they need to claim on their home insurance for a rebuild.
Interesting on the fire aspect of the building regs. In N Ireland our regulations forbid escape through a kitchen space, regardless of escape windows etc on first floor. There are ways around it I believe but its tricky. there is also always a concern about smoke and CO migration.
The first question I would ask is why they need 5 Bedrooms. If they have lots of kids fair enough, but 99% of clients its 'guest bedroom'. As a designer my biggest repeat business comes from people asking for their guest bedrooms/suite to be turned into home office/ games room/library. The average time between creating the guest room and changing it is 2 years, which I recon is 6 months for it to become a dumping ground and then a year and a half of discussion over money. Unless people have a family member with particular needs which means someone is going to stay often I strongly advise them against having guest rooms, especially if those rooms are going to take away storge space. I would tell them to leave the garage as is and where you've put a wardrobe put a bathroom for bedroom one, then the downstairs bathroom can become a really nice big utility room, then you can also get rid of what is going to be the worlds smallest every hallway and walk straight into the kitchen, yes I know everyone hates the idea of that but when you do it, it's liberating and everyone is so please.
The client was at the point of selling up, the sought my advice to confirm they were making the right decision. The cost of construction really worries me, most of my clients are homeowners. If everyone more rather than improves I have no business
How much does this kind of consultation cost? We had a local architect round to ask about feasibility of extending/remodeling and he wanted about £10k just to give us an idea of build costs. That involved drawing current plans, idea generation, drawing new plans, consulting a surveyor. Does that sound sensible? I was surprised.
My consultation service through Real Life Architecture costs £95 but I don’t produce drawings. I did these for the video, not for the client. I am working on an expanded consultation service for more complex projects but I won’t produce drawings for those either. The cost will be in the £200 range. In my “day job” I publish my fees for architectural services. I’m based in Edinburgh and don’t take on projects outside the Lothian or Fife area. Check it out www.capitala.co.uk/architects-fees
I'd love to convert my garage space, its useless and too small to fit anything larger than a small hatchback. What I'd convert it too is.... well i don't know as I don't have the budget so I haven't thought about it properly, but right now its an empty dark hollow in my home
I made a full video about this, based a competitive tender between two small building companies. th-cam.com/video/A0mwMMOHhm0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=0Yh7ho0bJwi1V3C0
Yes but the roof still needs to be raised and the most practical way to do that is with a frame inside the garage wall, which takes space from be room.
@@RealLifeArchitecture I’m interested in this as I’m likely (sadly inevitably) going to be inheriting a bungalow in a few years time and my wife and I are looking to modernise and extend, and we will have a side garage that is very similar to the one you showed in this video.
The Scottish building regs will require a “sanitary facility” on the ground floor. If there wasn’t one there already we wouldn’t need to create one. Because there is one, we can’t get rid of it. We could move it elsewhere on the ground floor but not upstairs.
@@jackmason7823 a toilet and basin alone is allowed but space must exist on the same floor for the future instillation of a shower. Most people just create the shower room in one go.
I don't like that downstairs bathroom, it just gets in the way. Reduce it to become the downstairs toilet, rearrange the vestibule and open up a direct corridor to the living room, avoiding the kitchen and dining room.
That would end up with ugly higgidy piggledy environments where buildings have no sympathy with each other. No. If you want to build that kind of property, find an appropriate plot!
Having looked into this on my own projects, for houses of a similar age, heat pumps will struggle to keep them warm. A hybrid system might work but can be very expensive.
That's not true at all - the radiators just need to be sized accordingly to give off the right amount of heat at the lower flow temperature. It would be ideal to at least bury the flow/return pipework under any new slab if a heat pump would sit in a garden. Retrofitting those pipes in can be extremely unpleasant. Same goes for sizing radiators - they can last for decades - why not size those (and the pipework) for our non-gas future? Hot water cylinders compatible with heat pumps are entirely compatible (and very efficient) with has boilers too.
Hi Bro, I recently saw your TH-cam video and wanted to reach out. Are you interested in hiring a video editor and thumbnail maker? I specialize in creating engaging content and would love to help you with your channel.
I don’t understand why people want an en-suite bathroom for every bedroom in the house. I grew up in a house with one main bathroom and a half-bathroom and it was perfectly fine. No need to have a separate bathroom for every single person in the household. Takes away so much space.
I hear you but lots of comments, especially on my TikTok channel, are demanding more bathrooms. I watched a few episodes of Selling Sunset, estate agents in LA selling mega mansions with more bathrooms than bedrooms in each property. It’s a worrying trend
It’s a stupid design. Who would want to walk through the kitchen to get to the reception room? My dad did exactly the same thing with my childhood home before the divorce and both me and my mum were embarrassed to bring guests over
@@timsyoutube6051 Yes, I was. As a little kid I put up with the hideous wallpaper that didn't line up, the ugly brown wood skirting, the splintery wooden floor, and even the half-finished renovations my dad would leave and start on another part of the house. However I was filled with shame when my friends asked why we went through the kitchen to get to the living room
Book a consultation with me to discuss your property - www.reallifearchitecture.co.uk/online-services please read the terms and construction before you book.
Nice to see an architect realistic about building costs
Learned the hard way
The cost of getting any work done just seems eyewatering.
It’s a massive worry for everyone in the industry, this could lead to reduced or cancelled projects.
I can't remember if you said why they need 5 bedrooms but do they really? The big open kitchen diner accross the whole rear of the house would be nice and would definitely feel like the money had been spent. Would it be possible to ge the rough original layout (bedrooms at front, new kitchen living dining space on the back) for the budget if the could live with 3-4 bedrooms? Or is it the extension work that pushes it over the limit?
@@RealLifeArchitecture It is at the point where either homeowners can't afford it or tradies can't make money so they're going into commercial jobs or giving up. This only resolved itself if ordinary homeowners get paid more.
We had an extension after Covid and the prices have gone up a lot, but nothing like these costs.
@@phoenix-xu9xj Neil's quotes are always higher than my gut tells me they should be but then when he breaks it down I'm always like oh okay I guess each item is kind of reasonable? There's a guy on youtube called Gosforth Handyman or something who redid his 1930's semi and did a good chunk of the work these guys were looking for and he says he did it for I think like £60k all in. He project managed it and did a lot of the labour himself and kept a really close eye on the costs etc. Most people wouldn't be in a position to do that and it's very tempting to have a go but you could end up swamped and ruined. I think if you go to Neil you'd have a good experience and a good result with minimal stress and obviously have the whole thing fully manged.
10:25
- Put the kitchen along the external wall of the dining room. It would leave a clear path between the front and back of the house.
- Leave the living room at the front of the house and put the dining room in the new extension. (It makes sense to have the dining room and kitchen next to the large patio doors since that's where people spend most of their time).
- I would remove the vestibule to make the living room larger and then build a porch onto the front of the house to separate the front door from the living room.
I was thinking the same, for me it makes more sense to have the kitchen in the back next to the patio and the living room at the front of the property. I like the idea of the porch as well, so you are not taking away from the living room.
Likewise. I would also prefer to have a wall/door between the kitchen and living room, because as much as some people like an open-plan, having lived with one for an extended period of time I actually prefer not to have all the food smells ending up in the living area. It’s not a huge amount of space you’re losing, and helps separate the two areas. It’s also much easier in winter to heat smaller rooms you are actually using, than heating a large open-plan space with a bunch of glazing at the far end. If you’re in the kitchen, the heat of cooking will help with warmth if it’s in the extension, while if, like us, you actually use the living room, it will be warmer if it’s in a room without a huge glazed external door.
It’s pretty much at the point where (depending on the location) it is cheaper to move than to extend these days. Spending 200k on what was probably a 200k+ house to begin with and it’s not a 400k house when finished. Not in my area at least
I'd love to see you tackle those super narrow victorian terraces - but without a ground floor extension - so many of them just seem to add an entire extra ground floor on the back, I want to see creativity and leaving the outside pretty much as it is and working woth existing square footage. By extending, more and more of these "ideal first time buyer" homes become unaffordable.
I'd love this - we're in one of these (as FTBers), standard layout, two receptions and a galley kitchen, it's such an inefficient use of space!
A great explanation of the over glazing requirement
Thanks, am planning a full video on this with a compensatory calculation
@@RealLifeArchitecture that’ll be an interesting video
Great to see this video's performing well! You're content has always been really informative and thorough - keep up the good work! Would be good to see a wee visual aid of the cost breakdown - everyone loves a spreadsheet, right?😅
Amazing video format, incredible quality of production great visual representations and tonnes of detail! I’m excited but nervous about getting into property
Thank you. If you are interested in learning more I run a membership club www.reallifearchitecture.co.uk/membership
I like the design but the only thing I can think of that would be a mistake is having a sliding door/barn door for the main bathroom in the house where guests would be using at parties or family gatherings. They usually are really bad at insulating noise and could be really embarrassing for everyone if someone has a stomach ache or feels sick as everyone else outside would probably be able to hear it very clearly. Makes sense to save that space for the ensuites also, something that I think is a smart move that is very used in Japanese homes is dividing the shower to the toilet, which makes a lot of sense if there are more occupants then bathrooms, for that a nice way to save space in the toilet area is using a combination 2 in one wash basin and toilet and in the shower room a normal basin and a shower
Go to Eastern Europe (i'm from Lithuania) and you will see the same house. Different materials etc but generally the same layout, size, height. One difference is they are usually turned side on to street.with windows on the side.
I hate how everyone is converting garages now. I’m trying to buy a new house and so many of them have been converted. I want a garage
I hear you but in almost 16 years altering and extending private homes, only a tiny number of people use garages to store a car, usually a classic with shoddy electrics. Most people fill their garages with other stuff and some (myself included) convert them to usable space. My garage is my home office, although we kept the garage door and 1.5M behind it for storage, fridge / freezer, bikes and lawnmower.
The garage is often too small for the modern car, so storage is pretty much all it can accommodate.
We had a large garage, it became a dumping ground, after converting part of it to become usable living space its forced us to declutter and be more organised - however, we still have a "workshop" from part of the garage to use if need be, I can see the annoyance of have zero garage/indoor workroom space.
@@RealLifeArchitectureI park my daily in mine, because it keeps pollen/rain from making it dirty or washing the wax off, and it also means there’s no frost or snow to clear before leaving in the winter.
Agreed. Basically forces the purchase of a significantly larger house as people with cheaper houses keep buying them up and converting them
I don't like how the vestibule only goes into the kitchen. I would make it part of the hallway, that way you don't have to go through the kitchen unnecessarily when you are not bringing back shopping.
How about swapping the kitchen and the dining area? The kitchen can be to one side, leaving a clear passage to the living room. It can have a peninsula on one or two sides, maybe even with barstools on the living room end.
The change is Ok, What I would look at, and know to be slightly more expensive is the following:
- Leave the living room at the front
- Change the proposed dining room be a the utility room, pantry and WC
- Back extension to be accessed from hallway via doorway where bathroom was
- Back extension to be Kitchen Dinner (should be about 10'4 * 17')
- Rather than the wardrobe space from the porch area, add 2 ensuites one for main and one for new garage bathroom running full width of garage
I am grimacing at spending 8000 EUR on a renovation of one room and new roof ... and new facade. ( 4 weeks)
I DIY'ed the other 40 sq.m. gutted and re-built. ( 3 years elapsed )
Thanks for updating me on renovation budget's.
When house hunting, I’ve seen so many of these expanded in the most awkward meandering sorts of ways. I’m guess via sequential DIY expansions. A room here, a room there, add a sun porch, fill it in, who cares there’s a hallway that zigs and zags between three rooms to get to the newsy addition at the back. Who cares the new kitchen is now 4 rooms away from the original and still dining room. Who cares if a bedroom is between the lounge and the new great room concept room, and you have to duck under the stair landing to eat to it too.
So thanks for this.
What software do you use for rearranging floor plans? Could you make a video on it?
3 bathrooms downstairs? Wow! People are spoilt! lol :D Love this type of content, thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, I plan to make more
more videos like this please
Will do!
What about energy efficiency? The dormers really reduce the insulation making the upstairs bedrooms a lot hotter and colder than necessary. Addressing the general cost of running the home would be a good idea. Also with a large south facing roof it would be a good time to add solar.
You aren’t wrong but it’s about priorities. Doing the work you describe would take money from the budget, making some other aspect of the job unaffordable.
Check out this video from made on the reality of upgrading old buildings th-cam.com/video/TaHnkE13tn4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hwnZkRPdD5PtR_ok
Maybe dining when you enter and a galley kitchen where the dining table was placed?
On the ground floor, turning the bathroom door around the corner will allow the master bedroom door to line up with the ensuite wall giving better clearance to access the ensuite 10:23
Just a note of caution to anyone thinking about changing the walls in their house. Not all load bearing walls are made of solid brick/material they can be hollow stud walls. I found this out in my property. (mid terrace).
I made a video earlier this year about the cost to remove internal load bearing walls. th-cam.com/video/A0mwMMOHhm0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=T0rVJRt0llSwtbyv in it I mentioned that in the UK the owner should always get building regulations approval prior to changing the internal layout by way of demolition.
I suggest a extra window in the dining. Making the entry to the stairs from the dining with a more open staircase (with a bend), erase the walls of the utility to make straight hallway to the bedrooms and extra living space. utility in the old up part of the stairs. I don't like it so much that you enter the living space in the kitchen, i prefer the old situation but would idd add a closet. Is the glazing requirement a regulation? In Belgium we don't have limits for glass. Cool to see the situation in a other country.
The limit on glazing is in UK building regulations to limit heat loss.
It would be useful to consider the increase in the value of the house if all the work was done.
great video
Thank you
I believe you know what you’re talking about with these costs but they’re always four or five orders of magnitude higher than I’d expect and I think most people can afford. Surely if you have a spare £250k or the ability to borrow it it’d make more sense and probably be less disruption to just move to a bigger house?
I love my house and I’m interested in a kitchen extension but these figures are so eye watering and I find it hard to believe you would make anything close to the money back since the uk housing valuation seems to focus on bedrooms rather than floor space. All seems a bit of a mess.
I have a house with an awkward downstairs layout I need help with. We had one architect draw sketches but we didn’t like them. Would you be able to help still? Consultation terms on your website say no other architect involved?
Hi Nick, I can’t get involved in a project if you are currently working with another architect. I should also say that I don’t take on projects if they are outside the Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife area.
Its a long walk from the living room through the entire house around to the master bedroom. But I like seeing how you design.
True, I considered putting a door between the master bed and living room but it took up valuable wall space.
The cost of renovation work and even just general maintenance is crazy now. Makes me rethink even owning a home in the UK. Imagine buying that house and then spending £250k on renovation. Would you even get the money back?
It’s a serious issue. The only way out is for construction costs to fall or house prices to crash. Both would cause significant negative economic problems.
@@RealLifeArchitecture even finding people that will come and and do things locally is a problem. It took me four years to get someone to change the guttering after being messed around by people. Getting a reliable roofer is really tough which worries me but the roof is obviously a critical component of the house!
People shouldn't be concerned with getting their money back on houses. They're for living not for profit.
@@timsyoutube6051 and then what happens if you need to move? Houses are a financial commitment even if they are a place to live. At the moment they are a massive liability and personally I would be happy not owning one at all.
@@timsyoutube6051 honestly I don’t even understand your comment. Do you just spending money and then go “oh but it’s on a house so it’s fine?”.
Need to do a semi detached in London next, 👀
Am working on a semi detached video right now, will upload on Saturday evening
How can an extension cost £400K when you can buy a reasonable sized house for that in most parts of the country?
The two are not connected. The cost to buy and the cost to build are two different things. This could catch out a lot of people if they need to claim on their home insurance for a rebuild.
Interesting on the fire aspect of the building regs. In N Ireland our regulations forbid escape through a kitchen space, regardless of escape windows etc on first floor. There are ways around it I believe but its tricky. there is also always a concern about smoke and CO migration.
The first question I would ask is why they need 5 Bedrooms. If they have lots of kids fair enough, but 99% of clients its 'guest bedroom'. As a designer my biggest repeat business comes from people asking for their guest bedrooms/suite to be turned into home office/ games room/library. The average time between creating the guest room and changing it is 2 years, which I recon is 6 months for it to become a dumping ground and then a year and a half of discussion over money. Unless people have a family member with particular needs which means someone is going to stay often I strongly advise them against having guest rooms, especially if those rooms are going to take away storge space. I would tell them to leave the garage as is and where you've put a wardrobe put a bathroom for bedroom one, then the downstairs bathroom can become a really nice big utility room, then you can also get rid of what is going to be the worlds smallest every hallway and walk straight into the kitchen, yes I know everyone hates the idea of that but when you do it, it's liberating and everyone is so please.
Costs would outshadow the overall value of the end result so save your money and move.
The client was at the point of selling up, the sought my advice to confirm they were making the right decision.
The cost of construction really worries me, most of my clients are homeowners. If everyone more rather than improves I have no business
How much does this kind of consultation cost? We had a local architect round to ask about feasibility of extending/remodeling and he wanted about £10k just to give us an idea of build costs. That involved drawing current plans, idea generation, drawing new plans, consulting a surveyor. Does that sound sensible? I was surprised.
My consultation service through Real Life Architecture costs £95 but I don’t produce drawings. I did these for the video, not for the client. I am working on an expanded consultation service for more complex projects but I won’t produce drawings for those either. The cost will be in the £200 range.
In my “day job” I publish my fees for architectural services. I’m based in Edinburgh and don’t take on projects outside the Lothian or Fife area. Check it out www.capitala.co.uk/architects-fees
There’s no way that costs that much, barely doing anything to the building
I'd love to convert my garage space, its useless and too small to fit anything larger than a small hatchback. What I'd convert it too is.... well i don't know as I don't have the budget so I haven't thought about it properly, but right now its an empty dark hollow in my home
I turned mine into a home office, it’s where I record my content
@@RealLifeArchitecture Hmm a man cave sounds real nice
@@MegaPepsimax Ive got a really nice record player and Xbox in there
£15K to take out that wall , fit a steel and make good ?? ... I'll have to tell my son he's undercharging !! 😵💫
I made a full video about this, based a competitive tender between two small building companies. th-cam.com/video/A0mwMMOHhm0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=0Yh7ho0bJwi1V3C0
Could the garage to bedroom conversion be insulated externally rather than internally, meaning space wouldn’t be lost inside?
Yes but the roof still needs to be raised and the most practical way to do that is with a frame inside the garage wall, which takes space from be room.
@@RealLifeArchitecture I’m interested in this as I’m likely (sadly inevitably) going to be inheriting a bungalow in a few years time and my wife and I are looking to modernise and extend, and we will have a side garage that is very similar to the one you showed in this video.
@@randomjasmicisrandom given how popular the video is, I suspect lots of people are keen to learn what’s possible with this type of house
Are you part Irish? I am hearing some Irish accent in your voice. Good video
100% Irish, from West Clare but have lived in Scotland for the last 26 years.
Up the Banner! Great video. New subscriber.
@@RealLifeArchitecture maith an fear
Surely this is negative EV on the house price, theres no way this adds 200k to the property value, I suppose if its a forever home then fair enough.
Move the bathroom upstairs and shift the stairs to where the bathroom was, thus widening the dining area?
The Scottish building regs will require a “sanitary facility” on the ground floor. If there wasn’t one there already we wouldn’t need to create one. Because there is one, we can’t get rid of it. We could move it elsewhere on the ground floor but not upstairs.
@@RealLifeArchitecture do the ensuites not satisfy this requirement?
@@jackmason7823 no, the Scottish regulations specifically state the “principal sanitary accommodation” cannot
be an en-suite or Jack & Jill bathroom.
@@RealLifeArchitecture ah ok, seems a bit OTT! Maybe just reducing it to a toilet and sink? Would that give the extra space needed?
@@jackmason7823 a toilet and basin alone is allowed but space must exist on the same floor for the future instillation of a shower. Most people just create the shower room in one go.
250k - 400k where is this house in London? I dont think you are right on these prices at all. 250k if it was a knock down and complete rebuild maybe
The video says Edinburgh
Was the house south facing?
The back of the house faces south
@@RealLifeArchitecture 👍
I don't like that downstairs bathroom, it just gets in the way. Reduce it to become the downstairs toilet, rearrange the vestibule and open up a direct corridor to the living room, avoiding the kitchen and dining room.
6:09 that sounds like an odd regulation... is it for technical or aesthetic reasons? Why not just allow to open it up completely?
It’s for heat loss / energy efficiency reasons. Even triple glazing looses multiples of the amount of heat lost by a wall or roof
We should be allowed to pull the ugly thing down and build a modular, German style home. It’s madness currently…
That would end up with ugly higgidy piggledy environments where buildings have no sympathy with each other. No. If you want to build that kind of property, find an appropriate plot!
0:23 I know the neighbour of this house. Very weird to see it on here
Wow! I chose these at random using Google image search. It found houses of similar design to the one I redesigned.
The original design whilst flawed would cost no where near £400K, nor anywhere near £250K, chancer.
That’s not a house. It’s a dorma bungalow. The roof starts after the ground floor. There is no attic.
Why not install a heat pump?
Having looked into this on my own projects, for houses of a similar age, heat pumps will struggle to keep them warm. A hybrid system might work but can be very expensive.
That's not true at all - the radiators just need to be sized accordingly to give off the right amount of heat at the lower flow temperature. It would be ideal to at least bury the flow/return pipework under any new slab if a heat pump would sit in a garden. Retrofitting those pipes in can be extremely unpleasant. Same goes for sizing radiators - they can last for decades - why not size those (and the pipework) for our non-gas future? Hot water cylinders compatible with heat pumps are entirely compatible (and very efficient) with has boilers too.
200k you must be joking.
Regrettably, no, I am not joking. I wish it could be built for less because high construction costs are a serious threat to my business.
@@RealLifeArchitecture people will start doing as much DIY as possible.
@@RealLifeArchitecture how can bricks and timber cost so much?
Be very awkward navigating the dining table to get to the living room.
You Redesigned This Suburban House In Scotland, UK
Hi Bro,
I recently saw your TH-cam video and wanted to reach out. Are you interested in hiring a video editor and thumbnail maker? I specialize in creating engaging content and would love to help you with your channel.
Thank you, but no. I do this in house
Bro isn’t the best way to start one of these comments, bro
I don’t understand why people want an en-suite bathroom for every bedroom in the house. I grew up in a house with one main bathroom and a half-bathroom and it was perfectly fine. No need to have a separate bathroom for every single person in the household. Takes away so much space.
I hear you but lots of comments, especially on my TikTok channel, are demanding more bathrooms. I watched a few episodes of Selling Sunset, estate agents in LA selling mega mansions with more bathrooms than bedrooms in each property. It’s a worrying trend
It’s a stupid design. Who would want to walk through the kitchen to get to the reception room? My dad did exactly the same thing with my childhood home before the divorce and both me and my mum were embarrassed to bring guests over
@@Nick-zp3ub No wonder they divorced. You sound like a charm 😂
@@optic_ace7535 OK boomer
It is a stupid design
You were a child that was embarrassed about the floor plan of your house?
@@timsyoutube6051 Yes, I was. As a little kid I put up with the hideous wallpaper that didn't line up, the ugly brown wood skirting, the splintery wooden floor, and even the half-finished renovations my dad would leave and start on another part of the house. However I was filled with shame when my friends asked why we went through the kitchen to get to the living room
Might as well just buy a new house. Whats the point. I dont like these frog style houses.
family guy house
uk houses are so depressing