ABSTRACT
The price of adding a new bedroom to an existing house, for example, can be significantly less than buying a new property with an extra bedroom. Meanwhile we are bombarded by TV programmes and magazine articles telling wonderful stories, of how dull houses have been changed into beautiful homes, implying that a similar transformation has been made to the lives of the occupants. In some cases, an extension might add no more than half its cost to the value of the house. The largest figure to go into the budget is the cost of the building work and, unfortunately, this is the most difficult to identify accurately, especially at the beginning. It is easier to estimate ballpark figures for completely new additions than for internal alterations to the house because, with the help of experienced professionals, it is possible to use costs per square metre as a guide.
