This is an important and often overlooked question. Too many people get into an extension project without enough clarity about what they are actually trying to achieve. Your design brief should clearly address these very personal and unique aspects of your life, rather than being a list of random thoughts and ideas you have seen over the years. Clarifying these questions and their answers will help you create a detailed brief, which is also more likely to help you avoid overspending on unnecessary spaces and items.

To answer this question you’ll need to think about what it is you actually need. One extra bedroom may not take up a lot of room, but a new family room and kitchen is a bigger extension that may have an impact on the amount of space you have left in your garden. Like buying a new sofa, you can start to visualise how much space you might need by using rope or other markers to map out how big the new spaces will take up on your property. A good tip is to use the size of your existing rooms as a guide to how big each room should be.

If you don’t have enough space to extend at ground level, you may need to consider going up and adding a second storey. Adding another level is great for retaining external garden space.

One of the most expensive elements of an extension is demolition work, and the knock-on costs that tend to follow. A major potential cost of demolishing walls is the likelihood that structural modifications will be required if the wall being removed is load bearing. In this case there are several tradespeople involved, structural engineers, builders, joiners, blacksmiths, plasterers and painters. Although opening up a room can create a wow it can also blow your budget. Take time to chat through the options with an architect/building company at design stage to achieve the best results in the most cost effective way.

One of the exciting things about extending a home is the opportunity to have some fun with the design. By choosing to adopt a contrasting building style to that of the existing house, you are opening up numerous possibilities for material choice, roof style, use of texture, glazing proportions, ceiling height and much more. Modern materials are better suited to the open-plan living style that we generally desire, enabling more natural light and ventilation, as well as the ability to personalise your colours and finishes. One of the key considerations when choosing to extend in a contrasting style is to make the change from old to new as deliberate and concise as possible. In contrast you may choose a design that complements your existing house and “looks like it’s always been there from day one”. Whatever route you go, take your time to discuss with an architect before moving forward.

Understanding where north is will give you a good idea of where the sun will be at different times of the day; and if you have already lived in the home for a while, you will know where the sun will enter the property from season to season. Capturing northern sun should be one of your key priorities when extending, especially if you are adding a living room or family room that you spend a lot of time in. More natural sunlight will make it a much more comfortable space to live in, and will also reduce the amount of artificial heating required. However, when adding larger windows you must also be very aware of how exposed the windows are to summer sunlight, especially the west-facing afternoon sun. While having sunlight beaming into the space in winter is a lovely outcome, the opposite can be said for scorching hot summer sun as it can make the space unliveable. This is where a thorough understanding of the orientation, appropriate glazing specification and good use of shading elements is critical. Once again, a good architect will help achieve the best results in your circumstances.

The financial benefits of living in the house throughout an extension are obvious, not to mention the convenience of not having to uproot your life and routine. Unfortunately, it may not be that easy. Any extension project that also involves a significant amount of renovation work to the existing part of the house will be very difficult to live in throughout the build. In these circumstances, the project may be able to be staged so that you can move from one part of the house to the next. But you must also be aware that staging a building project will generally mean it takes longer to build, adding a temporary kitchen for example will cost a little bit more. This extra cost will have to be balanced against moving out costs and the disruption to family life. Everyone's situation and circumstances will differ.

That’s us! It's not just about the quote, it's important to meet people to see who you will get along with. The renovation process can be lengthy, so you want to feel confident working with them over this whole time. Although we’re confident you’ll find that here

How long is a piece of string? A quick and simple extension might only take 6 - 8 weeks. However, a medium project may be 12- 14 weeks. A large extension that involves a lot of renovations to the existing house may take even longer; especially if they involve a second storey, 6–9 months might be a more realistic time frame in that case.