DWG 02 / Projects registerSheet 02 of 05 / Rev C

Before.After.Fixed price.

Five recent projects around St Albans, with the price we fixed, the weeks we were on site and the planning route. Drag the divider on each drawing.

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DrawingDWG 01

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WhereHarpenden

DWG 01 / Harpenden

A kitchen that finally faces the garden

1930s semi, single-storey rear extension.

The old kitchen was a galley at the front of a long, dark ground floor. Priya and Tom wanted one room that ran from the front door to the garden, with the children in sight while someone cooked.

We opened the rear wall with a steel beam, built 3.6 metres out, and put a roof lantern over the island. It went through as permitted development, so no planning wait. The party wall award with the neighbour on the right was signed in nine days.

Size28 m² extension
On site14 weeks
RoutePermitted development
Fixed price£96,400 inc. VAT

We were braced for extras. There were two, both quoted in writing the same day, both ones we asked for.
Priya and Tom, Harpenden

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DrawingDWG 02

ViewRear elevation

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WhereSt Albans

DWG 02 / St Albans

A third bedroom without losing the garden

Hipped-roof semi, rear dormer with en-suite.

The family had two bedrooms and a growing teenager. An extension would have eaten most of a small garden, so the answer was up, not out.

A flat-roofed rear dormer gave full standing height across the new room, and the stair came up over the existing one so no bedroom was lost. We kept the front roof slope untouched, which matters in this part of town.

Size31 m² loft floor
On site9 weeks
RouteLawful development certificate
Fixed price£71,900 inc. VAT

The scaffold went up on a Monday. By the second Friday we had a roof on and a photo of it in our inbox.
Dan, St Albans

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DrawingDWG 03

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WhereWelwyn Garden City

DWG 03 / Welwyn Garden City

Squaring off a hipped roof

1930s semi, hip-to-gable with rear dormer.

On a hipped roof the space under the slope is wasted. Turning the hip into a gable and adding a wide rear dormer gives a main bedroom and a bathroom, with the stair landing where it already was.

The new gable wall is brick to match, laid by our own bricklayers, and the old tiles were reused on the front slope. The neighbour on the left needed a party wall award because the new wall sits on the boundary.

Size34 m² loft floor
On site11 weeks
RouteLawful development certificate
Fixed price£84,500 inc. VAT

You cannot tell which bricks are new. That was the brief and it is the thing visitors comment on.
Chloe and Rob, Welwyn Garden City

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DrawingDWG 04

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WhereBerkhamsted

DWG 04 / Berkhamsted

Two floors out the back

1930s semi, double-storey rear extension.

A bigger kitchen-diner downstairs and a fourth bedroom with a shower room above. Counted by footprint, a double-storey build costs about 1.6 times the single-storey rate, because you share one foundation and one roof.

This one needed planning permission. We drew a pitched roof that stepped down from the main ridge, wrote a plain letter to the three nearest neighbours, and it was approved in eight weeks with no objections.

Size26 m² footprint, two floors
On site16 weeks
RoutePlanning permission
Fixed price£132,800 inc. VAT

The planning officer said the drawings were the clearest he had had that month.
Sam and Elena, Berkhamsted

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DrawingDWG 05

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WhereHertford

DWG 05 / Hertford

The most loft you can get

1930s semi, mansard roof conversion.

A mansard swaps the hipped roof for a near-vertical lower slope and a flat top. It is the most space a roof can give: two double bedrooms and a bathroom, with full height almost to the walls.

It always needs planning permission, and the dormers must look in proportion. We built a scale model for the planning meeting, and the roof tiles are slate to match the neighbours.

Size36 m² loft floor
On site12 weeks
RoutePlanning permission
Fixed price£108,600 inc. VAT

We were told a mansard was fussy. Ours has been the easiest part of owning the house.
Maya, Hertford

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