Ferdinand

You need to take it with a pinch of salt, and look for comparables (area type, size, quality) in your area. Then price per sqm has value. Price per sqm relies on gardens not making much difference. In my spot I am seeing some bizarre-looking prices. Either there is a fundamental transformation going on, or a temporary mini-bubble, or some people are deranged, or a disorderly market. It feels like a general uplift by 15%, which may go back a bit when the insane Stamp Duty holiday finishes. At the moment there is in my road a 3 bed 3 bath newbuild done 3 years ago on a 330sqm corner plot - single garage, 1300 sqft. Detached. Downstairs is a 20x24 kitchen living diner, 5x11 utility, 10x10 office and a shower room. Upstairs is 3 double bedrooms, one ensuite and a separate bathroom. Decent quality but not outstanding - electric gates, 2m wall not fences, garage, but charcoal frame 2g with trickle vents and no MVHR. That is on at £365k, or £280 per sqft. EPC83. Jammy bugger got the site for £30k in 2014 with a 1 bed railway carriage end terrace house on it, advertised at £60k. And I didn't know. He knows what he is doing. Across the road, an extended Edwardian flat fronted semi. Also 3 bed (2 double, one single) 1290 sqft. Upstairs bath only. Reasonably extended though obvs not new. Big kitchen/family room extension on the back/ Bigger, better imo trad garden but not as designed. Renovated. Stuck on at £215k for 3 months. EPC 65. That is £166 per sqft. I paid £130 per sqft in 2013 for mine, which is detached 2000sqft and a bungalow rebuilt from 3 walls and the ground to modern standards - as good or better as the newbuild above but my windows are brown upvc and it is not shiny. I would value mine at about 190 per sqft. But I may be wrong ? . Your site puts us all at £120 per sqft. I am not sure how she incorporates her "based on prices from 2007 to 2018" claim. I don't even understand what that even means, as there is no time progression in the map. Aha I see. It is an average of all sales between 2007 and 2018, using floor area data from all the EPC reports. So at best it is a guestimate for about 2013, which may explain a lot. So in short you need to add the general market uplift in your area 2013 to 2021 then you may get something perhaps within +/- 20%.

Welcome, Mr Ben (Couldn't resist, sorry). Looks very interesting. I'll be very interested to hear reflections from an architect on the self-builder side of the fence. Have you considered a blog? Looks really interesting - that part of Kent is a lovely area where I have family; it always makes me think of Bilbo Baggins and the Shire. Ferdinand

On Q2, I think it depends what you are laying your tiles on, and what your subbase is made of. If there is mortar under the tiles then probably OK, or if you are pointing between them. Remember that motar or concrete may react porcelain or stain it. Check that. If you lay on sand over the subbase with no pointing then stuff will grow eventually, yes. Also possibly ants will nest, if it matters. Or perhaps the dynamic will be different if you lay it more loosely on small gravel, as on the continent. Paving expert has several pages about it. https://www.pavingexpert.com/porcelain_03 (TBH if this is your first patio, then I would check the Wickes good idea publication, and also read the entire paving expert website about everything just for background purposes). One thing to think about is how are you managing the edge near your fence to protect the fence, and for maintenance of the fence (no contact panels to ground, think about replacing posts). F

Have you talked to an architect? I mean write out a 2 page needs statement, then buy a day or two of their time and ask them to come back with suggestions. Then let that steep for a time, and then come back to it.

Trade 2 of them in for boys ?. PS This questioning process is one of the best things we do here - trying to think outside your box. Don't worry about what people say - it is all meant to help.

Can you post an anonymised satellite view from Google? Even that would help more.

Can you match via eg Pantone numbers?

I don't honestly think we have enough info. Area etc. I'd punt 60-120k, and can be changed by 27 different factors. It won't be under 50k unless you spend a full working year of your own time on it imo, and have all the skills. Remember you only get two of time, quality, or low cost.

I think at this time I would say get a couple of others quotes, and if you find yourself waiting more than 3 months repeat the exercise. Timber has shot up in price - in some cases by 50-100% - and will come back down at some time. We all hope. But it is all variable. eg:

Salix Viminalis: Salix viminalis is a known hyperaccumulator of cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, petroleum hydrocarbons, organic solvents, MTBE, TCE and byproducts, selenium, silver, uranium, and zinc,[6][7] and as such is a prime candidate for phytoremediation. Sounds like something to grow then feed to the neighbours. (Dig that Simon Cowell waistband ? )

Looks a bit laboured, perhaps. Try this page for a starter. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=79 Mine is in an old 'sparagus bed. I've never fed mine, so perhaps that would have made a difference. But it has had our (now ex-) cat.

In that case tree or bush + time. Or plan a multi-depth border with lots of stuff and trees at the back.

You need clumping bamboo, as I have. In theory mine gows to 6m, but it has slowed after 4m.

One other very useful trick is to build a mound and plant it on top. OTOH I have a bamboo which has just about blocked nex door's upper windows, which was put in in 2014. Or you can spend semi-serious money ?.

If you allow certain trees in your hedge to grow taller that are not joined up that avoids High Hedge regs. You don't say how tall you need it, or how wide the spots are. Bamboo and the other suggestions will take time to establish, so it is buy a big one or wait. For upstairs windows that is probably 5 years. Alternatives can be things like solar sails, sheds with pitched roofs, a gazebo or pergola, or even a covered way. So I'd start from what you need. And with planting draw a clear distinction between what you need to block, and what you want eventually. Blocking a smaller area to be hidden behind when being frisky al-fresco is a viable option.

To OP - is there value in trying more than one distributor for a company?

I think it's worth adding there that some have used them OK, but found the relationship to be quite hard work and needing thorough supervision.

I'd suggest trying some cost-estimating sites as well as any comments here, as your design sounds fairly conventional. I quite like the price calciators at whatprice.co.uk . There are others too. I'd also comment that there may well be a far bigger variation (up !) in the cost of the kitchen itself over the cost of the extension ?. That seems to be something that happens like rain in Manchester.

Those are called Acroprops. It will depend on supporting the roof structure on all the points where it is already supported whilst it hangs together, then doing the change. It is perhaps a specialist thing, and imo you would need advice from at least an architect and probably a structural engineer - or eat the risks yourself. A modular roof may be one alternative idea, or get a specialist in. At least talk to both. As Gibberish 'o' Doggerel put it once: As I was planning for my toft I met a man with a Modular Loft Windows were installed and tiles With insulation, floors and style Windows, Lift, Loft, Tiles Make an instant ancient pile! An extraordinarily transportable loft - But do I want one for my toft? There's a phone number in a photo in the piece.

Or mandate track shoes / stilettos.

That's a bloke selling stuff to make it less slippy. Of course he wants you to have it the slippy @Onoff way up !

Disagree with @Onoff. Decking is normally raised on a framework, so I don't see how grooves-down actually adds much. I do mine grooves up. Which matches your situaton. Maybe grooves down if you are installing it directly on eg concrete. Horses for courses. Anti-slip is a good call, but I wonder if those microbeads are plastic? Or do it with a more normal thing and sprinkle sharp sand on before it dries.

I concur that you are mad. If you just want the pain there are plenty of services which offer it, or you can probably get an original Battle of Trafalgar Cat-o-nine-tails for that money ? As to constructive alternatives, what about a 45 degree corner, or mosaic tiles? Or is there an annealed glass or other product, which can be made to size? Or something printed on a stiff but flexible backing? Plus a weekend in a very very very posh hotel on holiday with the money you have saved, or donate to a local charity to help them rebuild services after Covid.

In roof solar? All looks good.

No. Not doing a build :?. I am waking up at 5am, and cool ventilating the house. Other things far more onerous than a build are currently being done. Paperwork. F