Extensions in Leamington Spa, priced in writing before anything starts.
Extending in Leamington divides on one question: is the building listed, in a conservation area, or neither. The three answers lead to three completely different projects and there is no point pricing until you know which you have.
On the later housing out through Lillington, Sydenham and Whitnash this is straightforward work. A single storey rear extension of up to four metres on a detached house or three on a semi can fall within permitted development, there is usually side access, and a skip stands on the drive. These are the most predictable extensions we price anywhere in the district.
In the four Leamington conservation areas the permitted development limits reduce and a side extension loses its rights altogether. On a Regency terrace there is rarely anywhere to put a side extension anyway, so the conversation is usually about the rear, about a lower ground floor, or about making better use of what is already there.
If the building is listed, an extension needs listed building consent as well as planning permission, and consent covers the inside as much as the outside. That is not a reason not to proceed. It is a reason to design with the constraint from the first sketch rather than trying to bolt approval onto a drawing that was never going to get it.
There is one route worth knowing on the unlisted stock. A deeper single storey rear extension, up to eight metres on a detached house or six on any other, can sometimes go through the larger home extension procedure. It is prior approval rather than full permission: neighbours are notified, they can object, and an answer comes back in about six weeks.
Our extensions work is described in more detail there, including how the inspections fit around the build.
Four things we commit to on every job, rather than four things we say about ourselves.
Permitted development is not an exemption from Building Regulations. We arrange the Warwick District Council inspections, meet the inspector on site at each stage and see the work through to sign off. We do not make the application itself, and we will tell you what is needed and when.
Free, and you get it before you commit to us. Party walls and skip licences are raised at quotation stage, not three weeks into the dig.
The same people do the groundworks, the brickwork and the fit out. Nobody hands your job to a subcontractor you have never met.
You get a straight answer rather than a padded price. It costs us a job occasionally and saves you a great deal more.
Process, specification and what moves the price are set out on our extensions page.
The answers that genuinely differ from one Leamington Spa street to the next.
Where a skip stands on the road it is licensed by Warwickshire County Council, applied for by the skip owner at least five working days ahead, with a £97 fee. In the centre of Leamington that is usually the only option and controlled parking makes the position matter more than usual.
On a terrace with no rear access, every load of muck and every pack of blocks goes through the house. We protect the route properly rather than laying a dust sheet over the hall and hoping, and we sequence the dig around what the frontage will actually take.
Part of our wider building work in Leamington Spa.
Send photographs and a rough brief, or call and talk it through. We will tell you if a job is not right for us.
Southfield Construction (Rugby) Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company 14209138.
