11 ways to cut the cost of your extension

With labour and material prices at a high, it's never been more important to rein in the cost of your extension project. We ask the experts for their advice

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If you're planning an extension, you may be approaching it with some trepidation. Stories of builds grinding to a halt during lockdown over the last couple of years, alongside labour shortages and price rises for construction materials, mean that it's prudent to be cautious about how your budget is going to be affected as a result.

But, the likelihood is that you're building an extension because you simply need that extra space, and with no clear signs of the end of many of these issues, you'll need to learn to manage your costs more carefully rather than avoiding building at all.

With that in mind, we've pulled together a selection of great tips that will help you reduce the cost of your extension in 2022.

1 Pick the right build system

With labour shortages meaning fewer tradespeople to choose from, make sure you find someone with the right experience for your build and the system you've chosen to use. If you require a specialist, this will undoubtedly drive up the cost, and if you don't hire one, rectifying the resulting issues may cost you more in the long run.

The cost-efficiency of a brick and block build is hard to beat, especially for an extension. The same is true of timber frames if you choose a builder experienced in this construction method.

When we talk about alternative methods of construction, such as structural insulated panels and ICF, it's important to look holistically at how they may have more upfront expense, but result in less time on site. However, this is more widely the case on larger projects where the economies of scale work out in your favor, so choosing these methods for an extension is going to widen the gap between the costs of each system.