COSTS - square v sqmetre? Up v Out?

[zongatron]

Hi guys,
ive just been reading a few of the building blogs and was hoping a few of you might give me your opinions / similar experiences regarding costs.

I have a 11 x 6 metre besser brick shoebox house with a flat roof.

Just started thinking of extending, as there is a family on the way.

I have ample room to go out plus the footings are solid as rock and going up is also an option.

How do you estimate costs? Is it about $1000.00 per square metre? for a builder to do the work?

And is a square 10 feet x 10 feet or 3sqm?


I know this is almost impossible to answer but ballpark is what im after. Need to know wether it is within price range ( 30k give or take) so I can either think about it or to let it go and stop thinking about it.
DO any of you know how much it would roughly cost to have a builder build a second story to lockup only. That is, pine wallframes, weatherboard cladding(not hardiplank), pitched iron roof, internal wall frames (three rooms), windows ( aluminium), stairs and yellow tongue chipboard flooring?
dimensions 11 x 6 metres.

Also - Is it cheaper to go 'up' since i dont need to lay footings? Or is it roughly the same at the end of the day?


I dont have any plans to show builders, and are quite a way out of town so though it might be good to ask here before trying to get builders out here to quote on a job with no plans...

thanks

[addo]

Actually sounds like it has fun potential, but pricing is probably going to exceed your budget.

Why not sketch up some plans, or get a draughtsman in? Then a building contractor can walk you through where the costs lie.

Cheers, Adam.

[Jim Carroll]

10 ft x 10ft is 1 square in the old measures and is close to 3m sq in the new measure.

I had the same quandry some time ago and asked one of the builders the same question and he said it is cheaper to extend sideways than going up.

It has to do with the structural part in that they have to add more to what is there then make a start and extra architectual costs as they need to be able to make sure the existing structure can handle the extra load especially if there is bathrooms .

[sol381]

A square is 100 sq feet but is not 3 sq/m its 9.3 sq/m.

[DvdHntr]

Best bet is to sketch some plans and talk to a professional about potenial cost. Once you have talked to them you might have a better idea and you can refine what you want. Just be careful to always seek more than one opinion because the methods may vary in price considerably.

[bricks]

Going up normally costs around $2-300 extra per square meter, in general $1000 / meter is what it should cost to complete, but you can save on that by not being to over the top with your fixtures and finishes.

[Dirty Doogie]

Going out with a simple roof and a slab floor with grout filled block is the cheapest coming to around $ 650 / 750 a sq mtr (IN URBAN AREAS) if the size of the area is 35 metres sq or greater. This cost is lockup and doesnt include floor tiling,painting etc etc. It also assumes level ground.

when costing extensions you need to remember that there is a slide point in the figures where additional sq mtres can come in very cheaply. It is often the case that 10 x 8 extension will cost nearly the same as a 10 x 6 extension.

A second storey addition would cost substantially more and the site really needs to be examined before any figures could be given.