I Redesigned This Bungalow in England 

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As an Architect in The Midlands, UK I often had telephone conversations with clients that started with "We think we need an extension". 50% of the time they didn't need an extension but a redesign to fix problems created by poor planning, invariably caused when the property was owned by a builder of some sort, who built things because he could, not because it was needed or improved things. One small detached two storey property on the edge of a village with excellent garden and views had been extended on each side by the previous owner/builder to triple its size but when you arrived at the property it was still a small 1940's detached house with a cramped entrance and hall way. The client asked the usual question and I said we needed to improve the entrance. By spending a good budget and adding the WOW! factor to the entrance, the building's value doubled overnight and the clients went from slightly unhappy with their purchase to absolutely delighted.

Really enjoyed the video. It would be great if you could give us a before and after of the two floor plans near the end of a video so we can take in the (proposed) transformation as a whole. Even lingering more on the original floorplan to establish what is there already would help. If it made the whole video longer i would not object!

I'd use some of the leftover budget to build a garden room in that big back garden. Somewhere for the teens to hang out

With no other context it seems to me their £600k might be better spent simply moving house to one that already has the layout they want.

Love this design!! You explained your thinking process beautifully!

I know it may not be considered when its your "forever home" .... but I would be amazed if this amount of investment added an equal value to the finished property. Regarding the new plan, both entrances are adjacent to the kitchen. If there was a kitchen fire, wouldn't they both be inaccessible to escape? Keep up the videos Neil, love the ideas and information. 😊

Depends on the purchase price and location. If they bought it in 1990 for 60k and its now a highly deairable location, it could still be profitable. But tbh it doesnt sound like profit was there motive. Perhaps its a decent location with pleasant neighbours, cant put a value on some things.

A definite improvement without changing the look. I am rather worried about the loss of bungalows. As more people need to live on one level, we find that the stock of suitable properties reduces. Yes, you can live in an apartment, but some people are miserable without their own outside space. Perhaps we need some degree of planning restriction to stop the loss. I loved the way that you retained a proper bungalow with a couple of secondary bedrooms in the loft, rather than ending up with a mixed up sort of house. As for the lack of shower headroom, not necessarily on this property, but would a small cupola or even false chimney allow a few extra inches? It could also include ventilation directly to the outside from exactly where it is needed.

What should someone budget for this level of consultation please? It's what we need for our home. Many thanks

I love a Bungalow, very easy to clean the gutters and windows ha ha.

lovely redesign! had no idea parking space minimums were so steep though 😮‍💨

The scheme is fine , its the build costs over there that I cant get my head around ! Fellow Architect here, operating in N Ireland. Price per sqm here circa £1500 !

Love the plans except the layout of the master bedroom. For a bedroom to feel relaxing it should follow feng shui principles and the bed should be in the command position. The master bedroom layout as it is would feel uncomfortable with the head so close to the entrance of the room. If I was carrying clean laundry to the room to put it away, it would be annoying to have to walk around the whole room and bed just to get to the dressing area.

I would question why the owner needs 5 bedrooms? Given your redesign you could reduce number of bedrooms and make the upstairs the master. This could also reduce the cost and leave money over for the second home by the sea ;-)

Interesting video. Where do the three required parking spaces end up? Can there be a replacement garage for the garage lost?

the costs seem extreme. Why so much for something that seems quite straightforward

Really enjoy your vids, but this video underlines why bungalows just don’t seem to work for families anymore. After growing up in one, the cost of reconfiguration is almost always considerable and in the end compromised. For the 400k reconfiguration cost and whatever the house is worth (400k?) i would just move on.

Thank you for sharing your vision and experience with us. I do have one question though. I seem to be obsessed with the bathroom issue, but in this design again it looks like an insufficient number of bathrooms for the number of bedrooms the house would have. Maybe client was fine with it, but given that they have a budget, surely one central shower room in the loft could have been turned into two (with taking some space of each of the bedrooms)? This would have solved the issue of the loft rooms being overly long and gave each room an ensuite (sharing a bathroom with strangers and/or a lot of people is not fun, in case say two couples who are not closely related are staying in these bedrooms).

Ngl, if i had a bungalow woth a shallow roof, I'd take some of the loft space and take it up as an exposed valted ceiling, keeping it as single floor with is highly desirable atm.

Much better bigger properties could be bought for 600k or more if they sell the bungalow. For me, it wouldn't even be a consideration to stay where they are.