Findings show Edinburgh is the UK city with the shortest home extension delays

Edinburgh home extension delays of a month on average

Edinburgh is the UK city with the shortest home extension delays on average, according to new research by new building system company ‘hup!’.

The findings show that every household extension project in the city overruns, with an average wait of a month, and one in 20 overrunning by as much as six months. However, the findings show Edinburgh fares the best in the UK, while Southampton, with an average delay of 3.6 months, has the longest delays. While, elsewhere in Scotland, the average wait in Glasgow is one and a half months.

Of the people in Edinburgh who’ve had an extension in the last five years, more than a quarter said the delays ended up costing them more than they’d budgeted for. One in five said their house wasn’t ready for a significant event – such as Christmas, big birthdays or bringing home a new baby – while more than a quarter had to suddenly find temporary accommodation until the work was completed.

A third of homeowners said the delays left them feeling stressed, 28 per cent lost sleep, and 28 per cent were less productive at work. Other knock-on effects include how well homeowners were able to socialise (11 per cent) and children being unable to do their homework (also 11 per cent).

Delays also led to conflicts, with one in 10 saying it caused arguments in their household, and one in five saying they fell out with their neighbours. Many have been involved with disagreements with those undertaking the work, with almost 40 per cent saying they fell out with their builders and tradespeople throughout the delays.

Edinburgh is the UK city with the shortest home extension delays, according to new research.

Alex Hewitt, marketing director for hup!, said: “A home extension project can often be a major undertaking, and potential delays are one of the main worries people have before building work begins. While our findings show there are reasons to be concerned about traditional methods of building, hup! has been designed as a new and transformative option to eradicate those fears.

“For example, hup! is five times faster to build, meaning what would usually take weeks or months will take days or weeks. This is because it’s delivered as a kit of parts which are connected together rapidly on site, and it can be built in any conditions meaning it isn’t subject to lengthy weather delays.

“The hup! system is already having a big impact across the UK for homeowners looking for a faster, easier and more sustainable way to build. By using hup!, homeowners in Edinburgh can worry less about the stress of potential delays and disruption, and instead focus on a brand new space which will change their lives.”

The research also found that three quarters of homeowners having an extension built faced additional complications, including having to accommodate unforseen challenges such as extra groundwork (77 per cent), complications with their design (27 per cent), having to use multiple different trade teams (22 per cent), their home being exposed while work was carried out (22 per cent), and mess elsewhere in their property (16 per cent).