"As with hassle.com, Resi began in response to a real world frustration.
In 2016, I embarked on a 2.5m x 9m side extension on my maisonette in South-West London. Child’s play, I thought... but how wrong I was!
70 days later I was £2,500 lighter and still yet to see the plans for my extension. Meanwhile, my co-founder Jules was umming and ahhing about what she could do with her new space; a tired victorian in Dulwich — the extension hotspot south of the river.
That’s when we met Rich and Nick, who had the deep knowledge of architecture we lacked. Working with them, it became evident that our homes weren’t the only thing that needed a makeover; the whole sector was crying out for a fresh perspective.
After all - beyond a traditional (and ultra-expensive!) architect, there was no one source of affordable, accessible expertise that could reliably guide a residential homeowner from ‘thinking of extending’ to ‘actually obtaining planning permission’. We wanted to make that journey so easy that anyone could do it, because we believe that everyone deserves to get the most value out of their home."
Alex Depledge, CEO and co-founder of Resi.co.uk.
From her home design nightmare came not only the company you see today, but also the first of many great home transformations. Check out the end result...
Here's what Rich designed for me...
Alex’s home is a period property situated in South East London. The ground floor maisonette consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen to the rear and a separate living space to the front of the building.
The brief
Alex wanted to open out the kitchen, remove a shared stairwell which served the flat above, and to create a better functioning family space by constructing a side extension.
As a ground floor flat, natural light was valuable, so we decided to add an aluminium glass roof to the whole extension, made possible with the introduction of a steel beam.
The main focus was to create a kitchen and living room that worked together, as for Alex, entertaining and cooking go hand in hand.
The existing kitchen was positioned at the very rear of the building, but after careful assessment of the plans we decided to move the it towards the middle of the property, creating a large lounge with access onto the rear garden. This meant a relocation of a bedroom and the bathroom, but as these rooms were being refurbished anyway it made sense to include this within the scope.
The final product
Alex's flat now has a generous living space, a new kitchen, two double bedrooms, a new bathroom and a study.
We managed to satisfy the client brief and budget (£50,000), and maximised the selling potential by creating a flat that is desirable with good square footage for the local area.
