we have a nice house, but it's not big enough ... our land is steep, so a lot of excavation would need to be done, which I assume would be expensive ...

so we're thinking of extending UP!

what sort of costs would we be looking at?

for the works - council permits (if required?), the plans, the work itself ...

and how long does it take?

in an ideal world, we'd have four walls knocked out to make the back of the house all open, and then a spiral staircase out there ('cause it takes less spack, and I'm guessing they're lots cheaper than a "normal" staircase!) and then some bedrooms upstairs ...

we'd also want a bathroom upstairs, but directly over the existing bathroom, to minimise the amount of plumbing required!

any ideas? tips?

TIA!