Enlarging your home is a great way to add value, give yourself more space, and make better use of the house. While the expense can be huge, the reality for most people is that it is dwarfed by the costs of actually changing homes. However, if you do plan on remodelling your home - whether it’s adding a room up, down or out - you need be aware of a few different things. Read on to find out more about the expansion issues you can’t ignore. Let’s get started right away!
Pic from Pixabay.com
Signing Off
It’s amazing, but even in this day and age, there are people who decide to build additional rooms in their home, without getting the proper clearance from the local authorities. Even though restrictions can be pretty lax in some states, the simple truth is that there are constraints. For example, although your plotlines indicate your land, the buildable area is subject to setbacks, to ensure the street and garden space have a sense of uniformity. Ultimately, if you do go ahead with building work, you could end up having to take it all down or modify it if the city and county offices find out.
Plans
Planning is a vital part of any project, and without a proper schedule, budget, and architectural work, the likelihood is your remodel will fail. You’ll need to look carefully at your finances, plan ahead and save a contingency fund, and also get a broad range of quotes to compare. Have a survey done to make sure you stay within guidelines set down by the city.
Hiring Builders
No doubt there are plenty of construction firms in your local area who would happily do a job for you. Never, ever take the first building company you come across. Neither should you race for the cheapest option. Good building firms cost money - it’s a simple fact of life. Unless you have implicit trust in the cheapest company and the work they will do, there’s a high chance that saving a small amount now will cost you a fortune in the future.
Fixed Price
Fixed price contracts are almost always better for the customer. The truth is that when it comes to construction, most projects will encounter problems, and without a fixed contract you will find your bill just goes up and up. What happens when your budget runs out? Well, the likelihood is that you end up with an unfinished project, whole areas of your home unusable, and months - possibly years - before things get back to normal.
Heating
You might live in a cozy home right now, but open it up and add some rooms, and things might be very different. Heating can be a problem in several different ways. First of all, a large space takes more energy to heat than a small one. Secondly, there might be limits to what you can do with your current heating system. For example, if you learn about mini-split HVAC systems, you'll find out they are best suited for new rooms when extending the ductwork of the rest of the house isn't possible. It’s little things like this that often determine the success or failure of a project, so make sure you cover all your bases beforehand.
Bathrooms
A lot of remodelers get way too carried away with building new rooms. It’s easy to see why, of course, but it’s also a big mistake. When the time comes to sell up and move on, you will find that buyers are looking for homes with something like one bathroom for every two rooms. So, if you want your remodeling project to pay for itself - or even make a profit - make sure bathrooms are at the top of your want list.
Structure
Finally, it’s easy to get sucked into planning and designing your rooms - it’s the fun part, after all! But before you even consider the aesthetic and cosmetic details, ensure you understand the importance of structural work. It always has to come before the fun stuff, and you should aim to build from the outside inwards.
As you can see, it’s one thing to add an extra room or two to your home. But when it comes to an extension, you have to pay attention! There are plenty of issues that can easily get in your way. And, at the end of the day, if you don’t understand what can happen, the chances are you will end up with an expensive mistake on your hands. Let us know how it goes!
Pic from Pixabay.com
Signing Off
It’s amazing, but even in this day and age, there are people who decide to build additional rooms in their home, without getting the proper clearance from the local authorities. Even though restrictions can be pretty lax in some states, the simple truth is that there are constraints. For example, although your plotlines indicate your land, the buildable area is subject to setbacks, to ensure the street and garden space have a sense of uniformity. Ultimately, if you do go ahead with building work, you could end up having to take it all down or modify it if the city and county offices find out.
Plans
Planning is a vital part of any project, and without a proper schedule, budget, and architectural work, the likelihood is your remodel will fail. You’ll need to look carefully at your finances, plan ahead and save a contingency fund, and also get a broad range of quotes to compare. Have a survey done to make sure you stay within guidelines set down by the city.
Hiring Builders
No doubt there are plenty of construction firms in your local area who would happily do a job for you. Never, ever take the first building company you come across. Neither should you race for the cheapest option. Good building firms cost money - it’s a simple fact of life. Unless you have implicit trust in the cheapest company and the work they will do, there’s a high chance that saving a small amount now will cost you a fortune in the future.
Fixed Price
Fixed price contracts are almost always better for the customer. The truth is that when it comes to construction, most projects will encounter problems, and without a fixed contract you will find your bill just goes up and up. What happens when your budget runs out? Well, the likelihood is that you end up with an unfinished project, whole areas of your home unusable, and months - possibly years - before things get back to normal.
Heating
You might live in a cozy home right now, but open it up and add some rooms, and things might be very different. Heating can be a problem in several different ways. First of all, a large space takes more energy to heat than a small one. Secondly, there might be limits to what you can do with your current heating system. For example, if you learn about mini-split HVAC systems, you'll find out they are best suited for new rooms when extending the ductwork of the rest of the house isn't possible. It’s little things like this that often determine the success or failure of a project, so make sure you cover all your bases beforehand.
Bathrooms
A lot of remodelers get way too carried away with building new rooms. It’s easy to see why, of course, but it’s also a big mistake. When the time comes to sell up and move on, you will find that buyers are looking for homes with something like one bathroom for every two rooms. So, if you want your remodeling project to pay for itself - or even make a profit - make sure bathrooms are at the top of your want list.
Structure
Finally, it’s easy to get sucked into planning and designing your rooms - it’s the fun part, after all! But before you even consider the aesthetic and cosmetic details, ensure you understand the importance of structural work. It always has to come before the fun stuff, and you should aim to build from the outside inwards.
As you can see, it’s one thing to add an extra room or two to your home. But when it comes to an extension, you have to pay attention! There are plenty of issues that can easily get in your way. And, at the end of the day, if you don’t understand what can happen, the chances are you will end up with an expensive mistake on your hands. Let us know how it goes!
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