Tips on building a home extension: Conception

Conception

Architecture

Planning Permission

Building Control

Getting a Quote

Bathroom

Bedroom

Gallery

When we moved into our house in mid-2004, we knew that it was going to require some work. The flat roof over the double garage had been neglected for years and was leaking. To the rear, the roof extended over a utility room and study and joined onto a balcony. We found out just how bad things were the first time it rained heavily. I don't want to go into all the gory details, let's just say we had to get some new buckets.

We had a choice between repairing the roof and building a first floor extension over the garage. The house already had five double bedrooms so we were not desperate for more space. The house valuation put it at the top-end price for the area, so increasing it's size could not make it sell for much more money. On the other hand, just repairing the flat roof would have been costly and flat roofs are not a great selling feature. The bathroom was too small for the size of the house and could be made bigger if we built over the balcony. The balcony itself might have been a nice feature providing a relaxing area with a view over the park behind, but in our climate it would rarely get used and was a mainenance liability. Building the extension was going to make the house look more complete and would give us a spectacular master bedroom. We might price our home out of the market but it was a project too difficult to resist.

It has been a long journey and we have learnt many things along the way that I would like to have known before I started. This is our story of how it was done with tips for you if you are thinking of extending your home too.

First Tip: Take your time preparing. It took us two years from conception to completion which gave us time to plan and find out what we would need to know. Rushing things means making mistakes that can be costly and frustrating.

Second Tip: Know why you are doing it. If it is a development project to make a profit by increasing the value of your house to sell, you will want to do it quicker and cheaper. We built our extension to improve our own home. We do not expect to get the full cost back when we sell but we are going to live here for some time and profit from the lifestyle improvement.

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