For anyone who needs some extra space in their home, moving properties would seem like the sensible option. When you scratch beneath the surface however and you consider a volatile housing market and the upheaval of moving home, schools and places of work, moving home entirely to get a little extra space turns into a huge decision. Many people are decided on an alternative option when faced with this proposition however and extending their existing home, something I did myself three years ago.
Extending your home has many benefits from adding value to your home and of course adding the extra space but before taking on this project, there is much to consider. As someone who made mistakes and has been through the process, I would advise that you consider the following points before you get started.
Planning Permission
I foolishly assumed that we would get accepted for planning permission for our extension and so I put the wheels in motion for things to start happening. Unfortunately our planning application was denied and this caused a great deal of stress and problems because I had already set the ball rolling. Make sure that you have considered whether or not you will get planning permission, before you even consider hiring anyone. The only person you should be speaking to until you get permission is your architect and thankfully, mine was able to tweak the plans until the permission was accepted. Never assume anything, especially not the planning permission like I did as it could cause a great amount of problems for you.
Budget
The biggest question which you will be faced with is what kind of budget you have and I can assure that these jobs will always run over. Make sure that you don’t allocate all of the money which you have towards your budget, you must keep some in reserve. A prime example from my own experience, we were forced to spend an extra $1000 because the stones used on my original house were discontinued and thankfully the guys at David Montoya stonemakers were able to create the same stones as a special deal for us so that we could keep the consistency. There are always things that cost more so make sure you have reserve cash.
Stay or Go
One of the biggest considerations which you will need to make before embarking on a project like this is whether you and your family will stay in the house whilst the work is being undertaken, or whether you will move out. My personal experience was that I tried to stay in the house throughout but after 2 months of chaos and living on a worksite, I couldn’t take anymore and we moved out. Despite the expense of spending money on a hotel, the job was completed much quicker and myself and my family felt a lot happier being away from it, we also had the wow factor when the work was completed.