April 05, 2014

A Check List To A Home Addition Thats Right for You

By: rbonnevie / Additions

Should you build a home addition? Across the country and in our local area, many families have been considering various remodeling and home renovation projects. These can range anywhere from giving a room a fresh coat of paint to completely adding a new space to your home. Creating an addition is a huge step and it can be a great choice for a household that doesn’t seem to have quite enough space. Before you dive into this new project, however, you must determine whether a home addition is right for you and your family. Talk to a construction professional, not the ones that play contractor either…someone that can help guide you through the process of the never ending decision making process, all the other areas to be concerned with as well as the paper work that can be involved. Of course I advocate for a design build firm because to me it just makes sense to hire someone that can handle all those things that I just mentioned and more, please read on.

Things to Know When Considering a Home Addition

Available Space for a Home Addition

Before you begin building an addition on your house, you need to have a plan.  Identify the area of the house that feels most cramped or where you feel would be best for your situation.  Look at all of the potential places to put the addition, you will need to think about the options for spacing outside of your home as well as inside.  If there is not enough room to put an addition onto your house, then you may want to find other ways to improve the size of your home, going up for example could add the desired amount of space and save thousands in excavation costs. You should also take into account how much space you want to have in your new room—have a basic square foot number in your mind, measure an existing room that would suit your needs to get an idea and compare it to the area that you actually have to build the addition on. Check with your local building department to determine if you’re set backs are adequate or if you are near wetlands, (see permitting below).

Do you have the time?

Many people go into major renovations without considering the time it will take to complete the job.  Adding onto your home is a huge project that will take a great deal of time and require good time management for you and your family. The morning school routine may change, depending on the project scope etc…. If you are making this a do-it-yourself job, this is even more important and unless you have construction experience, building an addition is no place to start learning. Many things can go wrong costing you thousands later. Hiring a design build professional to set up times to meet with all the sub-contractors and other professionals who will be working on the project to discuss areas of concern and to develop the project specification and best course of action based on the plans and your requirements.

Planning a Budget for a Home Addition

Whether you’re the one that has been setting aside money for the project in advance, or the one that must take out a loan in order to pay for construction. You should always have a figure in mind or a budget to base the project off of. These are things that you must take into account prior to speaking with a construction professional. Putting an addition onto your house can be a very costly job and could run anywhere between $50,000 to over $100,000 or more depending on many things like, size or course but also what is involved in it. For instance a kitchen addition can be one of the most expensive because it has every trade involved from excavation to plumbing & heating. These are things that will have to be taken into account before any actual work is done. Getting a design build general contractor in on the early stages of any project is your best choice to help guide your budget to what you feel comfortable with spending. Designing before a budget is discussed can be very frustrating.

Lasting Property Value

When you put an addition on your home, think about how it will affect the value of your house.  Even if you are planning on living there for many years to come, it is still important to consider all possibilities— Talk to an appraiser or other professionals to discuss what kind of impact an addition will have on the overall value of your home. If space is needed, you like the area and plan on being there for awhile an addition can be the best choice and can just make the most sense.  If the job is done correctly, it will often greatly increase how much your home is worth depending on the type of room it is as well as size and design. In other cases it can drastically lower it, especially if the addition is poorly designed and constructed or has major flaws. Researching and hiring a professional design build contractor will help you avoid such nightmares. Having design renderings to view can greatly aid in making the correct design choices for you and your family.

(“how to hire the right contractor”)

Receiving Proper Permit for an Addition

When you put an addition on your home, think about how it will affect the value of your house.  Even if you are planning on living there for many years to come, it is still important to consider all possibilities— Talk to an appraiser or other professionals to discuss what kind of impact an addition will have on the overall value of your home. If space is needed, you like the area and plan on being there for awhile an addition can be the best choice and can just make the most sense.  If the job is done correctly, it will often greatly increase how much your home is worth depending on the type of room it is as well as size and design. In other cases it can drastically lower it, especially if the addition is poorly designed and constructed or has major flaws. Researching and hiring a professional design build contractor will help you avoid such nightmares. Having design renderings to view can greatly aid in making the correct design and space choices for you and your family.

(“how to hire the right contractor”)

Use this cheat sheet as you walk through your home to consider all of the different things that will impact the construction of an addition. Answer honestly and it will help you to make the right decision that will help increase the quality of life in your home, as well as boost the property values.

• How much space do you have to expand your home? This includes potential space inside the house as well as outside.
• What are your reasons for wanting an addition?
• Is the desired addition going to take too much time to complete? How long are you planning on remaining in the same house?
• Consider your budget for this project: creating an addition can be costly, and you must have a budget plan as well as funding for the job throughout the entire duration.
• Are you considering a bathroom, extra bedroom, a garage, storage space, or just planning on extending the living space further than what you already have?
• Will the addition improve the property value of your home? Will you potentially get more money back when it comes time to sell your house?
• Do you have enough time to invest in this project? What is the deadline for the addition to be completed?
• Are you planning on doing this professionally and seeking help from contractors and architects? Or will this be a DIY project?
• Will it be possible to get permits for construction? Will there be any legal problems?