Are you considering renovating your home and adding an extension? Increasing the square footage of your home is a great way to make the space work for you as your family grows and also adds value to your property.
There are many ways you can add extra space to your home; however, extending the property to add extra room or rooms is something you will need to look at and plan carefully before any work is undertaken.
Are You Ready?
Sure, the extra space sounds appealing, as does the shopping for new fixtures and fittings to complete the look, but are you ready for the work to be started? Living in your home while an extension is being built can be hard from the upheaval to the mess. And the constant flow of people in and out as the works are undertaken isn’t for the faint-hearted.
How will you live when certain parts of your home are under construction and out of bounds. If you have children, will you still be able to live around the work or will you need to look at relocating for the duration of the construction? The result will no doubt be worth it, but being realistic about how tough it might be to live through the works will help you in the long run, especially if the job runs over schedule. It is also a good idea is to approach your neighbours about your plans to let them know what they can expect in terms of timescales, noise and disruption to your home. This will help to ease any tensions from problems arising due to the renovation works.
Do you Have The Correct Permissions?
Have you checked out local regulations with regards to gaining the correct planning permissions to add an extension to your home? If you are unsure of where to start, then hiring an architect such as Scenario Architecture will have local knowledge on what type of plans you will need to submit to boost your chances of them being approved.
The last thing you want to do is to make a start on the home renovation work only to find out that you don’t have permission and have to apply respectively or even remove the extension.
Be Realistic
There is no doubt that your new space will be perfect once all the work is finished, but realistic with yourself about how you are going to get from start to finish. Will you be undertaking any work yourself? If so, how much time do you have to commit to the work and what is a realistic timescale for you to work towards? If you are planning on project managing yourself, set strict rules to separate your time spent on the project from taking over your life. However, if you are working or looking after your family, it may be easier to pass the delegating to someone else.
Be flexible on timescales so as not to be too disappointed should the works not be completed on time or if additional problems arise. For this reason, it may be beneficial to have emergency funds available to help you deal with any unexpected issues fast.
