Member Article

Factors to consider when planning a house extension

House extension is a way of making maximum use of what you already own as you can do it upward, outward or downward. Extension comes with many reasons ranging from creating some extra space, adding value to the home or the love you have for your home area. Moving to a new place is accompanied by increased hassle and cost with market uncertainties hence extension becomes a better option. The steps necessary to building an extension include:

Why you want to extend your home

Before any extension, think of the main reason you intend to do it and what you would like to achieve from the house extension. Some of the questions that can guide you through this include; do you want to add home value in order to sell the house? What is the extension budget cost and how will you cater for it?

Awareness of the home area

Before laying down house extension plan, consider consulting a local agent nearby to get to know the popular renovations done in the area. Different streets have distinct ceiling value. Therefore, do not over extent to maintain the value of the house.

Conduct a research

This entails watching the people in your vicinity. If young professionals are majority in your area, do not consider an extension. Also consider asking agents the market of extended houses they have sold. Before any extension, plan wisely and you will add value to the house compared to amount spend on extension.

Your house structure.

After carrying out the research, consider the structure of the existing house. This could be the roof shape, building materials used in current house and the doors, tiles, windows of the existing house. Considering continuity and uniformity, using the same house structure as present house is recommended.

Extension options.

Is the extension for the ground floor only or all rooms in the house or is it to add a second story? For the case of adding a story, understanding current home structure becomes very essential. With this in mind, explore various extension types and what they require.

After considering those factors and deciding fully on extension, you need an architect.

Why should you get an architect?

It may sound so obvious but an architect is of importance as builders have expertise on building things only and architects have specialized in designing of spaces. With an architect, you are assured of a well-designed extension. It is advisable to hire an architect to lead you through planning, certification of building regulation, finding a good builder, monitoring safety, standards and progress on the building site, putting into practice specialists’ advice and seeing the extension building through.

Extension trends

Formerly, it was thought to be fashionable to blend different materials during extension. Currently, people are contented with just changing the building structure but maintaining the purity of materials originally used on the structure. Most clients are running for light, airy, simple spaces they can easily personalize and decorate. A major cause and push for house extension is resulting from the increased number of clients such that they need an extension to be used as an office. To add on, sourcing of environmentally friendly materials is popular and also following government regulations on the guidelines to using energy saving materials such as bamboo.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Linda J. Chin .