There’s a great deal of satisfaction and inspiration involved in building your own property, but of course, you don’t have to build a house from scratch to know these feelings. Most often, extending your house is enough.
This might run the gamut from adding a full-scale wing of a house onto your property, or it may just involve building an extension you can use and enjoy over time, particularly in the summer weather.
Now, we all know that simply willing this to be so will get us nowhere, it takes diligent planning, financial budgeting, and a strong vision of property development to benefit in the first place. As long as you approach this as not only an investment in your property and financial standing but also a long journey and set of lessons to learn throughout the process, you’re sure to have a great time.
But what are the challenges and inspirations involved in building that property extension? In this post, we’ll outline a number of both for the benefit of your future designs:
Challenge: Obtaining Necessary Permits & Approvals
It’s important to remember that your plans for an extension are just that, your plans until they’ve been verified and approved by the local housing or planning authority in your area. It might seem a little frustrating that you have to be dictated to by a local office about what you do with your own space, but there are many good reasons for this. For one, oversight keeps your neighbourhood in good standing. It may be that you live in an area of natural beauty and restrictions against your expansion also mean other property development firms can’t place an estate in front of a beautiful view or natural space.
If planned correctly with an architect, some restrictions or challenges can be met. For example, your planning authority may allow you to build one story of an extension, but not two. In this way, you can alter your plans for the space and invest in that manner. You are also required to give neighbours advance notice of the extension build, and it’s their right to dispute it as appropriate.
Often, neighbours won’t dispute your extension because it means you’re more likely to dispute theirs should they try in the future. You can also use appropriate consultants to make sure your plans are correctly formatted and considered. Make sure all drafts are final before sending them, and include all relevant documentation.
Challenge: Plan For Unforeseen Budget Overruns
It seems to be the case with any large project, particularly one as veered by general luck as property development, that some form of extra-budgetary and scheduling allowance is needed. In some cases, this can be more than you realize.
You don’t always have to plan anything incorrectly. It might just be that because of the terrible weather, you have to extend your renovation timeline before your contractors can work on your roofing system. This might have the knock-on effect of staying in temporary accommodations for a little longer, meaning that your budget requirements go way up.
Planning for these outcomes is ideal. An extra five thousand to help you withstand unintended difficulties can be factored into your plans depending on your goals, giving you the chance to breathe a little easier even if difficulties occur.
Inspiration: Selecting The Right Architectural Style
There’s a great deal of fun and enjoyment that comes from planning out your property redevelopment. Part of that fun comes from selecting the architectural style that will fit with your current property. From the latticed brickwork, you use to the siding you install, up to the roofing system that prompts continual visual flow, down to the windowsills and hanging baskets you use to decorate, implementing a new but similar visual motif is great fun for any aspiring designer.
Of course, you can also use architects to help you strike that balance correctly because not everyone is highly experienced in property aesthetics. It’s also good to consider how the internals of the extension will be balanced depending on the parameters of the project. For example, if you’re limited to a one-story option as discussed, why not implement a large skylight and floor-to-ceiling windows to maximise natural light? As you can see, small inspirations only mak the project that much more comfortable to deal with.
Inspiration: Incorporating Sustainable Design Elements
It’s important to note that any extension or renovation of worth is an investment in the future, not the past. For this reason, you may be able to implement new priorities when renovating the house you live in. Even if it’s an old house, you can still refurbish parts of it with modern specifications and not erode the natural character of the building.
For example – incorporating sustainable design elements can reduce your home’s carbot footprint while also welcoming a green new future. That might involve implementing sustainable new energy sources like solar on a roofing system you’re designing anew, perhaps one oriented to catch most of the light in summer. You can also improve your insulation, and use ventilation systems to keep natural airflow predictable. It’s inspiring to not only develop your house anew, but to do so knowing these investments will have a net impact on the environment it stands in. Lessening your expected energy bills hardly hurts, either.
Challenge: Addressing Foundation & Structural Concerns
A house isn’t separate form the environment in which it’s been crafted, but remains an essential part of it. Of course, that’s why location is one of the most important predictive variables for valuing a property. It’s why a certain apartment in the middle of New York City could be worth ten times as much as it would in a rural community.
It’s also true that location can cause its own problems. For example, many seafront properties may be subject to a crumbling coastline, which could potentially erode a property’s future value. In some cases, foundational shift or subsidence can be a real problem in need of attention and stabilization before the property is worked on. In all cases where issues like this are prevalent, a remedial fix must be prioritized before moving on to other renovations or extensions.
Depending on the land your property is situated on, you may also need to make accommodations for excavation or stabilization of inclines and declines nearby. This can affect planning permission depending on property rights and how much the landscape is altered. This will factor into your planning process and for the most part, your options are open. While a fun challenge to consider, it remains a challenge, and as such is worth considering before you move on.
Inspiration: Working With Experienced & Reliable Contractors
Unless you have a thorough construction experience or have managed projects like this before, you’ll need to bring in contractors. It can be inspiring to work with professionals who know the exact measures of getting the most out of your house and consulting with them can uncover new possibilities to keep you motivated and to get the most for your money.
The first consultant you should use is an architect, who will be able to curate a floor plan that squeezes in the most value without denigrating the reality of using the space. They will also be able to look through your plans and make it clear which elements are realistic and which aren’t. This can save you plenty of money and frustration over time.
Second, energy consultants can help you identify exactly how to curate efficiency and sustainability from a new build, extension and renovation, helping you curate in line with the eco-friendly and power requirement plans we mentioned above.
Of course, electricians, plumbers, and smart home specialists can help determine the orientation and installation of certain networks and structures in the home, which will help you plan out your en suite between two rooms or the need for certain power allowances in certain spaces. If you’re not experienced with the needs of projects like this up to now, you can be certain you will be. All this informs you for the next go around, no matter where you live.
Final Thoughts
It’s important to note that any property extension, or any construction or renovation project in general, will be fraught with both negatives and positives. Luckily, you can mitigate the former and maximize the latter.
When you account for all the potential difficulties in your path, you can factor them in as part of your planning. This runs the spectrum from convincing that brittle neighbor to accept your planning permission over time, to inspiring yourself with design, to making accommodations on your timeline in case the project is delayed.
We’ve included balanced inspirations and challenges because it’s important to note that despite your frustrations, on the whole, you’re investing in a worthwhile future for your family and property portfolio. Even if you sell the house afterwards, a well-considered extension will have added much to the space and can offer a great deal of joy over the years. Moreover, once you complete a singular goal, you will have that much more experience for next time.
