Factsheet G1 - Advantages of Improving Your Home
Over the past few decades, home extending and improving has rapidly increased in popularity and is a real alternative to moving home.
This factsheet focuses on the advantages of home improving and we have listed below some of the many reasons why extending or altering an existing property is so popular.
1. Creation Of Additional Space
It is quite likely that creating the additional space you require will be the main reason for extending your home. You may be looking to make existing rooms larger or create new rooms, but it is also a good time to consider re-configuring existing space that does not work. You may also be looking for a lifestyle change such as forming an annex for elderly relatives or a home study/office to enable working from home.
2. Cost
Extending an existing property is, in most of cases, going to be less costly than moving home. It is likely that the actual moving costs including fees, stamp duty, removals, etc will be in the region of £15,000 – £30,000 but the largest cost will be the difference in theproperty cost between the one you are selling and the one you are buying which can be hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It is important to remember that you are in control of the cost of the work by ensuring the design and specification is within your budget. When buying ready built properties, someone else has already made the cost decisions.
3. Design Control
Extending or altering your property allows you to be in control of the
design of the work. You get to choose which rooms can be larger than others, where the kitchen is located, how big the extension needs to be and where the doors and windows are located.
In addition to the physical size of the building, you also get to choose the fixtures and fittings such as doors, windows, lighting, heating, kitchen units, bathroom tiling and sanitaryware. There can be huge cost differences for these items and moving home sometimes means you are paying for someone else’s choice of highly expensive fittings that you do not really want.
4. Increased Property Value
Generally extending your home will increase the value of the property and often by more than the actual cost of the work. The majority of homeowners extend their homes primarily for their own personal use of the space, but property improvement works are also an investment in the future resale value.
A good design can also improve the overall property appearance in instances where the property needs better ‘kerb appeal’ or a general facelift.
5. Improved Functionality
Carrying out property improvement works also gives you the opportunity to improve the technical performance of the building.
This includes increasing the thermal and/or sound insulation, modernising fixtures and fittings such as electrics and heating systems and improving security. The modern home should take advantage of all the current technology available and this can be designed into the scheme.
6. Avoid Uncertainty of Moving
Home extending avoids the issues of vendors changing their minds about selling or being gazumped at the last minute. You can work at your own pace and are not governed by a deadline set by a vendor because they need to move out by a certain date.
7. Maintain Amenities and Features
Staying in your own property means you get to make use of existing amenities such as schools, transport facilities, shops, etc. These can often be some of the reasons that you bought your home in the first place including the current location being somewhere you want to stay.
You may have spent a small fortune on the garden or parts of the existing property which you do not wish to change so, by staying in your existing property, you retain the benefit of these
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