If you’re thinking about adding an extra room to your home to create more space and increase its value should you want to sell it in the future, you’re no different to thousands of other Americans who make the same great, choice. However, home additions, whatever their size, need a lot of planning and to protect your investment, you need to work with a professional construction company, equipped to handle the challenge.
To help you avoid some common problems when adding on to your home, here are a few things you definitely don’t want to do:
- Fail to measure the size of the space accurately
Underestimating or overestimating the dimensions of your home is a fatal error made by many, and which can lead to expensive oversights and lengthy delays in the future. If you’re working with a responsible general contractor or renovation company, they should carry out all measurements independently, to ensure the best layout, and guide them (and you) as to where windows, doors and furniture etc should go.
- Pick a design that is incongruous to the rest of your home
Even if you want to design a space that contrasts to the rest of your home, there is a certain way of going about it, and without taking the time to consider the design impact of the space on the rest of the home, you could end up with a room that simply doesn’t feel cohesive and comfortable.
- Cut costs on materials
While you might get away with using lower quality materials for some of the design aspects, you should only ever use high-quality materials for the construction elements of the addition, otherwise you may soon regret it when the structure requires repairs, or worse still, isn’t structurally sound and becomes dangerous for everyone.
A good general contractor will know the best materials to use, and if you’re lucky, they may even be able to get you a discount.
- Hire a cheap, unreliable contractor
As mentioned at the outset, who you hire to help you add a room on to your home (or several) is integral to the overall success of the project. If you find a local general contractor who gets good reviews from previous customers, is easy to communicate with, and who carries out his work professionally, you stand a much stronger chance of the addition coming in within budget, and within the desired timeframe.
- Fail to take account of permits and zoning laws
Again, if you work with a reputable general contractor, they should handle all aspects of this for you, but it’s worth making yourself aware of any permits or permissions that might be required in order for you to complete the project successfully. Failure to seek required permits could result in the addition being demolished, and you may face fines, too.
Note that if you plan to make any claims with your insurance company related to the addition, if you can’t supply your provider with the necessary documentation related to permits and zoning laws, you may be in breach of the terms of your policy, and be unable to make any claims.
The biggest thing to takeaway from this, is that you should always make hiring a good general contractor, your first priority. From then on in, with them by your side and their team of sub-contractors at the ready, you can look forward to a bigger, more valuable home.