Everyone has big ideas when it comes to their house extension, but sometimes the reality of building can get in the way of your grand plan.
You may be planning to create more space for a growing family, building an addition to your kitchen to unleash your culinary skills, or just blend your indoor and outdoor space with a beautiful garden room.
Whatever your plan is, a house extension is a far better option than moving home. It’s also a much more cost effective option – especially considering how much the price of properties are increasing across most Australian areas.
If you’re considering a house extension, you want to make sure that it’s perfect – which will require you to take extra care during the planning stages.
In this article, we’re going to take you through everything you need to know to prepare for your house extension project. From getting your finances in order, to getting planning permission and choosing the right contractors, you’ll find all the best tips and advice here.
Keep on reading so you can set your project off on the right foot, and get your house extension completed as soon as possible.
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Why would you get an extension to your home?
Extending your home is a great project that could reward you with a range of benefits.
Here are just a few of the common situations where someone would want to undergo an extension project to improve their home:
- Increase the value of their property if they plan to sell
- Create a new bedroom as more space for a growing family
- Add more room to work on their hobbies and passions
- Create a productive home office
- Improve their lifestyle
- Make the most of outdoor space
- Avoid the costs and hassle of moving
Whatever your personal reasons for needing more space, an extension project can be tailored to suit your own lifestyle needs.
House extensions can be helpful also in allowing more space to add features to your home, such as an elevator. Now is the best time to install one as home lift prices australia has significantly dropped. Today, you don’t even need a large space to install an elevator as the smallest one only needs 600mm x 600mm of space.
6 Steps to Plan House Extensions
Building a house extension isn’t easy, but the general process remains similar regardless of the nature of your extension.
Here are the main steps you can prepare for in your house extension project:
1. Obtain planning permission
The first stage of any extension is obtaining planning permission for your project. This ensures that the local authorities approve of all the work you’ll be doing on your house.
If you don’t do this in time, it could lead to long delays in your whole project.
2. Come up with a plan and budget
Before building commences, having a detailed construction plan and budget is important to help you keep on-track.
Plans and budgets don’t have to be completely set in stone, but if you start everything off with a good idea of what you want to achieve, you’re setting yourself up for a successful project.
3. Choose the right building contractors
You won’t be doing everything yourself, so choosing the right contractors and custom home builders is an important decision to make.
Don’t feel like you have to go with the first people you find, talk to different companies and find the perfect fit for your project.
4. Arrange all your building materials
our contractors might be ordering your materials for you, but if they’re not, you need to think about arranging everything. Some of the materials that you should plan for include fill dirt, concrete, wood and more.
Different materials might have different lead times, so the sooner you can order everything in, the sooner everyone can get to work.
5. Building your extension
Now it’s time for the building phase. For your extension, you’ll start with the groundworks and superstructure, then move onto completing the internal features and putting the roof on your brand new extension.
6. Time to decorate
Once you’ve got the empty shell of your extension ready, you can add your own personal stamp on it. Get ready to create your ultimate home office, or a relaxing living space for your family.
Some Final Tips from Home Builders Specialists
It’s almost time to start building. Now you know what to expect and how to plan a house extension, here are some top tips from the people who know best:
Create a Detailed Plan Early-on
Once you get into your project, you’ll quickly appreciate having a detailed pan to start you off.
The more detailed your plans are, the easier you will find it to progress within the project and get everything you need to do done on-time and on-budget.
Have a Purpose in Mind for Your Extension
If you have a goal to work towards, everything else will fall into place. The end purpose of your extension will also feed into the plans a lot.
A home office will have very different requirements to a garden room in terms of soundproofing and materials – and you should consider these requirements at every step of your process,
Consider the Location and the Setting
The best home extensions in Brisbane are the ones that fit in with their surroundings, so consider the location of your home before you start building and planning,
You don’t want your extension to stand out like a sore thumb, you want something to complement the existing space and surrounding buildings.
Try and Think Outside the Box
Don’t be scared to push the boundaries when it comes to designing your extension – sometimes it pays to take risks.
Come up with innovative uses of spaces, use new materials, and let your architect come up with new, exciting ideas.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we’ve taken you through everything you should know about house extensions.
We’ve covered how to plan a house extension, the steps you can prepare for, plus some great expert tips that will help your project run smoothly the whole way.
We hope you found this article helpful, and that you’re getting excited for the extension adventure that awaits you!