A Guide to Building a Home Extension
If you’re thinking about adding an extension to your home, you need to follow this helpful guide to avoid slip-ups.
Draw Up the Plans
The planning stage is where it all starts, and it’s one of the most important parts of the project too. If the plans are wrong then, unfortunately, the whole project is wrong, so it’s vital that you take care and time to get this part right. You shouldn’t take on the role by yourself, it’s always best to have a professional by your side during the planning process.
Using architects will make sure that your plans are fully formed and won’t fall apart when it comes to turning the plans into reality. Only an expert with experience in the industry will be able to guarantee this for you. It may be more costly than doing it by yourself, but it’s worth all the expense.
Get Permission
When building an extension, you might need to get planning permission from the local council authority before you go ahead with the work. This is important to get. Don’t be one of those people who do the work first and get the planning permission later. This always ends up backfiring.
If the authorities decide that your building breaches planning regulations, they could force you to have the building knocked down. They could even have the extension forcibly removed, and you don’t want that. Before you do anything else, you should check the local regulations and adhere to them in your plans.
Hire Builders
There are plenty of great tradesmen out there; it’s just a matter of finding them and avoiding the bad builders. There is a risk of picking the wrong tradesmen and having the project ruined by them, so you do need to take this part of the process seriously. If you know anyone who has had building work done recently, ask them for recommendations.
There are new websites that you can use nowadays where building firms and contractors are listed, and people who have used them can give them a rating. This is an invaluable tool and can really help when you’re trying to find out if a company is reliable or not. So, make sure you browse these websites.
Add the Finishing Touches
Once the building work has been completed, all that you need to do is add the finishing touches and make it feel like a real part of your home. How you go about decorating the extension you’ve had done will depend on the function of the room and what the design of the rest of your home is like.
You should get the work done as quickly as possible though. There’s nothing worse that having an extension that feels like a characterless, empty shell. You won’t be able to properly use and appreciate the extension until it has been fully decorated. So, don’t hang around and get it done as soon as possible.
Home extensions are a great way of adding extra value and space to your home, so use this guide to help you complete yours.