House extensions – do they add value to the house?

We’ve outgrown our current house and looking to either move to a bigger property or extend the one we’re in.

We currently have a tandem garage – virtually full length of house but standard width. It’s fairly new so was built with footings to enable a 2nd floor, to extend the upstairs of the house & add a bedroom.

we would then also knock through the kitchen into the back of the garage to create either a utility room or extend a rather pokey kitchen & dining room.

So does anyone know if this would actually add value to the house?

Once the kids are a bit older and less dependant on us, we eventually want to move a bit more rural. Our current concern is that if we use some of the equity in the house now, for this extension, will the extension effectively pay for itself by way of added value, or will we be left with a potentially more sellable house, but worth just the same as if we’d not extended, thus slicing into any equity we would carry forward to the next house?

Yes, probably, do you mean on top of what you spend? Lots of variables.

Yes, massively so.

Assumptions being that you have proper planning and building regs approval and that the house isn’t in an area where you’ve hit the ceiling in terms of what people will spend to live there (eg you could build a mansion in a shithole and people wouldn’t pay to live there almost regardless of the house).

Oh and that you have a competitive quote and decent builder.

Assumptions being that you have proper planning and building regs approval.

You’d struggle to build something without them…..

You say that but having recently moved, we saw several places that didn’t and had retrospective but which meant any other work would be problemativ and also reduced the value against what it should have been with proper approval.

depends

on what the extension entails.

fitting a conservatory will add very little.

adding an extra bedroom – a fair bit – if the rest of the house is sized to cater for the larger family the new room will attract.

will you add more than you spend…. if getting contractors in – very unlikely.

is it cheaper than moving – that depends on what you expect from the new house.

Look at zoopla and mouseprice for n+1 beds in your area – likely they sell for more. How that investment performs against your interest on the mortgage is a different matter (based on you saying you’d take equity out against the house).

Depends on the current value of the house, cost of the extension and ceiling price for the area.

The fact that you’re adding a bedroom rather than just extending the living space does make a bit more of a difference too. Can you not see how much houses down your street with however many bedrooms you’ve got + 1 go for and base your estimate on that?

An estate agent will tell you what you’re likely to be able to get if you call them.

We lost our shirt on ours. Spent £100k completely rebuilding the back of the house and probably added about £30k to the value :-(.

Luckily, when we moved our new house had suffered the same fate so we didn’t end up out of pocket.

My advice – Do it if you intend to stay. Don’t if you intend to move at some point.

What on earth did you do, Harry? Area not right for the additional size of house? Admittely £100k is a lot unless you got a lot of space/rooms out of it.

Depends on what you do, generally yes. Things like loft conversions (done properly) definitely.

Contrary to @Harry its very common for people to buy a house, “do-it-up” including say loft conversion and then sell on having made a decent profit. London has got so crazy now it makes sense to dig out under the house to add a room as you make so much money by doing so.

its very common for people to buy a house, “do-it-up” including say loft conversion and then sell on having made a decent profit.

Depends on the market, as Sarah beeny was so for dinner of telling people they would have made more doing nothing to a place in a rising market.

What on earth did you do, Harry?

New kitchen, downstairs loo, full width single storey extension, underground bike cave on the lower level of the garden with a terrace on top of it, underfloor heating, flood wired for TV, computer and sound system, electrically operated V-Lux, massive folding sliding door etc. It was ace.

…then we had 2 kids and we were a bedroom short.

I’ve done almost exactly what you describe, building an extenstion above the garage to the roof line to add an extra bedroom, its actually reasonably cheap as you have no foundations to consider and in our case balanced the house out. God knows if we have “gained” value to what we spent but we did a lot including:
over garage extension including new en suite
removal of existing bathroom/en suite to create a new family bathroom
new boiler now in garage
new downstairs bathroom/ wetroom
single storey extension on opposing side to create new kitchen diner and 30% larger living room
new consumer unit
new lighting
loft room off the original master bedroom
new front door and new front windows
3m bifolding doors in dining room
underfloor heating
hand made kitchen
new carpets throughout
total redecoration
new banisters
and a few other odds and sods… 😯

I’m pretty sure we will get our money back but as we dont plan to move we just piled in what we wanted and pretend its a new house (which in many ways it is!)

Useful things that will add some value:

Extra bedroom
A downstairs wc/shower where there was none
A utility is a useful feature that keeps kitchens looking less chaotic
A large kitchen to replace a small one

Quality of desgin and finish can vary the value an extension adds.

I would say that what you propose sounds like it will add value. The style and spec of what you do will impact the cost and beyond a certain quality you will be wasting money in so much as it won’t be reflected in the house value – but this goes both ways with a crap finish adding below par value.

One thing to consider is the phenomenal cost of moving – estate agents fees, removals, surveyors, solicitors etc etc and all the hassle. Much depends on circumstance but if you subtract this from your extension cost it will seem like much better value.

PS Dormas can be a great way of extending some houses but can also completly screw one up if done poorly.

Depends on the road, every road has a natural upper limit in value over which a house won’t go no matter what you do to it. So if you bought the largest / nicest house in the street and extend it, you’ll get less back than doing the same with the most grotty one.

Thanks for the reply folks.

Unfortunately I can’t compare houses on my street that have the same done because once people have done it, they don’t move.

The quote for ‘just’ the upstairs extending is low due to the factors mentioned above (all footings etc. already done). That said, in any event I think we’re still looking to move in the next 4 years. But, because it’s only 4 years we’re concerned that the house values won’t have risen enough to offset the equity we have built up then spent on an extension.

Keep in mind that moving house is bloody expensive. So you have a fair chunk of cash you can blow before the extensions costs you anything. Assuming you don’t then move anyway.

You won’t add 100% of the cost to the value unless you get Sarah Beeny in to do it and make it from brick effect cardboard and no-one notices.

My general feeling is that if you are staying for say 10 years , then do it. Otherwise move.

That said, in any event I think we’re still looking to move in the next 4 years. But, because it’s only 4 years we’re concerned that the house values won’t have risen enough to offset the equity we have built up then spent on an extension.

hardly worth the disruption then, never mind the cost.

we’re waiting for planning approval for a large extension that will push us above the value of the property but we are planning on staying there for at least 20yrs so I don’t really mind.

Make sure any extension is not only financially justifiable but also will mean you’re happy to stay in the house for longer – not great to do work then move a year later anyway – like the people who sold me my house did.

We did ours then moved out 4 years later. Cost us £25k, on the market for £270k and quickly sold for £267k (when the housing market wasn’t great). A very similar house (without the extension) just went on the market for £270k but quickly dropped to £250k and sold – don’t know the sold price yet.

So, on balance, I reckon we just about broke even-ish but we did have the benefit of a great extension for four years.

Build houses, build extensions as places to live. Don’t do it to make money. That way you’ll always be happy. I am.

Built our extension for about £120k plus all my labour (I did virtually all of it myself except the walling). I guess it has added about £400k on. do I care? – no, I just want to live there.

C

“Build houses, build extensions as places to live. Don’t do it to make money. That way you’ll always be happy. I am.

Built our extension for about £120k plus all my labour (I did virtually all of it myself except the walling). I guess it has added about £400k on. do I care? – no, I just want to live there.”

i like this guys attitude . he reminds me of me:D – no i dont have a dual login 😀

I guess it has added about £400k on

What did you do and where are you? Must be a significant extension and/or expensive location?

Decent 1930s semi in our village got extended in all directions a few years ago, to the side and into the loft. 3 bed semi now a 6/7 bed semi.

Except a couple of these rooms are only 5foot wide. And they can no longer access the rear of the property, including a garage, without going through the house. And it looks fug ugly. And it may not have all the planning and building regs it needed.

Has been for sale for over a year, £100k over the price of the surrounding houses.

@Dash – That’s the issue – some people don’t want ugly semis, they would rather buy a smaller detached and have the option to extend. Which is what we are just considering – we could make a substantial extension giving us two extra bedrooms, an extra sitting room, office and sun room and due to the layout of the plot it would mainly only be building onto the entirely unused bit of garden to the side of the house. And we bought it at a price that means doing that work will be reflected in the value (4 bed – bought for £392k last year (3 bed semis can go for £350k+ in our area), 5 and 6 beds on our development go for £600k+).

Not that we can afford to do it, but it is a longer term plan…

£100k on an extension will buy me next doors house here, hold on there’s an idea…

that way you’ll always be happy.

I agree with the sentiment but it only really works if you definitely want to stay put. If like many/most people you move house to have more or less space or to change where you may live for work/family/whatever, then it does matter.

Even more important when buying a place – don’t buy for the sake of it in a place you don’t like just because it’s all you can afford – might get stuck there!

Thing was for us that we got the house we wanted and its already proved to be the right decision for us. I wasn’t convinced of the kitchen diner being the heart of the house but its fantastic, we can all gather together and interact way more than we did. when i look back at the old layout i realise how much of the space was wasted and that the kitchen was no more than functional. modern house designers have a lot to answer for as they really don’t think about how people actually want to live. I wont be moving for at least 10 years so for me this is a sound investment and worth the hassle. the only thing i would say is get proper drawings and a decent builder and you wont regret it.