Home Extensions; is it the right plan for your Family?
Most homes under go 3 extensions or renovations of some type during their life cycle, many never achieve the right result causing significant over capitalisation. When considering your home extensions you need to be sure you are honest with yourself and leave the emotion at the front door.
Your first step should be to write your true needs and wants list considering now and the future, remember your home extension must take into account the family's growth and development cycle and cater for those changing events. Many families plan for today but not tomorrow. Here’s a simple example I came across: you need an extra lounge room, you call it a rumpus room, you decide its going “on the back” and have it drafted, approved and built. After a few months you notice that no one is using the new extensions? Why? Well you built it in “no man’s land” and it has no integration with the existing home or outdoor environment, also you now realise its adjacent to your bedroom, of course the kids or young adults are not going to want to dwell with their mates adjacent to Mum and Dads bedroom, nor do Mum and Dad want to lose their privacy.
On paper this home extension looked good, but it was not thought through, general planning principles were not considered or employed. Let’s now consider you want to sell this newly extended home, how does the floor plan feel and present to potential buyers; will they see the value in your home extensions?
I am not suggesting that you have a bottomless pit of money but careful consideration needs to be given when planning any home extension or renovations, it’s important that you take advise from people that design homes for a living. On occasion the extensions may not to be financially viable when you consider “the big picture”; you may need to consider other more cost effective options.
Matthew Earl General Manager Rossmark Pty Ltd