By Rachel Knight
Whether you fancy yourself a mathematician or suffer from arithmophobia, it is easy to see the benefits of a home addition if you love where you live but need more space. Home addition possibilities are seemingly endless. You can add a game room, master suite, second kitchen, sunroom, walk-in closet, or any other room your imagination desires to your existing house. When done right, home additions add potential value as well as space to your home, without the hassle of moving. Ensure your home addition lives up to its full potential by following these five planning steps from Hugh Stearns, president of Stearns Design Build.
Step One: Measure Property Lines Your physical property line is important to know. “Most homeowners will have a plot plan; but if they don’t, they may have to have a survey done,” Stearns shares.
If you don’t determine your property lines, you’re more likely to have problems with setbacks, according to Stearns. Setbacks are the areas in which a city does not allow building. They differ for each city. For example, one city may use the eaves, or edges of the roof which overhang the wall, as the starting point to measure a setback, while another uses the wall itself. To determine setbacks, simply contact your city’s building department.
Step Two: Set Monetary Parameters According to Stearns, a homeowner’s budget typically serves as the parameter for home additions. To set your budget, start by determining the cost of the home addition that would keep you from actually building it. That is your maximum budget. “Once you have determined your maximum budget, design your addition 15 percent below budget so that you can deal with any surprises you may find when you get into building,” Stearns says.
Home additions tend to use higher quality materials, require unique building tactics, and are most commonly done while a family lives in the house, thus making them more expensive per-square foot than building a new home. “Home builders want to build homes as cheaply as possible, so they use builder grade materials designed to only last through the warranty period,” Stearns explains. These are important factors to consider when discussing your budget.
Step Three: Order Priorities When prioritizing your wants and needs, Stearns says to keep in mind what you hope to accomplish in the new space. “The important thing is to make sure the primary function is met,” he shares. “You’ll have other things you want to accomplish while remodeling, but it’s important to prioritize to make sure the most important needs and wants are met first before you run out of your budget.”
Prioritizing functionality often results in compromises, according to Stearns. Stearns Design Build’s most common addition is a master suite. Compromises in these rooms often end with reduced space in order to incorporate functionality pieces.
Step Four: Calculate Your Design It is easy to design a space and then realize you don’t have room for your furniture, art work, or lifestyle activities, Stearns shares. It all needs to be integrated into the design of that space or you won’t get exactly what you want. “Detail is everything,” he says.
Homes should work well and be beautiful in that order, according to Stearns. “When we design, we try to design for our client’s needs,” he says. “If they are adding a walk-in closet, we want to know exactly how much linear space of short- and long-hanging room they need and how much room they need for shoes.”
Step Five: Maximize Value Maximizing the value of your home addition is simple. “Live in the home as long as possible,” Stearns advises. “I would never suggest someone is going to get a full monetary return on what they put into an addition. You must understand the intrinsic value is important.” The biggest variable in return on investment is time.
Stearns’ last piece of advice is to respect the character of the home and neighborhood in the addition. “Don’t only think of the square footage of your addition, but also of its connection to your home and neighborhood.”
