Whether you’re needing more space to live or you just have bigger dreams for your home than it’s currently fulfilling, building an addition onto your space is a great way to take the home you’re in and make it into the home of your dreams. However, building on an addition isn’t always easy. So to help ensure that you’ve thought through this decision completely before moving forward, here are three things to consider before building an addition onto your home.
Know The Zoning Laws
As soon as you have the idea to build on an addition to your house, the very first thing you should do is look into the zoning laws for your area.
For some people, the zoning laws of their city can make it very hard to build on an addition to their home. Especially if you’re already close to the property line, you may not have the space you need to build your addition. And while you might be thinking that building vertically would work, some areas have rules and regulations about this as well. So before you get your heart set on your addition or begin looking into hiring a contractor to do the job for you, you’ll need to make sure that what you want done is actually possible and legal.
Think About Your Initial Investment And The Return On Investment
In most situations, building on an addition is going to be quite the financial investment. So if you only have a certain budget that you’re working in, you’ll want to be sure that the addition you’re wanting to build will be possible within your budget.
Another thing to think about is if the addition you’re building will make your home more valuable. If it will, and adding any kind of square footage usually does increase the value of a home, you might be able to think about offsetting the costs with the money you’ll now be able to make once you sell the home.
Where The Space Is Coming From
Before you start building your addition, you’ll want to think not only about the space you’ll be gaining on the interior of your home, but also about the space that you’ll potentially be losing from the exterior of your home.
Since your property line isn’t going to be changing, if you’re going to add square footage from your yard onto your home, you’ll be losing this space in your yard. So if the landscaping or yard space that you have is ideal for your situation, you should think about how the overall look and feel of your property will change once your addition is finished.
If you’re wanting to build an addition onto your home, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you think through each part of this plan.
