Construction project, whether house extension, loft conversion or remodelling an existing layout doesn’t have to be stressful and daunting task if you ask yourself the right questions and prepare accordingly. It’s a common practice, that, when embarking on any property related designs, people have some very general ideas and visions , but struggle with implementation of them , therefore before commencement, they should ask themselves few questions
1. What I would like to achieve when adding e.g. extension- enlarging footprint/ new space, change the floor plan, improving the use of the space or maybe increasing the property value
2. How long am I going to live in that property.This is really important question if you have a clear plan for the future and consider to purchase new property in the upcoming years
3. How much time I’m willing to spend on the project i.e. not only how much time the building part will take, but more importantly, how much time I’m willing to dedicate myself to get the best result
4. How complex is the project and whether this is something I could potentially handle myself or maybe I should seek and assistance from professional such as architects, interior designer or various consultants.This is especially important when permitted development is an option as it may lead to very costly mistake, which could have been avoided if planning permission route was implemented since building regulations can often be complicated and comprehensive.
5. Am I going to commission everything to one builder or building company versus cherry pick various trades myself ? The former is quite often more expensive, however the latter requires more confidence in your own knowledge and experience as well as time spend.
6. Once all of the above are answered you should know what kind of budget to allocate.It’s worth to emphasize, that a contingency funds should always be set aside and that one should have some alternative plans i.e. what parts of the project are absolutely a must and which ones you’re willing to sacrifice.Quite often people split bigger projects into separate phases e.g. they do the rear or side extension first and in the few years time they will do loft.
Other key factors
Apart from the core factors mentioned above, we should also take into account things like market conditions, state of economy , tradesman availability, local authority restrictions and any other peculiar pre-requisites. These are the items that we have very little control of, nevertheless they can have huge impact on our project. They would require careful extrapolation and extra funding if not addressed in advanced.In the worst case scenario, they can even delay or stop the project, therefore one should always seek a professional advice, but what we see, is people looking at that like on the money wasted rather the money wisely invested. Good home improvement project always start with good planning as this will significantly reduce all sorts of risk associated with construction and by planning I do not mean only legal aspects like party wall agreement, planning permission, permitted development rights etc but also considering various scenarios , from the most optimistic one to the worst case ones as then the construction part could be an easiest bit of the whole process.
