Three Big “No No’s” for Home Additions

There are so many reasons to spend the money on your Texas Hill Country home addition: the kids are growing up and need their own space; an aging parent is moving in and you’d like to provide a little privacy while keeping them close by; or it’s time to create the master retreat you’ve always dreamed of. We’ve compiled a list of a few “Don’t’s” to help your project go smoothly, no matter what your reason for the home addition.

Don’t Spread the Work Around

Often times homeowners have a friend or acquaintance that has offered to complete a portion of the project at a discount. We have also encountered the occasion when the homeowner wants to hire all of the various contractors themselves. While you, as the homeowner, are in complete control of how you spend your hard earned money on your home project, we recommend going another direction with the management of your project. Timelines are key to ensuring completion and maintaining the budget and, unless general contracting is your profession, we guarantee you’ll become overwhelmed.

Don’t Cut Structural Corners in Favor of Finishes

Okay, let’s be honest, rewiring for electrical outlets, or putting in a support beam is a lot less fun than the beautiful hard wood flooring and light fixtures that everyone will see. While numerous structural upgrades might be recommended, not all will be necessary to ensure the addition is up to code. As an example, raising the floor to be level with the rest of the home might not be structurally necessary and might only affect the aesthetic of home. However, this could have an affect on the value of the home, should you want to sell in the future. Some aspects of changing a previous space (such as a garage) into a livable room, should be viewed as necessary for potential buyers.

Don’t Assume There Will be an Increase to Property Value

So many of our remodels offer our homeowners a sizeable increase in the value of their home upon completion. However, this may not always be the case for a number of reasons. Most of the time, we find that this increase does not occur when the remodel (and in this instance, a home addition) subsequently prices the home out of the market for their neighborhood. So, we recommend reaching out to a realtor, viewing homes for sale nearby on real estate websites, or taking a tour of homes with similar additions. This will provide a good baseline for the budget and possible property value increases.

With all the things you should avoid when planning a home addition, we’d like to leave you with one important thing you should do.

Do hire a general contractor, and preferably, MM&I Remodeling, to oversee and manage the project for your home addition. As we mentioned before, these projects require a lot of moving parts: coordinating crews, managing timelines, ordering materials and working with companies to ensure their timely (and accurate delivery). There is considerably more to add to that list, as well but suffice it to say, we would be there to ensure that burden does not fall on your shoulders. As always, we are dedicated to giving our clients (past, present and future) the best experience possible in every way.