Improving Your Home: What Gives Your Property Real Value?

The home improvement market can be overwhelming, especially when trying to figure out what solutions improve your home, and what will ultimately be a waste of time and money. If you understand what to spend money on to improve your home, and what to simply avoid, you will be saving money and putting value on your property.

Garage Conversions: More Living Space on a Budget

If you want more space in your home, why not use the garage? A garage conversion will provide real living space to your home, a more useful and successful than the garage ever was. Since you will be turning the existing structure into a useful space, and already have all the most important components of a room, and services for the garage, the most you will have to do is get Building Regs Approval and then get to work.

The most important consideration is space planning. It could be a play area, home office, or bedroom; if you have a teenager, perhaps they would like a unit to themselves. However, if you are hoping for an area to socialise with and add to an existing lounge, it may feel a bit isolated and odd.

People don’t appreciate the importance of insulation. Garage walls and doors aren’t built the same way that house walls are. Without enough insulation and heating, the space will be very cold in the winter and very hot in the summertime. You’ll likely want to change that garage door out with a proper wall and window to keep the appearance of the space a garage and nothing else.

Consider parking too. If you’re in a neighborhood where everyone parks on their driveway, losing that space can be a bigger inconvenience than the extra room can be worth. If your parking situation is on the street anyway, it isn’t as big of a deal.

Driveways that Last

A drive that lasts will add value to the house and is convenient, but it has to be done right. Specifically, the surface choice won’t matter as much as the preparation that goes on underneath. Regardless if you go with block paving, tarmac, gravel, or resin-bound surface, they’ll all be a disappointment if the base isn’t solid.

When looking to add some driveway features to your property there’s several options you must consider. Starting off driveways built with blocks are a classic option. They can be really cheap, depending on your design, and you can always remove and replace single blocks if any are damaged. However, they are by no means the easiest to take care of. They take a lot of work to keep clean by re-sanding joints and litter and in the long run can let weeds grow overt they finish, therefore ruining the entire thing.

Tarmac driveways have the highest functionality and most moderate cost out of the options to consider. They are also the most plain looking, lacking the design features that block driveways have. Stuff, finding a quality facilitator to lay your tarmac is really important , because there are lots of people that dont really know what they are doing.

Another option is a resin-bound driveway. They are the most popular out of the options and their reputation is for a good reason. They have the best design features and are the most affordable compared to the other options. They also are permeable and hold ground in place. However, they are also the most expensive, and are not completely maintenance free. They will net some stains and will have to be cleaned everynmoce in a while to keep looking the best.

No matter what floor you decide on, consider drainage first. You don’t want your driveway flushing water onto the pavement and, even worse, into your neighbor’s yard. Good drainage could require the installation of soakaways or edge channels. It’s the most boring part of driveway installation, but it’s the most crucial.

Extensions: When It Makes Sense, and When It Doesn’t

Extensions are expensive and unsettling. Before you start drawing plans, think hard about whether you really want more space, or whether you could use the space you Have more effectively. Sometimes, a good architect can show you how to configure what you have and save you the cost and hassle of building.

If you do need more space, single-story rear extensions are usually simple and often do not require planning permission under permitted development rules. They work well for extending kitchens and creating open-plan living areas. Two-story extensions are more complex, and more expensive, but they give you considerably more space.

Side extensions can be more complex, however, due to planning regulations to do with space around properties. Loft conversions tend to give you better return on investment also, if you have the headroom and your roof structure is suitable. They are less disruptive than ground floor building work too.

Using rock-bottom materials, basic building costs in the UK are £1500-2500 per square m, assuming there are no problems. Fixtures like high-quality bi-fold windows and underfloor heating become expensive quickly. Expect 20% more like your builder predicted, because there will be issues.

Kerb appealing projects

It flies off the market with a fresh, attractive first impression. Neat front gardens with good lighting and a new door or freshly painted exterior will do the job. With a small investment, it’s a simple way to improve your property, and selling quicker or at a higher price will cover your costs.

Garage roller doors are a great way to update and improve a dated garage door. They are neater, offer more headroom, and are more secure than the dated up-and-over doors. Upgrading the door is a quick, noticeable improvement like when you are keeping the garage.

ROI reality check

Not all the changes you want will give you a good return. Elaborate features like high-end cinemas, pools, and custom water features are lifestyle choices. They market to a smaller audience and turn off buyers who are not looking for your same vision.

When figuring out how to improve a property in a value-adding way, the areas to target tend to be the addition of bathrooms (ideally in the form of an en-suite, in addition to a main bathroom), making more of the home functional/usable ( garage conversions, loft extensions, etc.), modernisng the kitchen and bathrooms, improving storage, and making the home more energy efficient (and therefore, more efficient to run) and is a little less boring than it sounds.

Planning Your Approach

Always start with a clear idea of where to start when considering improvements. If intending to stay for x amount of years, do what you are wanting to do. If considering doing improvements in a home you plan to sell in less than 5 years, focus on improvements that very obviously add value and ones that appeal to the most number of potential buyers.

Always get proper quotes from several (maybe even 3) tradespeople. The lowest price does not mean it is the best value. You get what you pay for, and with the highest quotes, that does not mean they are the most reputable. Ask to see recent work, get references (even check to see if their references are real), and don\\’t make any large deposits up front, as these end up leading to a lot of problems.