Building a home extension in Australia can be quite involved.
There are several key things to consider before deciding if you should build an extension to your home.
Starting with the design stage, then planning and building approval, choosing the right builder for the job, material choices and costs.
Before starting you should fully consider if the extension is worthwhile or if, perhaps, you would be better off moving to a new home if you need larger living areas.
Things to consider are: Are you happy living in your current neighbourhood? Do you get on well with others living on your street? Are you children attending the local school? How easy is it for the kids to get to school or for you to get to work from a new property you are considering? Adding an extension to your home will increase the value of your property.
However is the money invested in the extension going to add the same amount of value to your home? How will you finance the building work? Will you have to remortgage the house? How much money do you have to invest and do you have a contingency plan if you go over budget? What would happen if you became sick, or lost your job or had some other unexpected complication in the middle of the building project? Will you still be able to make the payments as per the building contract? Where are you going to stay while the home is being renovated? Consider motel bills and storage costs for furniture and other items.
In many cases building a home extension will actually be cheaper than relocating to another property.
One of the major expenses in relocating are the estate agents fees which can run at over $10,000 in many cases - after their commissions have been paid and stamp duty added.
When relocating and moving up the property ladder many people are forced to remortgage their home, this of course means higher monthly payments.
Other significant costs involve removal costs and making the new home more liveable for your family - like buying new furniture and redecorating the new property.