7 Questions to Ask Before Building an Addition
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What problems do you want to solve? Your contractor can help guide you to the best, most cost-effective solution. For example, a remodel or a bump-out may provide you with the room you want at less cost than a complete addition.
Will your addition conform to legal restrictions about setbacks, height, historic preservation and other local regulations?
Have you kept the architectural style of your home in mind? For the best results, choose a roofline, materials and orientation that blend with your home even if they don’t mimic the original style entirely.
Is the scale of the addition appropriate? Will it dwarf the original house because it is so large? Will the addition turn your home into the largest, most expensive house in the neighborhood? If so, you are unlikely to recover the costs of the addition when you sell.
Are you prepared for the long-term costs of an addition: increases in heating, maintenance and cooling costs and in property taxes? Some of these costs may be offset if the addition provides an opportunity to upgrade the energy efficiency of your home and increases the resale value, as well as your immediate comfort.
Are you prepared for the stress of building an addition, including the noise and irritation of having a construction team working for weeks or months on your house?
Do you know how to find the right people for the job? An addition requires design, demolition work (to connect the new space to the old), foundation, electrical and possibly plumbing work; you need a team that works well together.
WORKS by Jesse DeBenedictis is a licensed contractor with an expert team already in place. We help homeowners with answers to their most pressing questions, provide information and techniques based on our past experience building additions to North Shore homes, deal with local permitting agencies and meet the needs of homeowners before, during and after construction.
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