Do Double storey extensions majorly increase equity ?

[yogadeb]

I'm looking for advice from anyone who's done one or knows about them but I do have some estate agents coming round too to get potential valuations .

We have a 3 bed semi detached house with a huge garden in a sought after area and we are looking at ways to increase our equity then to move on or even stay here if we love it ( we're unsure ATM) .my hubby is thinking of getting PP and going ahead with a 4x5 meter double storey extension on the side of the house to give us a seperate kitchen with by folding doors or French doors into the garden and a window and side door going onto the garden ( we have a kitchen diner ATM ) this would make our dining room huge ( old kitchen/diner ) and we would build a large bedroom upstairs with a ensuite and a few windows .

We estimate it will cost around 60-70 k ? All in with a fairly good spec.

However how much percentage in value could it add onto our house ? We live in Hertfordshire ( 28 miles north of London ) not sure if the stress would be worth it?

Anyone's experience of doing double extensions , was it a nightmare? Did you keep to budget?

Thanks in advance .

[jo williams]

Hopefully someone will answer soon, as I'm also doing the same and also live in Hertfordshire x

[olgaandcoda]

We did our three bed semi about 8 years ago, now have large kitchen diner and five beds. DH did all the work himself, he's a builder, but still cost a lot for materials. Double storey to the side and extended the back and existing bedrooms. House values are going up all the time here, but we have probably tripled the house value. Not that we are selling. The house was untouched for many years by the previous owners, so we knew we had to gut it and start over. We did it to make a lovely home, but obviously the price has gone up too. Large garden too, so didn't impact on the size of that.
Do it to live in, any equity is good, but enjoy the building once finished. Mess was kept to a minimum, as DH built the extension and kept the original house intact until he had to break through walls etc.

[tinks75]

We added a two storey extension about 10 years ago. We added an en suite bedroom, garage and utility room. I don't think we will have recouped the money we spent yet. But we built it for us to live in and don't plan on moving so it's not really an issue for us. Think you need to weigh up the properties of that size in the local area and how much they are selling for and what kind of location they are in.

[olgaandcoda]

Prices here are so different, we have easily recouped the cost of the work and will benefit when we sell. But have a large house to enjoy now.

[danisleigh]

We looked at extending our old 3 bed semi but were advised that we wouldn't recoup the money we would spend so in January we moved to a 4 bed detached. We wouldn't have gained a bedroom though it just would have made the existing ones bigger and added an ensuite and downstairs instead of the huge conservatory we had we would have extended the kitchen diner and gained a utility and downstairs loo.

[Guest]

It depends very much on the 'ceiling' value of your area... If other houses the same size are selling at a higher figure than your current property value plus the cost to extend then yes you will have equity in it. If the cost is less then it's probably best to not overdevelop the house (as in not to go over the ceiling price)
It is generally cheaper to extend than to move, but I would only ever suggest spending more than you would get back if you absolutely love the area and would not want to move away.
Get the feedback from the estate agents and take it from there... I run a development company so hope this helps a little xx

[loobz]

we had an extension last year - it's not the basic cost of the extension (ours came in on budget) but it's all the extra things that are adding up (such as extra furniture, new flooring, new kitchen, paint, wallpaper, tiles and so on). It was a huge hassle at the time and at one point all 4 of us were sleeping in the lounge downstairs on mattresses. Now that it's done I'm really glad we did it but had I known just how much of a struggle it would have been at times we may have just moved (and we said that many times throughout the work being done!).

Not sure about value as we've still a lot to do (garden landscaping and front driveway, ew front door and garage door) before we can get it valued. However, we did the work to make the house what we wanted so we aren't looking to move - that's the main advantage of extending over moving - you get exactly what you want without having to compromise.

[CrispyA]

We did a 3 storey extension a few years ago - built out to the side and converted the attic at the same time. It cost around £60K and the mess and stress was awful at the time but I'm so glad we did it. We now have 4 big bedrooms, including one with en suite, 1 study/single room garage, utility and downstairs loo. I've no idea about how much it has increased the value of the house by but it has given us the space to live comfortably in our house and that's why we did it.

[yogadeb]

Thanks for all replies .
We've had 2 estate agents round today and potentially value it and have came to the conclusion it would not be worth it in our area though we would get the money back it will cost most likely but wouldn't offer a profit as such as there's a limit to what people will pay for a semi in this area even with 4 beds .

So we won't be doing one .

Thanks again .