Like most things today, a home extension costs money. According to HomeAdvisor, adding a spare room can cost you at least $35,000 and possibly more, depending on your customization fixtures. While the figures can be frightening, it is not all doom and gloom for your extension dream if you don't have big pockets. Below are four smart budget ideas you may find useful to complete your home extension project.
Create your own design before calling the architect
The most expensive part of hiring an architect is not knowing what you want. The architect can help create a design, factoring in your feedback and then redrawing at least a few times to give a blueprint. However, all these aren't free, and you'll pay for them. Therefore, before hiring the architect, having your preferred design in hand can save you all the back and forth and associated costs. You can use free or cheap online software to design before engaging the architect. Spend some time figuring out how to utilize it, measure your current home, and sketch an exact drawing of it. Then consider how you may alter it by creating an extension.
Carefully plan your extension size
Settling for a smaller extension is no guarantee you will spend less. Every project has an economy of scale, so you may have to find a balance somewhere in the middle to achieve the most value for every square foot. Apart from site setup, there are other ongoing costs for each job, including scaffolding, insurance, skips, and so on. Experts say that the smaller the task, the greater these are as a proportion. However, carefully planning your extension size can help you find a sweet spot where the task is large enough to create efficiently yet not so difficult and time-consuming if it goes the other way.
Understand your own capabilities
If you are a busy person who is not particularly handy with your hands, save yourself the trouble and get some pros for your extension projects. If you are skilled at DIY and have the time, plan your building project such that you can accomplish as much as possible yourself. You can save some good cash DIYing at least some of the projects.
Don't be too eager to spend on supplies and services
Some contractors may charge you a markup on all supplies purchased for your job. You can limit their capacity to do so by paying the vendors directly. However, this is not always practical since many suppliers may pay a rebate (commission) to the developer instead of charging you a little lower price in the first place. While it is hard to eliminate these unethical tactics, be cautious, compare rates wherever feasible, and look for better deals from other vendors. There are a few online resources to get quality project supplies; you can find them with little research. For instance, professionals on ArchiPro can assist you with the most cost-effective building and constructing products.
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