Let’s face it, there are times when a remodel within your home’s existing square footage just won’t accomplish your goals. So what do you do when you love everything about your home and don’t want to go through the hassle of moving somewhere else? Home additions can be a great solution to add more square footage and help you stay in the home you love for a long time! If you’ve never considered this before, or haven’t spent a lot of time looking into it, we’re going to spend some time talking about when an addition might be a good solution, what types of additions to consider, and more!

When to Consider a Home Addition

Generally, with thoughtful design and high-quality construction, an addition is not often required, but there are times when it’s just the best solution! The primary reason for needing an addition is, simply, needing more square feet! Whether due to a growing family (we need more bedrooms and bathrooms!), expanded passions (we need a sun room or a game room), or the pursuit of a higher ROI (more square footage = higher home value when we sell), an addition can always get you where you want to go!

When space allows, we LOVE adding sprawling additions to your current home. Don’t forget: any time we’re increasing square footage, we’re just increasing value! We’ve added primary wings, second-primary wings or Mother-in-law wings, and “the kids wing” with smashing results, not only visually but really changing the flow of our clients’ lifestyles!

First Floor vs. Second Floor Additions

The next thing to consider is whether to build UP or build OUT. If your property lines will allow, we nearly always recommend building OUT, adding square footage to the first story of your home. This almost always provides the most value on resale, and is certainly more cost and time effective!

The funny thing about construction is how easy things seem to be in our imaginations when we’re not the one wielding the hammer. I remember once saying to dad, “We just want to put a second story on top. *Boink*, just like that!” And he patiently explained, “That’s a great idea! So what we’ll do is, first, remove the roof and decking. Then, we’ll need to remove all of the stick-framing that creates the roof. There’s a big chance we’ll also need to remove the single-story studs for the first story, too, and create some sturdy bracing that goes all the way from the foundation up to the second story. Then we’ll need to pull all the wiring…” and he went on and on and on until I realized how truly complicated this process would be. Lol. Not as simple as a the “*boink*” that I had imagined!

Home Additions and Remodels

Something to remember is that an addition will ALWAYS include a remodel as well. There will never be a day that the rest of your home goes untouched and we simply add a wing on one side. Without remodeling, the existing space and the addition would not look like they go together. For example, if you want to continue your floors into the new space, we have to rip up the old flooring, and anything on top of it, to ensure it looks nice and seamless together; like both spaces have always existed side-by-side!

For this reason, we always seriously consider additions when we’re already doing a whole-home remodel. It’s a “THIS IS THE TIME TO DO THIS” type of moment! Contrarily, when budget is a concern, we almost immediately nix the idea of an addition, and will be best served working in our existing square footage.

Timeline for a Home Addition

As far as timing, if an addition is properly scheduled and with some good weather on our side, we expect a home addition to generally take 4-6 extra weeks. We schedule most of our remodel projects to be between 8-12 weeks, so we would calculate a home addition at 12-18 weeks. In the case of our Locke Avenue project, where we remodeled the entire downstairs and completed 2 additions, we scheduled a full 6 months!

My best advice is first, listen to your interior designer. She will always be honest with you. And second, listen to your gut. Your designer will be honest and wise, but you know your situation better than anyone!

If you’re looking to start the conversation about your own home addition, reach out! We’d love to talk through that with you!

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