Want An Addition? Here Are Things To Think About Before You Start Construction

We want to put an addition on our home, add a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom.

What should we be concerned about when we go for our drawings and building permits?

There are several things that you should be worried about when you want to put an addition on your existing home;

1. Lot coverage. You are only allowed to cover a certain percentage of your property. The bigger the property the larger your footprint can be (the size of the addition and the home can be larger). 
2. Distance from the lot lines. You have to be a certain distance from your property lines, depending on where you are building will tell you the distance you will be required to stay back.
3. How the addition will tie into the existing home. One of the biggest problems that your designer will face is how to successfully tie the addition into the existing home so that it not only looks good but also so it functions properly as a home.
4. Since you are adding a bathroom if you are on a septic system you will probably have to go through a septic review. This will mean comparing the existing septic system to what is required with your added square footage and extra bathroom. Depending on the age of the septic you could be looking at having to install a brand new system to get your building permit and that can be expensive.
5. Depending on were you live you might be in a community that has design restrictions that will hamper addition design efforts.
6. Worry more about how the addition is laid out for usability and flow for your family and less about the actual square footage. A lot of people get a number in their head for square footage instead of space uses and what will be used for what. You can end up spending a lot of money on square footage that you don't require or square footage that doesn't work well for you and your family. 

The designing and building of an addition is not something to be taken lightly. Done right and it can be hard to tell that the house ever had an addition added to it, done wrong and it can be something that can not only disrupt the flow and function of the home but actually hurt the resale value of it going forward.

Make sure that you are satisfied with the design and the layout of the addition before you approve the final drawings. If you need to take a little longer to get the drawings right then do so, its better to wait for the right drawings then to end up with something that you don't want or cannot use.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.