Extension Advice/Opinions/Feedback Please!

Hi,

We were recently planning to build but after finding our perfect design, researching the land available here (>500sqm blocks 22k from CBD for $330k) and finding all the extra costs we realised it was out of our reach financially (would have ended up $600k+).

We currently own a 70's 3x1 on 683sqm 18km from Perth CBD. Its an average suburb bordered by a cheap suburb on one side (average $300k houses) and a more desirable suburb on the other (average $600-$700k houses). It's 5 min drive to train station and we are walking distance to an average primary and secondary school. Although our house is feeling too small for 2 adults (husband working from home), a toddler, baby and 2 dogs, we actually like our house and love the culd-e-sac and neighbours. We've made improvements over the 5 years we've been here to get the outdoor entertaining and other things how we like.

We considered "upgrading" to a larger but not better house but feel like that would be throwing 30k away in transaction costs. Also all the builders we've had in have commented how well built it is and who knows about the house we would move to.

So, we've had some quotes for a granny flat type extension (skillon colourbond roof, stud walls, render look front) and although we plan to stay for a long time if we go ahead, we're worried about recouping costs IF we need to sell for some reason. Our house is currently valued around $370k.

So this is our current floorplan:



This is in relation to our block:



First we thought just add two rooms for space, this came back at $60k which we thought was a lot for not even brick and tile, but we've found b&t would add another $40k to the cost. We also discovered the new gable double carport would cost $15k because we would have to upgrade to underground power (due to the where our distrubution line is). So all up $75k for this option below.



Then we thought if we were committing to that much money, maybe we should go ahead and add a bathroom? We're coping fine with one bathroom/toilet at the moment but when the girls are older it would be good to have and we might want to move away from their end of the house and use the large room as the new master. The second bathroom would need two doors though because it would be an office/gamer room for the first 10 years.
This would make the whole extension $95k, but I would expect a 4x2 would be much more valuable for resale than a 4x1...

[/url]

If I was going to stay in the house for 20 years I would also want to add a door from living area to outside (currently have to go through laundry) which is about $3k. Possibly knock down the living room wall ($6-$8k) and the kitchen would need an upgrade at some point ($20k). These could all wait 10 years though and dont have to be done straight away.



So I guess I'm after opinions (and also any feed back on the possible design).

Would it be mad to spend that kind of money on an older house that isnt a sought after suburb? If we spent $100k but had to sell 5 years down the track, do you think we would recoup much of it?

Well without seeing your plan options on a site plan, it looks as though you're intending to build your extension up to the boundary? Have you checked your setback requirements? An existing car port that goes to your boundary can not necessarily be replaced with habitable rooms occupying the same space.

A cheap extension won't add significant value to the home. Investing money extending a house this way with a view to sell in 5 years won't give you a good return on the money spent.

If you like your neighbours, the location and your area have you considered knocking down the old house and building a new one on your block?

Thanks for your reply bluesuede.

Unfortunately a knockdown/rebuild is off the table for the same reason building was - too expensive. We can just manage an extra $100k on our mortgage but not an additional $300k.

Obviously our view wouldn't be to sell in 5 years or anytime soon, but we all know situations can change unexpectedly and I guess I'm trying to work out how much money would we lose if we had to sell...30% of what we spent? 70%?

We've checked and we can be 1m from the boundary if there are no proper windows (only highlight to the bathroom), so that's what we've allowed for.

Hi J45,

We are in a similar boat - extend or KDR. We are in Sydney though.

I just looked at your post and would like to know if you did those drawings yourself.
Also, how did you superimpose the plan on Google maps

Thanks.

Sydney-build, I used Microsoft Visio for the drawings and superimposed the plan with a freeware program called GIMP.

Sounds like you need to decide if you're going to stay there and for how long. I like the new plan except the home office might not get much light with the carport. Well done on the pic's.

That wall gets a lot of the western sun so we're happy to trade off some light to block some of the summer heat. For a 4x4m room I wonder if 2 interior lights would be overkill....

Thank you J54. I'll check them out.