Expanding your home in Sydney is a fantastic way to create more space for a growing family if you love where you live.
And once you factor in the costs of moving versus the potential increase to your home’s value after a major renovation, it can also make financial sense.
If you are beginning the journey of looking into how you might expand your home, here’s a checklist of the key things to do early on to ensure your project moves forward on firm foundations.
Planning a home renovation should be exciting, but you don’t want to get too far down the track, only to discover that the ideas you fell in love with were never possible because of something you overlooked at the start.
1. Early Check with Your Local Council
Contacting your Local Council to check some basic information about your home’s zoning and land use should give you an early indication whether there are any restrictions specific to your property, for example:
- Are you in a heritage-listed or conservation area, or is there a local heritage item linked to your home?
- If you are looking to create a multi-generational home, are there dual occupancy rules specific to your Local Council?
Even with restrictions, you may be able to go ahead with a renovation, but knowing this information as early as possible will help your initial discussions with a designer, architect or design and construct builder.
When you bought your home, you should have received one or more Section 149 certificates with the zoning information related to your property, how the property may be used and any restrictions on development that may apply, but it is possible that rezoning has occurred since your purchase so checking is important.
If there are any issues that may complicate getting approval, some councils offer a ‘Pre DA’ meeting where you can sit down with a planner to discuss whether or how you can proceed with a Development Application (DA), but note that this is often a fee-based service.
2. Working Out Your Finances & Budget
A major renovation is likely to be the second biggest purchase of your life next to buying your home.
You may have considerable savings, but for most people, home alterations require extra finance, and if so, you should start a conversation with your lender if you think you’ll need to borrow to finance your expansion.
It might also be a good time to look at whether you can combine the building work with finding a better deal with another lender if you aren’t completely certain you have the best possible loan.
Knowing the total amount of finance available is an important first step, and from that you can assign a maximum budget that should include a 15-20% contingency.
It’s also a good idea to talk with a local real estate agent to get their advice on the likely uplift in your property’s value should you expand the number of rooms or add another floor. Whilst many homeowners aren’t looking to sell after renovating, this information will be useful when talking to a lender.
3. Talk With Your Neighbours
There’s a good chance that one of the reasons you love where you live and want to renovate your current home is because you get on with your neighbours, so it makes sense to talk with them about your plans to expand.
If, eventually, you put in a Development Application with your council, your neighbours will be allowed to give their feedback.
In our experience, they will be far more likely to be constructive if you have already discussed your renovation, rather than your council’s notification of a DA being the first they hear about it.
Down the track, during the building work itself, you might need your neighbour’s help, for example if your builder can save time by accessing a part of your home via their property.
From start to finish, the whole tone of any conversation is likely to be improved by keeping your neighbours onside and making them feel consulted and valued.
4. Talk With ‘The Trade’
Sydney’s renovation boom really started in earnest almost 50 years ago when specialist builders like Addbuild began concentrating on home additions and extensions, coinciding with homeowners realising that expanding their home was often better than selling and buying bigger.
There is now an established group of builders who have been in the trade for years and have a wealth of experience of every type of renovation of every type of Sydney home.
These companies often provide an array of services as a package that not only saves your time and money, they also provide other key advantages, for example:
- Offering design services means that as well as using a design based on specific and specialist expertise, the plans created are also used for building work, whereas architect plans often have to be redrawn for the construction phase.
- Advising you how your project might qualify as a Complying Development can save weeks going through your Local Council compared to lodging a Development Application.
- Understanding how to build so that you can stay in your home during construction can save you a substantial amount in renting accommodation.
So, as well as asking friends, family and neighbours for recommendations of good builders, look at Sydney’s established contractors. The ones that have withstood the recent challenges of COVID, material supply shortages, price increases, and labour shortages, not only know what they are doing, they will have a wealth of experience to share with you.
Looking to Expand Your Home?
If the above advice has inspired you into action, we’d also love you to consider talking to Addbuild.
As one of Sydney’s longest standing design and construct builders with more than 40 years specialising in home additions and extensions, Addbuild can help you plan and execute your major renovation with a level of expertise few can match.
Call our office on (02) 8765 1555 or send us a message using our contact form if outside of office hours.
If you are still researching, have a look at our blog, consumer guide to home improvement and masterclass to get further ideas about every aspect of renovating your home.
