Do-up or do-over?

One question that we get asked time and again is whether it’s best to extend a bungalow upwards or knock it down and start from fresh. Frame Technologies MD, Simon Orrells explains why the obvious option isn’t necessarily the right one.

Building your own home can come in many guises. It might be a traditional case of buying a plot and starting from scratch, but often, especially with limited land options, self-builders opt to buy an existing structure – either through Class Q or a bungalow, then build their dream home around it.

In some ways, buying an existing structure makes things easier, as the plot can be easier to come by, quicker to purchase and services are already in place, saving time and money.

Extension challenges

More often than not, we find clients who opt to buy a ‘doer-upper’, come to us with the assumption that they need to shoehorn their own design into the existing parameters of the structure – so for a bungalow, that means extending up and out.

However, this can be very limiting, as you try to make an existing footprint suit your needs. Plus, extensions bring their own specific challenges.

Extending up is one thing, but extending out can be tricky because of differential movement. The extension will settle differently, and the new part of the house will react differently – it won’t heat the same or feel the same, and it can be time-consuming to bring it all together.

The existing part of the home may also need a lot of work. For example, the windows often need totally replacing; sometimes it needs a new internal layout; new openings might need to be punched into the existing structure; the new external structure will need to be overclad to match the design… the list goes on!

Depending on when it was built, you might also find that the older part of your house was made from leaky fabric, which will make it much harder to create an energy-efficient building – costing you much more in energy bills for the lifetime of your home.

And don’t forget, you can’t claim VAT back on a refurbishment.

Blank canvas

While it might seem like a quicker and cheaper job to improve on an existing structure, the reality is it can be more cost-effective to knock down the original and build a better house that perfectly suits your needs.

This process is often quicker, costs less money, results in a house that is worth more at the end, and you get the VAT back. Plus, you get to start with a totally blank canvas, not restrained by existing layouts, footprints or fabric.

The reason people automatically assume they need to work around the existing home is that there’s a belief that it’s cheaper to refurbish an existing home rather than knock it down and build new. But, it’s actually not as cost-effective to refurbish and extend as many would have you believe. And you’re not getting half a house ‘for free’.

Along with the structure itself, there are extra costs to consider – for example, labour is expensive these days – and the price is continuing to increase. So, the more you can have built offsite and the more control you have, the better.

Plus, you get an instant 20% saving, as building a new home is zero VAT rated, while you pay VAT on an extension/refurbishment. So, when costing up both options, keep in mind that building new will save one fifth of the build cost.

Know your options

The first step to determine the best route for your individual project is to seek advice from a range of experts. It’s worth talking to your super structure partner at an early stage to determine all the full options, and to make sure you’re not getting the basic, conventional answers, when in fact, it might be much better to knock down and start fresh. And remember, you can always build your new home in stages to help your budget.

Self-build is never easy – if it was, everybody would do it! But the result is more than worth the effort. Sometimes, you need to slow it down and pick your way through the journey. It’s understandable to want to get started and take what seems like the obvious and quickest route, but you need to make sure you do it the right way for you, and at the best cost.

I like to tell my clients, ‘you can’t do what you’ve always done, or you’ll always end up with what you always did’. In other words – sometimes, you need to think outside of the box to make something better. And when it comes to refurb or redraw, the options are so much wider when you start afresh.

For a real life example, take a look at the Fourways case study, where homeowners Stephen and Dawn found that the existing home on their plot would require extensive interior and exterior renovation work to bring it up to date to meet the modern expectations of a sustainable home. They made the decision to demolish the existing home and self-build a property to their ideal specifications using a two-phase approach. The result is spectacular!

If you’d like to know more about using timber frame to create your dream home – either from fresh or with an extension, contact us today.