Expanding your home seems like a great opportunity to improve it. After all, you’ll have more space and more functionality when the general contractors Los Angeles CA are done. But this is only true if you perform your home additions well. You can’t just add rooms however and wherever you want. This greatly increases the risk of making home addition mistakes that cost a lot of time, money, and effort to fix later on. So when you start planning your home additions, it’s important to avoid these mistakes.
Orange County home addition mistakes to avoid
There are many different types of room additions Los Angeles that you might be considering for your home. You might opt for adding a new floor, a lateral extension, a bump-out, or even an outbuilding. All of these bring with them different challenges. But regardless of the type of addition you decide on, there are certain things you should never do.
#1 – Underestimating the cost of the project
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when planning an addition to your home is unfortunately also one of the most common ones: miscalculating your budget. It is crucial to accurately estimate how much the project will cost early on in the process. That way, you can set aside the money or take out a loan – either way, you’ll know you have enough to finish. If you make a mistake here, you might have to stall or even halt the project due to a lack of resources.
#2 – Not taking into account your existing infrastructure
Home additions are, as the name implies, added to your existing home. You can probably add a garage just about anywhere you have space without any issues. But if you’re adding a kitchen or a bathroom, you need to think about the piping, water lines, wiring, gas lines, etc. And if you’re adding a whole new floor, you may even need a framing contractor Los Angeles to ensure your home is sturdy after the expansion.
#3 – Not taking the time to plan ahead
You should never wing any construction project for a number of reasons:
- working without a plan means you can’t prepare your budget
- improvising often includes making a lot of mistakes which can be costly to repair
- your project may extend well past schedule if you keep changing things
- you don’t know what you’re going to end up with
So don’t just jump into a home addition. Take some time to sit down, go over all of your options, take your needs, wants, and capabilities into account, and properly plan the extension. You may even want to consult professionals at this stage.
#4 – Prioritizing form over function
It is, of course, important that anything you add to your home looks like it belongs. So you should definitely think about the aesthetics. But you mustn’t let appearances become more important than the functionality of the space. This is especially important when you’re adding a room like a bathroom or a kitchen which requires electricity, running water, drainage, and gas to fulfill their function – making sure you can actually use the rooms you add should be the priority. This will also affect where exactly you’re putting the new addition. An outdoor kitchen, for example, makes a lot of sense, especially if you like to organize gatherings for friends and family. But an outdoor bathroom not so much. So when you’re planning home additions, take your lifestyle into consideration as well.
#5 – Doing it all by yourself
There are many DIY home remodeling projects that you can invest time and effort in. You can, for example, repaint your walls or put up wallpaper. Or you can rejuvenate your bathroom and kitchen by painting over the cabinets. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can put up some interesting shelves. These are all great ideas to update your home easily and quickly without any help. But home additions are not a DIY project. They require a lot more skill and knowledge than painting walls and a lot more work than building shelves. So don’t risk it: look into construction companies in Orange County and find a suitable professional for the job.
#6 – Not matching the addition to the rest of the home
While it shouldn’t be more important than function, form is still an important aspect of your home addition. You don’t want it to stand out from the rest of the home like a sore thumb, especially if it’s a large addition that’s visible from the outside. If you have a Victorian-era home, don’t build a modern, all-glass extra floor and vice versa. You can get away with interior design that stands out – to a degree. But make sure that your new room(s) still feel like a part of your home.
#7 – Not considering local rules and regulations
Not every construction project requires a permit. But enough of them do that you really need to check before you start building anything. Contact the local building division of your county to find out which licenses (if any) you need to obtain and how. While most remodeling projects don’t require a permit, home additions might. Usually, anything that requires changes to the home’s blueprints requires a special license. Most home additions would fall under that category. So look into the local rules and regulations as a part of the planning process – building without a necessary permit can cost you a lot of money.
Don’t just avoid home addition mistakes – follow best practices for best results
Avoiding home addition mistakes is a good start. But it’s also the bare minimum. If you want your project to be successful, you don’t want to do just the bare minimum – you want to do the best you can. So start by consulting and hiring a good contractor. Check out their reviews and ask for an estimate before signing a contract. Then talk to them about your project and make a detailed plan with them – one that includes building plans, a budget, and a schedule. Professionals will guide you through the process so you don’t have to worry about anything.