As our families grow our home requirements can change. A new baby, or a parent coming to live with us can call for a larger home...
If you live in or near London, with space at a premium and very high property prices, it will probably be worth your while extending and improving your home rather than moving. Especially if you have garden space, an unused loft or garage, or a cellar, as all these offer huge potential for a convenient and financially viable home improvement.
Even a more expensive extension, for example digging under your home to create a basement space, may cost you less than moving to a bigger home in or near the capital city.
There is also stamp duty to think about, which increases with the purchase price of the property. Many homeowners are finding that the cost of extending their current home is working out less expensive than the amount of stamp duty that would be paid when moving.
The average London house price has now topped half a million pounds, placing these properties in the 4% stamp duty bracket and a home costing £500,001 will see the buyer pay £20,000 in stamp duty.
There are also estate agent fees, solicitor’s fees, and moving company costs to take into account, as you can easily run up tens of thousands of pounds in these professional expenses when moving house.
Here at Thames Design & Build we pride ourselves on helping our clients create their dream homes, with the minimum disruption. We can do everything from designing your improved home to getting your planning permission if required. Then we manage all building works, right through to handing over the end product - A home that works perfectly or you and your growing family!