How to Draw Up Home Addition Plans

If you lot want to plan your offset dwelling house addition, this article is an excellent place to start. I'yard going to teach you some things that you probably haven't thought well-nigh. We will talk near:

1. Prioritizing the important items
2. Hidden costs and how to get around some
3. Sizing your addition
4. When you should hire an architect versus a architect
5. Some common means people get off the rails with their original budget

When you are through with this article, you lot should be in a much better position to speak to a contractor or architect about your project.

Everything's a Problem to Exist Solved

You accept a problem. For argument'due south sake, let'south presume an improver to your home will solve your problem(south). To plan a proper solution nosotros need to define exactly what the specific bug are. Typically, deficiency problems with ane's domicile fall into six categories (with some overlap between them):

1. Living space (common areas, living rooms, dining rooms)
2. Sleeping space (bedrooms, guest rooms)
3. Comfort & Convenience (bathrooms, laundry rooms, storage)
4. Cooking
5. Function & Period
6. Business (Office space, rental income, resale value)

Your outset gild of business is to define your problems and write them out. Near dwelling house bug can exist solved. When you conspicuously define them, you can go more than focused on achieving your goals.

Hither are some example issues you might jot downwards:

1. Kitchen storage space is inadequate
2. Tin't see my children playing in the thousand when I'm cooking
3. The distance betwixt the dining area and kitchen feels likewise far and disconnected from family unit and guests
4. The kitchen flooring is cold in the wintertime and the natural lite is terrible
5. We detest having to go down to the basement to do our laundry
6. We need a invitee room on the first floor with easy access to a bathroom so elderly parents are comfortable

Needs Versus Wants

You should develop a list of needs and a list of wants. Unless money is no object for you, if you're like nearly of us, information technology's good to wish, just it's of import to exist in reality.

This footstep will help guide your decision-making so that you don't go over budget on things you don't really "need."

Example listing of "needs for an office addition W/ bathroom and laundry surface area:

1. Needs to have separate outside entrance as well as access from inside of the house
2. Needs to accept concealed space for stackable washer/ dryer
3. Needs to have hardwood floors
4. Needs to have ample natural light
5. Needs to have a carve up heating zone
6. Needs to accept aplenty dissonance insulation from adjacent rooms
7. Needs to function equally a guest bedroom as a secondary use
8. Needs to allow for easy laundry room access from inside the house

Instance listing of "wants" for an office addition W/ bath and laundry area:

1. Want skylight for added light
2. Want oak wood flooring
3. Want recessed lighting
4. Want porcelain tile in the bathroom
5. Want 12-foot ceilings
6. Want a divide shower and tub
7. Want claw foot cast iron tub
8. Want recessed cutouts in sheetrock for plants and decorative items
9. Want triple-pane glass windows
10. Want an externally mounted A/C unit of measurement (non window mounted)

You can run across how important it is to identify your wants versus your needs considering once you commencement putting numbers on these items, it becomes a dissimilar brawl game. Doing this kind of soul-searching beforehand makes the determination process much easier.

How Big Should My Addition Exist?

In one case you are clear on the problems needing to exist solved and what your wants versus your needs are, an architect tin aid you get clear on the amount of infinite you need to solve your issues within your budget.

Though you may be articulate on whether you want to build out or build up (calculation a story), an architect may also exist able to add together perspective that y'all may non have considered. This planning phase tin can exist worth every penny when you lot are working with someone skilled.

Subconscious costs to consider when planning an add-on:

Permit Costs:
The cost of your let is based on the square footage of your addition. This fee is relatively small compared to the overall cost of the renovation.

Septic Tank Size:
Calculation more than "bedrooms" ways your septic tank will have to be rated to handle the actress chapters. Yes, the size of your septic tank is no just dictated by the number of bathrooms and fixtures, only besides the number of bedrooms. For case, a 2 sleeping accommodation house assumes iv occupants, and a three bedroom home, assumes half dozen occupants.

Holding Taxes:
More bedrooms could raise your property taxes. The taxman volition want a piece. Sad but truthful.

Pro Tip:
More than "bedrooms," may not be an option for you based on the size of your septic tank and leach field. However, there may be a way around that. Perhaps you could designate a room as true role space and prepare information technology up with a sleeper sofa or Tater bed. Once the project is completed, there is no 1 that can tell you lot (ahem) that yous can't use a room in your home as a guest bedroom if y'all wanted to.

Practice I Contact a Architect or an Builder Commencement?

Even if you are building your addition yourself, you will demand a blueprint for the work to be done. Not but will you demand this as a structure guide, but you lot will too demand this to obtain a let from your local building department. You can't just shoot from the hip and build it, at least not if y'all're going to follow zoning and allow regulations.

If y'all programme to do the construction yourself, then you need to get in touch with an architect to have some plans drawn up. Once the plans are drawn, you'll need an engineer'south stamp of approval. Most architects work closely with engineers who will approve their drawings then you'll become both the plans and the engineer's stamp in one packet.

If you are not a DIY (do it yourself) type, then you demand to decide if you volition engage an architect or a builder kickoff.

And that is an interesting dilemma …

An architect will nearly always tell you it's improve to contact an architect kickoff, simply a builder will tell yous the consummate opposite. Imagine that?

The thing is, once the plans are drawn up, the architect is ordinarily out of the equation unless something comes up that needs to be clarified or changed. So the corporeality of time you actually spend with your architect when edifice an addition pales in comparison to the amount of fourth dimension yous could potentially spend with your builder, who will be on-site with you daily and potentially down the route after completion.

With this in heed, when planning an improver for your dwelling house, i could contend that it would be a improve idea to source your architect first. In one case y'all have a builder you want to work with, ask that architect to recommend an builder. This fashion y'all volition take the builder yous want and an architect that the builder has a working relationship.

You better make certain that y'all have a good rapport with your contractor because you volition be spending a lot of time together.

What's in a Blueprint and Why You Need One?

You need blueprint drawings and then that a builder can bid on the job and you know how much it's all going to cost. This all starts with the drawings. The drawings volition dictate the materials to exist used and the structural specifications necessary for executing the job within building code and setback variances. Without plans, nothing gets done and no one really knows how much any of it will cost.

How a Blueprint Determines Job Cost

Hither's how it goes. An architect draws upwardly plans with the stated desires of the client. The contractor puts prices on the job based on average costs stated on plans. For example, the plans might specify 500 square feet of ceramic tile, at an average price of fifty cents per square foot. That's why it'southward actually of import to know the products you want to be installed before plans are fatigued up. (More on that in a minute.)

What Will a Design Actually Cost Me?

Prices volition vary based on the area you live in and the demand for your builder'southward services. The national average to accept blueprints drafted for a 1,000 foursquare foot addition is around $1,200-$1,500. There will be other fees that tin can also enhance costs, such every bit interior/ exterior schematic designs and permit awarding fees. When all is said and done, you may expect to pay your architect effectually $3,000-$5,000 or more for your add-on blueprints.

What Kind of Homeowner Are Yous?

The DIY homeowner:
If yous plan on being very involved in the construction process because you've got skills and accept friends in the business organisation that might be able to aid you lot with different phases, and so perhaps it makes sense for you to be the "GC" (full general contractor) for the project.

You'll have the joy of existence the one in charge of hiring and coordinating diverse subcontractors to complete each stage of the job. This will salve you a lot of money merely will require that y'all take on a lot more responsibility and potential aggravation. The upshot is that for some aspects of the job, you may be the ane ordering materials and this could save you some bucks because you will non be paying a architect'due south markup on materials.

Pro-tip for DIYs:
If you have a local building or plumbing supply visitor that you are planning on doing a lot of business organization with over a particular span of time, information technology may be worthwhile to have a chat with them. You could explain your situation and your desire to give them the majority of your business organization in exchange for contractor pricing. If you truly are the handy type that does occasional side projects for friends, then it would certainly behoove y'all to have that conversation and get yourself ready with a contractor's account.

The Anti-DIY homeowner:
If you are non the handy type and yous are not interested in managing your habitation addition, and then y'all will be paying a premium, but that might be just fine for you. Many homeowners practice fall into this category. This means you need to discover yourself a builder you feel comfy working with.

How to Stay on Budget and Reduce Costs

Typically homeowners are not prepared for costs. You paid for your plans, simply once y'all've settled on your design, each revision thereafter can toll you. The best way to stay on track with your budget is to get articulate on the materials you will be using before finalizing the plans.

Research products:
The well-nigh important thing is for the client to research the products they want to use. Normally, it'southward the materials on the finish-end that will cause project costs to balloon. So spend the necessary time to get clear on what kind of lighting, flooring, paint, windows, cabinets, fixture, etc you want going in. Don't brand these decisions while you're in the middle of the project.

Source your fixtures:
Y'all can potentially save a parcel past searching online, using sites like Craig's List. Sometimes you tin besides discover that local stores have "seconds." These are products that have been slightly damaged and are less than perfect.

I of my clients recently picked up a beautiful $900 cast iron tub for $300 because it had a small scratch on the exterior corner. Being resourceful in this department can make a huge divergence.

Avoid this classic fault:
Let's go dorsum to an earlier instance. Your plans indicated 500 square anxiety of ceramic tile, at an boilerplate toll of 50 cents per square foot. Only you lot and your spouse become to Home Depot and decide you like the $1.50 per square foot porcelain tile. That'southward exactly how budgets go off track.

If the client does their homework and knows exactly what they want when they sit down with the architect drawing upwards the plans, then they can become a quote from the contractor that's pretty close to exactly what it'south going to price to complete the project.

Larn From Your Friends

I tin can't emphasize enough how of import information technology is to talk to friends and tap into their experiences, regrets and realizations. People dear to talk about their renovations. Inquire experienced friends what they would accept done differently if they could do their add-on again? Dig deep, you might be surprised at what you learn.

True Story:
Recently, I was speaking to a non-contractor friend of mine in another state who redid his bathroom. He wanted radiant flooring heat, but he said tying into his existing hot h2o heating system with radiant floor heat would accept significantly increased the cost of the project, then he opted for baseboard heat.

When I told him about the small 8×8' electric radiant heating organization kit with a timer thermostat that nosotros had just installed in a bathroom for a client, he was surprised to find out how little it would have price him.

The bespeak is, talk to people! Learn from the mistakes and wisdom of others. Think about how valuable life feel is. Once your addition is completed, yous yourself will be an expert compared to someone that's never been through it.

Consider The Exterior

Eventually, you volition demand to consider the outside because you volition demand to tie in the new exterior siding to the sometime outside. So at some indicate, this needs to be considered. Will you be residing the entire house or will you try to lucifer new siding textile to old siding material?

Will y'all fifty-fifty be able to friction match the old siding or paint color to the existing siding? Maybe it makes proficient sense to reside or pigment the whole house because it'south only time to do it? Either manner, the exterior work volition need to be considered in the equation.

If you can time your project and then that the exterior phase is washed earlier the snowfall flies, that would be helpful. If not, yous may accept to wrap the exterior of your addition in Tyvek® for the winter and complete the project when the weather breaks.

You lot tin ride out the winter with your addition wrapped in Tyvek until the conditions breaks.

Consider the Style of The House

Call back about the style of the house. For case, if your home is using quondam-schoolhouse radiators for heat, volition you be continuing with that?  Or will you be upgrading to radiant flooring heat? Is it more than important to maintain consistency and charm over comfort and efficiency?

The Building Inspector: Friend or Foe?

Depending on your perspective, a building inspector tin exist a friend or foe. Only for the homeowner, hiring a contractor, the building inspector is virtually definitely your friend. Even if the give-and-take on the street is that your inspector is a ball-buster, it works in your favor. Or at least that's how you lot should be thinking most it.

The local building inspector checks the contractor'southward work to make sure that the work existence done is in alignment with building standards and lawmaking. A building inspector that does his job, can catch poor workmanship and salvage you lot from potential liability and bug downward the road. So wait frontwards to those inspections. They're for your benefit.

Hiring a Contractor

When you hire one company to exercise everything, there can be advantages. However, in about cases, architects are not also doing the edifice and structure companies are not drawing upwards blueprints.

That said, when communication channels are open betwixt builder, builder and engineer, things can happen fast and potentially eliminate setbacks. If there are changes that demand to happen on the fly, then plans can be amended quickly without delays because all parties have a working relationship. The importance of this working relationship between architect, engineer, and contractor can't be overstated.

Of class, we are biased almost our assertion that you should find a contractor that you want to piece of work with and allow the contractor recommend the architect considering in the stop you will be spending more time with the contractor, and he's the one that volition have your back should y'all have problems down the road.

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Due north East Remodeling Grouping: We are a team of interior and exterior specialists, versed in all phases of construction. From renovations and additions, to home building from the ground upwards. We also happen to be 1 of the select few James Hardie Certified Remodelers in the Hudson Valley.   Have a question? Simply ask me in the comments below and I will practice my best to respond in a timely manner.

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