Renovation projects have always been a battleground in the property game, but this spring there is fiercer competition than usual among buyers wanting to acquire a home that needs a renovation. People don’t want to purchase a property that is half done up, or one that has been refurbished by a developer if they feel they can do it better, estate agents say. Some are willing to pay a premium for unmodernised property even if they have to spend a lot on it to do it up.
House-hunters would rather acquire an unmodernised home so they can put their own stamp on it, according to George Franks, of the estate agency Douglas & Gordon. “They want the satisfaction of saying to friends and family ‘I did that’,” he says.
A Victorian townhouse on Stanley Crescent, in Notting Hill, west London, for example, is being sold as an empty shell for £9.5 million. The six-bedroom property has been completely gutted — the rooms have plaster on the walls and that’s it. However, you could get started on the house straight away, once you have hired an architect and interior designer, as it comes with planning permission.
The plans include consent for a lift from the lower ground-floor to the second floor, a rooftop pavilion with a terrace and meadow garden and sub-basement designed to become a spa or cinema room. The estimated renovation costs are about £2 million but it should then be worth £13 to £14 million, according to Franks.
Adding value to a property is not the only reason for making improvements to your home. You don’t require planning permission to build a single-storey extension up to 8m in length on to your home but you do need to notify your local authority. This will change next year, on May 20. So, if you are planning to make some adjustments to your home to get the most out of it this summer, consider these four renovation projects.
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Rear extensions
If you have a back garden, rear extensions are one of the easiest ways to create more living space. With access to the garden, they are usually used to make a kitchen into a large, light-filled living space with a dining area. You could extend your existing kitchen, if it is at the back of the house, or create one from scratch. James Woodham, of St James Design Interiors, says: “Homeowners are increasing the demand for floor-to-ceiling glass panels to replace solid walls.”
If you are looking to add value, as well as space, you need to compare prices. Nick Stuart, of sellmyhome.co.uk, has this example: “If you built a 200 sq ft extension at a cost of £10,000, the price per square foot would be £50. The price per square foot in your neighbourhood would need to be in excess of £50 per square foot for it to be worth building the extension — in purely financial terms.” However, there are other factors that affect the value. “If the functionality of the home is dramatically improved then it could increase the price of the home in excess of just the price per square foot,” Stuart says.
Loft conversions
Loft conversions can add an extra room to your home and designs have become more interesting in recent years. At the deluxe end of the market, people are moving away from the standard pitched-roof model; they are altering the shape of the roof to make a room that is more square. They are also installing French-style and bi-fold doors to dormer windows to let more light in and provide views of the garden.
James Gold, the founder of Landmark Lofts, says: “It is completely new space so you could do anything you want with it, but it often ends up being the master bedroom with an en suite bathroom and a dressing area. People who live in top-floor flats sometimes swap the layout around and put the reception areas in the attic room.”
Converted lofts usually add 250 sq ft to 400 sq ft of space to a property, although it depends on the size of the property. The typical finished price for most types of conversions including Velux windows to the front and a dormer to the rear is from £160 to £180 per square foot, according to Gold. “The value added is anecdotally around 2 to 3 times the build cost per square foot, but this really depends on the location of the property,” he says.
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Basement conversions
The London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, are full of houses with glamorous basements housing swimming pools and gyms. Now, “iceberg” homes, the nickname for properties with subterranean floors, are becoming a feature in the suburbs too. These basements are more likely to house self-contained flats than leisure facilities, though. Billy Heyman, of the southwest London building company BTL Property, says: “A rising number of clients are requesting plans for self-contained basement flats, with a separate entrance for grown-up children who can’t afford to buy or don’t want to. We are currently working on a project doing exactly this in Fulham.” He continues: “Within the past 12 months, all parts of Fulham, and many parts of Wandsworth became economically viable for the construction of basements, as they cost approximately £400 to £450 per sq ft, and add about £800 per sq ft to the value of the home, depending on the exact location.”
Side-return extension
Older terraced properties often have a passageway by the side of the house to provide access to the garden. This piece of land — called a side return — can be used to create more ground-floor living space. Side-return extensions are often used to widen the kitchen and to add useful ancillary rooms such as a utility room and a downstairs shower room. Heyman says: “The number of requests for side-return extensions remains more or less consistent. Making the rear of the property open plan is the ‘go-to’ design option for a lot of clients. They want to expand and make the most of their properties. With options like sliding pocket doors, homeowners have more flexible use of their large open-plan spaces.” A single-storey extension would cost from £50,000 to £80,000, according to Heyman. He estimates it would add about £150,000-£200,000 to the value of the property.
Joanna Wood’s design action plan
• Always respect the architecture. Don’t try to change anything structurally if the building is listed or not suitable for major transformations.
• Consider the aspect of the property and think about where the sunshine comes from to ensure that the rooms are planned properly and used to their fullest.
• It is important to work out which rooms will work best for which purpose. Consider where the client will relax, eat and sleep and plan each space accordingly.
• Think about your funds and be realistic about how much work can be done on a project.
• Always do the best you can on the structure and bones of a project, even if you have to wait to put up fabulous curtains a few months later; it is most important to lay the foundations of a project — soft furnishings and accessories can be added and changed at a later date.
Joanna Wood is a luxury interior designer. Her practice Joanna Trading has designed many high-profile prestigious properties. Wood’s first book, Interiors For Living , is published this month by Prestel (£50)