14 Jul FIRST FLOOR ADDITIONS, RENOVATIONS AND EXTENSIONS TO YOUR SEMI, HOUSE, TERRACE OR APARTMENT IN SYDNEY
Interest rates are at record lows – time to consider first floor additions, renovations and extensions.
Sydney property has benefitted from strong capital growth gains in recent years and interest rates are low. This has been due to housing stock undersupply, low interest rates, relatively high rates of job stability, bank funding availability and a stable economic market outlook where confidence is steady.
These are all good reasons to consider first floor additions, renovations and extensions to your home, semi, terrace or even top storey apartment! You can add space to your home whilst capitalising on adding value to your personal asset which, when you sell it, is capital gains tax free. Unproductive moving costs of up to 8% of the purchase price including stamp duty, relocation costs, agent’s selling and marketing costs, legal fees plus your time, are avoided which can amount to substantial amounts of money better invested productively in your first floor addition, renovation or extension.
In a stable market, so long as you understand your local values and remain sensible and disciplined with your first floor addition so as not to overcapitalise, you are likely to achieve a good return on your investment in a space designed to suit your specific accommodation needs.
Select an experienced company which has the same vision as you.
Fundamental to your successful first floor addition is to employ an experienced and proven home designer and builder who listens to and produces your brief and can steer you seamlessly through the process from sketch plans, development application or complying development certificate documentation, authority approvals, construction documentation, building tender, contract administration through to successful project completion delivery.
Why do a first floor addition?
First floor additions make sense where the house has good bones, you love your area, you need more space, you want a new home and you want to keep your budget sensible. Modern building technologies allow you to build a second storey using lightweight materials which are economical and quick to build with, present beautifully and perform extremely well in the Sydney climate. These can vary from polystyrene sandwich panels, fibre cement panels or even timber external
cladding panels depending on your preferred design vision. These panels are all recyclable.
Create a total budget for your first floor addition.
For your first floor addition, start off by working out your accommodation needs. Collect pictures of concept ideas which appeal to you and start a scrap book. These will assist the designer to understand your needs and visualise your dream.
You will also need to work out your budget. Establish what you can afford, deduct 10% for contingencies, deduct 15% for consultants and authority fees and whatever remains is your estimated construction budget for the finished product. Talk to Domus Homes to evaluate what can be produced within your budget.
The consultants you may require include design and project management (by the housing company such as Domus Homes), interior designer, structural engineer, stormwater engineer, town planner, basix consultant, heritage consultant, private certifier, landscape architect, quantity surveyor etc.
The advantages of a “concept to completion” service.
Select an experienced company like Domus Homes which can manage the entire process from concept to completion and which has the same vision as you to build the house of your dreams. This way you only deal with one entity and individual who understands the business, instead of having to deal with a plethora of consultants, subcontractors and builders who owe you no loyalty.
Domus Homes has carried out numerous successful first floor additions to houses, semis and terraces all over Sydney in areas such as Bellevue Hill, Dover Heights, Randwick, Randwick North, Clovelly, Pymble, North Bondi, Waverley, Rose Bay, Camperdown, Queens Park, Bronte and Roseville from concept to completion with each first floor addition being uniquely designed to the clients’ tastes and accommodation and budgetary requirements.
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