Guidelines for Building Home Additions

Guidelines for Building Home Additions

August 11, 2020

Renovating your home can drastically improve your quality of life, whether you’re including more bathrooms, expanding your kitchen space or creating an in-law suite for Mom and Dad. The smartest thing you can do is work with high-quality home building contractors when building home additions in Litchfield County, CT.

However, in addition to knowing who to work with, you also need guidelines for best results. Read on to learn about our best tips for adding onto your own home:

  • Know exactly where your property lines are: You can potentially set yourself up for a lot of issues if you accidentally build over your property line, so it would be in your favor to go to the city planning commission or other regulatory authority in order to determine the exact property lines of your home.
  • Have ideas ready: The more detailed set of ideas you have, the more successful you’ll be in helping your contractor understand what you want. Saying you want to add an extra bedroom and bathroom is one thing, but it’s good to know where you want to add them, what kind of style you’re looking for and any special features or amenities you’re hoping to include. It would be a waste of time to interview a contractor and decide to work with them, only to find out they can’t do the building or the features you were hoping for.
  • Be flexible: On the other hand, it behooves you to be flexible as well. Sometimes your plans may not be feasible, for whatever reason—either it would be too expensive in comparison to the rest of your budget, it’s not safe construction or it might otherwise compromise your home. Always get several opinions, but if they’re all saying the same thing, you might need to move on and think of a new plan.
  • Work with a contractor or architect to complement your existing home: Your addition should adhere to the existing home’s architecture and style as much as possible, or you risk adding an eyesore, not just a new room. Most contractors will realize that this is a priority and work with you to make the addition look as seamless and natural as possible.
  • Make a detailed construction plan: After you’ve hammered out your ideas and decided what’s reasonable and within budget, it’s time to ask contractors for a detailed construction plan. Include times, dates, prices, who is responsible for what and what the recourse is if these terms aren’t met.
  • Look for companies with great reviews and referrals: Finally, research your contractor thoroughly. Ask for referrals and testimonials from former or current clients, and find out if they have any construction you can tour. Look for photos and other evidence that the construction can meet your requirements, including blending into your existing home. The more research you do, the better off you’ll be.

Ready to build your own home addition in Litchfield County, CT? Green View Building & Design Company, Inc. will help make the process as easy as possible. Call us today to learn more and schedule a consultation.

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