A lot of times, high-end houses are “Created” by building additions onto existing, smaller houses. Additions can increase the square footage and total value of your property.
Here are the steps to adding an addition to your house:
First, Plan Ahead
Any time you’re dealing with an inspector, you can expect delays. If you know a rough date that you will be wrapping up a step in your rehab. Call and schedule an inspection 5 days in advance. Inspectors usually don’t work as often as we need them to, so you need to plan ahead. This will save you A LOT of time in your rehab.
Architect
When you build an addition to a house, you will need an architect to design plans for it. Try to get your architect in to look at the house BEFORE you close. If you look at a house and intend to build an addition onto the house, your plans need to be ready on Day 1 of closing. The reason for this is that you need to submit the plans to the city right after you close.
The architect’s plans will need to be approved by the city, architectural committee, HOA, etc. that the house is located. Before building, you will need to get permits from the city. Permits usually take 1-3 months in some locations. The city can cost you a lot of time, because they don’t care about your deadlines.
Demo Per Drawings
As always, be careful with your demo.
Foundations Poured
You need a contractor who is capable of building a foundation. The new foundation for the addition will need to be inspected
Framing
After the addition is built, you can continue with the construction like you would when rehabbing any house:
Rough Mechanicals (Plumbing, electric, HVAC), Rough Inspections, Insulation (Inspected), Drywall, Paint, Flooring, Finished Carpentry, Cleanup & Sell.
