Have a look at any real estate listing in Castle Hill and the numbers really start to crunch very quickly. Add up the stamp duty, agent fees, conveyancing, removalists and the difference in price between the home you’ve got and one that actually fits the family and you’ll find that an increasing number of Hills District folk are coming to the same conclusion: expanding what you already own might be a lot more sensible than selling would be.
It’s a pretty logical conclusion, but don’t expect the extension process in Castle Hill to be a piece of cake. In fact, experienced home extension builders Castle Hill will tell you it’s often a lot more complicated than most people anticipate when they start brainstorming ideas on the kitchen table.
The Financial Case has Shifted
Castle Hill property prices have been steadily going up and up, thanks to the Metro rail access at Hills Showground and Castle Hill stations and a steady influx of people moving into the area. But that growth that’s a blessing for existing owners is actually making it way too expensive for many of them to upgrade to a bigger place. On top of the price gap between your current home and the one you’re eyeing off, the costs involved in selling and buying a new place, stamp duty, agent commissions, all that sort of thing, can easily blow out to six figures.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, records show that alterations and additions to existing homes are becoming an increasing percentage of residential construction across the country. That’s because more and more homeowners are deciding to put money into what they’ve got rather than trading up to a new place. And that’s a clear indication of a sea change in the economics of moving versus improving.
The Planning Environment is Not for the Faint of Heart
Hills Shire Council’s rules for how you can develop your land in Castle Hill cover things like setback limits, site coverage, height restrictions and heritage requirements, with different rules applying in different areas. Before you even start looking for a designer or builder, you need to know which set of rules applies to your specific property.
If you’re going for a complying development certificate (CDC) you can go through the process a bit faster, but the compliance is spot on; miss a rule by a whisker and it has to go to a full development application instead. Second storey additions in most suburbs of Castle Hill need a full DA and neighbour notification, while in heritage areas you’re not even allowed to touch the street facing part of the house, no matter what you do at the back or on top. Getting a Section 10.7 planning certificate before you start looking for a designer will give you a good idea of what specific rules apply to your block.
Second Storey vs Ground Floor Extension
Ground floor extensions gobble up yard space, and where you’re already lucky to have a small backyard, that’s a pretty big trade off rather than a small one. Second storey additions leave the garden footprint intact, add extra floor space above the ground floor and save you from the hassle and expense of digging, slabs and drainage work that comes with doing a ground level extension.
Before you go any further with a second storey design you need to get to grips with the structural question of whether the ground floor can actually handle the extra weight. If you find out it can’t after you’ve got your design all figured out, it’s going to cost you a lot more to sort it out then it would have if you’d asked the question in the first place.
It is the Detail that Makes or Breaks Good vs Bad Residential Extensions
By far the most frequent flaw when it comes to residential building extensions is the lack of integration between the old and new structure. It is the roof line continuity, the matching brick coursing/cladding and even the period-style window joinery that will make your extension appear like an integral part of the house or just an added extra. Lack of good integration is the defect that is the hardest to overcome and the most harmful for property price.
Building companies that have experience of building such extensions will easily cope with all the difficulties, since the experience has its own value that is sometimes not obvious in the price comparisons.
Choosing a Building Company
According to NSW Fair Trading any building company that does residential construction over $5,000 must have a current contractor’s licence in that particular category. Ask for completed projects of that particular kind in a similar suburb, obtain at least three quotations and compare them by the same specification. Differences in quotation prices usually show the differences in specifications and not in the efficiency. The question that should be put to every building company before signing anything is this: will you be supervising the building works yourself or via subcontractors?
