Are you planning some home improvements? A new kitchen perhaps? Converting your loft? Adding a conservatory? Well, before you begin these huge DIY tasks, today’s guest post will give you an idea about how much value each project will add to your home…
The cost of bigger DIY projects and home improvements can easily put you off starting the project in the first place. In fact, the Office for National Statistics predicts that UK homeowners collectively spend almost £30 billion on their homes annually. That works out at £43 million each week, can you believe it?! But before the high initial costs put you off today’s blog post by DM Design, a specialist design of fitted bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens in Glasgow, are sharing their research into the value that home improvements can add to your property, so read on to find out more…
FITTING A NEW KITCHEN
As Phil Spencer (the presenter of Location, Location, Location) always says, “if you are only going to improve one room, make it the kitchen. This has now become the showpiece area of the home. We don’t just cook in it, we do homework in it, we watch television in it and hold dinner parties there.” However, you need to look at the overall value of your house before adding a £25,000 kitchen! If your home is worth half a million, it makes senses to spend that much on a kitchen, but there’s not going to be very much value added to a house that’s valued at £170,000 – it probably won’t add £25k to the selling price of the house. 
According to Phil, a new kitchen will typically add 4.6% onto the value of a property so if you match the quality/cost of the kitchen to the price bracket of the entire house you shouldn’t go too far wrong. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) agrees that installing a fresh new kitchen will help to make the house more saleable and can around 4% to the selling price.
Alternatively, if you’re on a tight budget, painting your kitchen cabinets can make a huge difference and transform your kitchen. The melamine cabinets above were originally a mottled beige colour, and I updated them with a coat of turquoise paint. This not only saved me money on installing a new kitchen, but it also gave the units a new lease of life, preventing them from ending up in landfill. To learn how to paint your cabinets like a professional, check out this detailed guide on how to paint kitchen cabinets at Property Workshop.
FITTING A NEW BATHROOM
And that’s not just in terms of renovating your existing bathroom. The Nationwide Building Society says that adding a new en-suite bathroom to a bedroom, or adding a second bathroom downstairs will mean an increase of about 5% to a home’s overall value. Phil Spencer says, “you don’t need to do a lot with the room, it’s all about the features that you put in, such as a set of new taps, a heated chrome towel rail, a big new shower head, a power shower, and a glass screen or glass door instead of a shower curtain.” So if you keep your bathroom installation relatively simple you can reap the most benefits and increase the value of a home by 2.88%.
CONVERTING A LOFT
Houses with a loft with a headroom of 2.3 metres – usually those homes that were built prior to 1975 – are ripe for conversion. This could add up to 21% to the house’s value, especially if it’s a double bedroom. The trouble with loft conversions is that it’s not a DIY project you can tackle yourselves and you’ll need to get professional advice. The attic room has to meet building and fire regulations and may require planning permission for windows etc, so the costs of this project soon add up!
CONVERTING A GARAGE
Similar to a loft conversion, if you can add a double bedroom to your home by converting the garage, you can add 10% to the selling price of your home, according to Nationwide. Apparently, 90 per cent of British garages aren’t used for parking cars, so Phil Spencer says they could be better used as a living space (such as a playroom or study) or a guest bedroom. You can calculate the value that will be added to your home by building an extra room by multiplying the square footage gained by local house price per square foot.
ADDING A CONSERVATORY
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says, “conservatories will add value to a home, but they need to be made with quality materials and provide a lot of light in order for the value to be significant.” What does that tell you? Well, if you plan to build your conservatory with glass as opposed to uPVC it’ll have that high-quality feel, which can add up to 5% to the value of your home (according to property valuation providers Yopa) If the conservatory is part of a full-blown extension, this could be as much as 11%, says Phil.
I hope this research has helped you when planning your future home improvements and thanks to DM Design for providing this valuable research. Leave a comment below if you’ve found that your house value improved after you added a new bedroom, bathroom or conservatory.
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