Will a new downstairs bedroom add value to a 3-bed semi?

warning_uk

Hi all.

We're just about to comission a ground-floor extension which builds down the side of our house and connects the currently separate garage to the rest of the house. BUT we don't know whether or not we're making a big mistake...

We will lose a stand-alone single garage and gain a cycle store (half the size of a garage), study (11ftx7ft), shower room, utility room and bedroom/playroom (16ft x 11.5ft). The whole extension will be over 50ft long, but only 7ft wide (except for the bedroom/playroom).

My question is whether or not a downstairs bedroom is too unconventional to add value to the property...? I have had a quote of 44k for the work, on a property currently worth 230k.

Anyone have any wisdom on this?
Cheers for now
Dave

warning_uk

Before anyone asks, we have received full planning permission for this from the council and building authorities...

Debt_Free_Chick

Think of it like this .... what you will gain is a room downstairs. You can call it a bedroom if you like, but it will just be an additional room. Any new owner can use it for something different. (My house had a bedroom downstairs when bought, but has always been used by me as a study).

I doubt you are going to add £44k to the value of your property, though, whatever you call the room. Have you asked local EAs what value would be added?

I also doubt that the full, final bill will be £44k - does that include all finishing? And fittings?

PasturesNew

If I were looking to buy the property, I'd be interested to see the overall layout to see if that extension had the potential for being a separate annexe, perhaps for a relative, or maybe a lodger.

But if it added £44k to the cost of the house I'd probably think it wasn't good use of space/money.

7' seems more corridor than room width.

So I think I'd be intrigued/interested, then disappointed.

Perhaps if you could show the layout it might show that it does add value, but good use of space/flexibility is the key in such things.

To me losing the garage would be a big factor too.

Doozergirl

7' wide at a cost of £44,000?

If this is your forever house and you want to do it for you, then go ahead, you will reap the benefit, but if you think it will increase the value above the cost then it would be quite hard to say without seeing the plans really. It is true that people don't really like unconventional as they like a house to flow. You can also affect the balance of the house and pushing a 3 bed with a large Are you going to end up with rooms off rooms or will you have a new corridor?

In my area, £230k will buy you a small 3 bed detached, £275,000 (+ £5000 Stamp Duty mind!) will buy you a 4 bed detached with all the beds upstairs. You might find you're pushing into a totally different bracket and people will wonder why a three bed is so expensive. Personally I wouldn't count a downstairs room as a bedroom, it would be a reception room that could hold a sofabed or something.

warning_uk

Doozergirl wrote: »

7' wide at a cost of £44,000?

If this is your forever house and you want to do it for you, then go ahead, you will reap the benefit, but if you think it will increase the value above the cost then it would be quite hard to say without seeing the plans really.

Thanks for the feedback on this everyone...

The thing about this extension is that it's twice the length of the current house, connecting the the currently-detached garage to the rest of the house. It's 54ft long and of two different widths - half at 7ft wide (alongside the house) and half at 11.5ft. (at the back of the house).

We're doing the work to stay in the house for the next 10 years, so we're not needing it to add as much value as we spend on it. I think we would only be worried if it didn't add at least 50% of the cost onto the house value or, worse, make it worth less...

Someone mentioned the 'granny flat' option, which would definitely be there... but I'm concerned that we may be taking a standard 3-bed semi and making it so specialised that it only appeals to a tiny market.

Are we turning our house into a big white elephant?

D

Debt_Free_Chick

It's a bit difficult to visualise. If the planning application was online, we could take a look. But you would then be revealing your name and address to us! If you're OK with this, let us have a link please. Bear in mind that if the application is online (and most are) then your information is "out there" on the internet anyway. It's whether you want to identify warning_uk as Mrs Jane Smith of 6 Acacia Avenue.

warning_uk

The other point is that we're losing a garage and gaining a cycle store (half the size of a garage), a 7ftx11ft study, a bathroom, a utility room and a large playroom/bedroom... so it's a little more than just adding a bedroom. We also have plenty of off-street parking already, and the drive down the side of the house is really too narrow for modern cars, so garages in our are are never used as garages.

Doozergirl

I'm going to admit that it sounds a bit odd. Who designed it?

Could you not extend on the current house to get the most important rooms and then convert your garage into a Garden Room which acts as an office or outdoor room? Get some nice patio doors, insulated, wired up and heated? Cheaper than building all the way down to it and it keeps the house in more of a traditional layout. It's the 7' wide thing that I'm not really appreciating. It's going to look a bit like outbuildings and on a semi? Where are the windows? What have the neighbours said about overlooking? You can only build out so far before you hit a 45 degree angle with your neighbours windows and contravene planning, surely?

warning_uk

warning_uk

Just posted an image of the proposed extension. The property to the left is a full metre higher than our house, so a 7ft fence down the boundary will almost entirely cover the side elevation.