Understanding the current value of your home
If you’re keen to add value to your house, it’s important that you understand its current value.
It’s also important to be aware of the property ceiling price in the local area. This is the highest price a property is likely to achieve, regardless of how extensively you improve the property. Being aware of this price will help you decide on a suitable budget for home improvement works.
Online valuation tools and recent sold prices for similar properties in the local area are a great source of research. They won’t be able to offer an exact valuation of your property, but will help to provide some ballpark figures. Looking at the highest recent sold price for a similar property in your area will help to give you an idea of how much your home could be worth with the right improvements and help you decide whether your planned changes are financially prudent.
How to add value to your house when there’s a labour and materials shortage
Tradespeople have had several challenges to contend with in the last few years, including the global pandemic, Brexit and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of these challenges has been both cost and resource-based.
If you’re planning to carry out home improvements because you want to add value to your house, it’s important that you only consider tasks that are cost effective.
Below is a list of some of the most common home improvement jobs in the UK, detailing how much the cost of these jobs has increased and how much value you can expect each task to add to your property.
| Home Improvements | Average cost pre-pandemic | Current average cost | Added value |
| Loft conversion | £30,000 | £48,000 | 10-20% |
| Add garage (single, pitched roof) | £15,000 | £25,000 | 5-10% |
| Garage conversion | £10,000 | £13,750 | 10% |
| New kitchen | £6,000 | £10,550 | 10% |
| New bathroom | £5,000 | £8,000 | 4-5% |
| Garden office | £20,000 | £28,000 | 5-10% |
| Single storey extension | £30,000 | £42,750 | 10-20% |
| Conservatory | £9,000 | £14,250 | 7% |
How to add value to your house with a loft conversion
If you want to add an extra room without losing any outdoor space, a loft conversion is a great option.
Converting your loft uses what is effectively dead space and can add as much as 20% to the value of your property. Loft conversions are particularly popular because the space will often allow for a reasonably sized bedroom and an ensuite bathroom, creating a useful new master bedroom for the home.
Adding value to your house by adding a garage
Storage space can be a real challenge in family homes. Adding a garage to your property can offer a practical, low-cost solution that will also enable you and any future owners to keep clutter out of the house.
Whilst building a new garage is not the cheapest home addition, at around £25,000, it can add 5-10% onto the value of your property. To find out whether the addition of a garage would make financial sense, it’s worth speaking to a local estate agent about the value it might add to your specific property.
Create an extra room by converting an existing garage
A garage conversion can be a cost-effective way to add additional living space to your property. Because the foundations and shell are already in place, a garage conversion is significantly cheaper than building a traditional extension.
You will lose storage space, so it’s important to think through how the garage is currently used and where you will store the items currently kept in the garage. You’ll also need to consider the limitations of converting a garage in terms of space. By the time the walls are insulated and plastered, you can expect to lose around 12cm from each wall. If converting a single garage, that can lead to quite a small room that may have limited uses. If you’re looking to gain a home office or a playroom, it can be an ideal home improvement, but if you want an additional living room or dining room, a traditional extension may be a better solution for your needs.
How to add value with a new kitchen or bathroom
A new kitchen or bathroom can be a great update and can add value to your home if done well.
If you’re keen to add value to your house, it’s important to use high quality fixtures and fittings, and try to stay fairly neutral so the changes appeal to the widest audience possible. Also, try to avoid current ‘trends’ that will date the rooms quickly.
Adding a garden office to add value to your house
People’s expectations of work-life balance have changed significantly since the pandemic, and many workers now expect an option to work from home (at least part of the week) as standard.
The addition of a garden office, which gives owners the ability to work comfortably from home but in a separate space from the living area, can be a great addition to your property. A good quality garden office, fitted out with electricity, can cost around £28,000 and is likely to add between 5% and 10% to the value of your property.
Increase your living space and house value with a single storey extension
Single storey extensions have been a popular addition to many British homes in the last few years, especially those that enable the homeowner to create a large hybrid kitchen/dining/living space. Spending more time at home during the pandemic created increased desire for large, sociable spaces in the home that can be used in a variety of ways.
An increase in the cost of building materials means a medium size single storey extension (4m x 5m) is now likely to cost £40,000-plus. Whilst not a small outlay, an extension of this size could have a big impact on how your property works for you and can add between 10% and 20% to the value of your property.
Are conservatories still a good addition to your home if you want to add value?
Whilst conservatories are not as popular as they were 10-20 years ago, they can still be a welcome addition to your home if they are of a high quality. At a cost of around £15,000, a good quality conservatory can be a cost-effective way to add more space to your home. A high-quality conservatory can add around 7% to the value of your property.
How to add value to your house on a budget
Adding value to your property when you’re on a tight budget is all about making it more ‘sellable’. There are some simple and inexpensive home improvements tasks that can immediately make your property more desirable to buyers in the UK.
