VALUE ENHANCEMENT
AN EXAMPLE:
We were approached by the client following the 2004 self build exhibition at the NEC.
His brief to us was to maximise the value of his house in order to fund a move to the Home Counties.
The house was an early seventies detached four bedroom model set in a delightful garden in a conservation area of a well located and popular Cheshire plain town. In design terms it had little character and the interior layout was cellular and did not make best use of its site.
The design solution involved alterations together with extensions at either end to create a generous five bedroom family house with an additional studio flat above the garage (for an aupair, housekeeper, granny or teenager). The early twentieth century character of the conservation area was echoed in the external design of the building, which became a contemporary take on the Arts + Crafts ethos.
Planning approval was gained with little trouble and a value enhancement evaluation undertaken with a chartered surveyor and builder (both local). This indicated an increase in value of the property of between £50,000 and £70,000 with the planning approval only, and a potential profit of £100,000 to £150,000 once the scheme was built.
Our client sold the property quickly for the surveyor's valuation figure and is now settled in the south.
