Property Extensions in Farnham, Guildford and Surrey |  
Top Tips for a Successful Extension

While it’s fine to feel a little apprehensive about major building work, we want you to enjoy the experience of having property extensions built. We extend homes in the Guildford, Farnham and Surrey areas using rear-facing, side-return, wraparound and over-structure styles. With good builders on your side, adding an extension to a property doesn’t need to feel daunting.

This blog post gives you a series of practical tips that help you plan property extensions and know what you need from a building company. If you would like to find out more, feel free to contact us today. The following tips concern:

• Drainage

• Land Surveys

• Tree Removal

• Period Properties

• Practical Design

• The Neighbours

• Site Safety

Having an extension built is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for a homeowner. At JN Builders, we want you to feel comfortable with the job specification and with our presence onsite. This explains why we always hold consultations with our customers and listen attentively to their personal design aspirations.

Our Top Tips

Drainage

When having property extensions built over public sewers, you will need to submit drawings to your local authority in Guildford, Farnham or Surrey. It is worth paying a little extra for a CCTV drain survey to establish the network’s condition and to find out if the drainage system needs repairing.

Land Surveys

Around a quarter of the cost of an extension project goes into the ground. This makes surveys especially important. The soil type, for example, can have an impact on the depth of the foundations. Naturally, it costs more to lay deep foundations than it does to lay shallow foundations.

Tree Removal

Property extensions make use of garden space to increase the footprint of a home. This can often mean sacrificing trees. If a tree you want to remove is the subject of a Tree Preservation Order (TPO), or if you live in a conservation area, you will need approval to fell it or dismantle it.

Period Properties

Extensions must tie in with the styles of period properties in the Guildford and Farnham areas. This often means that builders will need to source hard-to-find materials. We strongly recommend adding around 15% to your budget, as a minimum, to allow for any major contingencies.

Practical Design

Most of our customers have property extensions built to add more living space to their homes, but we urge you to consider the practical aspects of the design. A good architect will have the technological ability to design a home extension that we can build more efficiently.

The Neighbours

Keep the neighbours onside and let them know about your plans to extend at the earliest opportunity. In doing so, you will encounter fewer issues if a neighbour needs to sign a Party Wall Agreement. If you don’t consult with your neighbours, it could delay the project for months at a time.

Site Safety

Homeowners in Guildford, Farnham and the Surrey area have an obligation to promote site safety. Your contractor should already know this and, when tendering for property extensions, will have made technical and financial provisions for running a safe site for the project’s entire duration.