Move out vs extensions? Which is cheaper?

Extensions vs building a home

Another option you may be considering is building a home. The costs associated with building are somewhat comparable to purchasing a home, but the details, obviously, differ. Things to consider is whether or not you already own land, and if not, how much land you will need to purchase. Land prices can vary drastically, depending on the area (rural vs city, agricultural vs urban), how many hectares you need, environmental factors, zoning and more. Hiring an expert in this field to help you with your land purchase is a must.

Other factors to consider is labor and materials – generally speaking, labor costs alone account for around 40-45% of building costs in the United Kingdom. That’s almost half of your building budget. If you’re building a larger home, a more advanced design, or building in a highly-sought after area, those costs can go up.

Considering these factors, building a home in the UK, based on today’s market, will cost you  around £1,750 per square metre, or approximately £160 per square foot. Let’s say that you’re going to build a modest-sized house at around 2,000 square feet. You’re looking at around (160 x 2,000) £320,000. While this is a high estimate, assuming that you’re building in a highly sought after area where land prices and builders are on the pricey side, even if you scale the numbers back to accomodate for cheaper land, labor, etc, you’re still looking at costs not much lower than this.

Now of course, there’s another option – renting a home. Still, renting has its own costs – deposits, moving costs, storage, not to mention that monthly rent that you’re paying to a landlord instead of putting back into your own property. If you’re already a homeowner, it isn’t very likely that you’ll sell said home and start renting again. It seems a counterproductive move if you already own a home that can be modified to be more comfortable and accommodating. Which brings us to the next option.

Extending your home

Have you considered modifying or renovating your current home? More specifically, have you considered building an extension on your home?

Building an extension or converting an existing space is rewarding because you still get that satisfaction of building something that you own, but without all the stress of starting from scratch and the stress that comes with it. Plus, at the end of construction, you’ll have more space and a brand-new area to do with what you will (and added property value to your home as a bonus). More and more people are building onto their homes, adding extensions, and converting spaces to accommodate their family’s growing needs.

An extension is a much cheaper and practical alternative to moving, whether you’re looking at buying/selling, building or even renting. It is a more economical and practical choice by far, with a vast number of ways to obtain extension quotes for whatever style of extension you are planning. The average homeowner can save thousands and thousands of pounds by building on an extension to their existing property rather than moving house.

The possibilities for a home extension are pretty much endless. If you’ve got a garage, you can find creative and functional ways to extend your home into something you love that accommodates your family and gives you the space you need. Weigh up small extension cost vs moving cost here.

If you have a garage and are thinking of adding a second story extension to your home to create space, find out the cost of extending over a garage.