Eight ways to add value to your home

From extensions to basements, eight ways to set a London house apart from the others on the street.

Every one of these carries a construction cost that varies with the property, the specification and the access. Our own rates are published by work type in the NU Build Cost Calculator, so take your figure from there rather than from an average.

1. Build a loft conversion

The easiest way to get an extra bedroom and bathroom, and not especially disruptive, because most of the work happens from outside. The two things that decide whether it works are the access, meaning where the new stair lands, and whether the conversion reads as part of the house rather than grafted onto it. The floor joists will need strengthening, which raises the floor level, so check you are left with enough head height to stand up in.

2. Build a side extension

Extending the living space is almost always worth doing, but the risk is an extension that looks bolted onto the back. Match the style of the rest of the house and give it no separate entrance. Running the same flooring through the whole ground floor leads the eye on and makes the new part read as original.

3. Build a basement

The most expensive form of extension, and the most serious, because it changes the structural load on the property. It is not to be undertaken lightly. You will need specialists for both the design and the installation, and you will almost certainly move out for several months.

What you get for it is space that could not exist any other way, and a house you can stay in for longer. Whether the money comes back depends on the postcode and what the finished space is worth per square foot there, so do that arithmetic before you dig. Our ten checks before you appoint a basement company covers the rest.

4. Convert the garage

Turn it into living space. Most British garages do not have a car in them, which makes them the cheapest square footage in the house to reclaim. To work out the value added, multiply the floor area gained by the local price per square foot.

5. Refurbish the kitchen

If you only improve one room, make it the kitchen. It is now the showpiece of a house. People cook in it, work in it, watch television in it and entertain in it. The priority is a generous, efficient run of worktop and easy movement between the sink, the fridge and the cooker. Fit equipment that is current, so it does not look dated in ten years. And match the price bracket of the kitchen to the price bracket of the house. A cheap kitchen in an expensive house drags the whole thing down.

6. Apply for planning permission

Even without the money to build, securing the permission is worth doing. The survey, design and application will cost you a few thousand pounds, and it removes the biggest doubt in a buyer’s mind, because the council has already said yes.

7. Get a recommendation

Having someone you trust recommend a builder is worth more than any advertisement. The odds are stacked against a happy builder and client relationship. The work takes time, it costs money and it disrupts the house, so a homeowner with good things to say at the end of it is telling you something real.

8. Take a view on timescale

A larger builder will usually finish quicker and charge more. A smaller one will usually take longer and cost less. You have to work out your own balance between time and money.

If you want a construction figure before you speak to anybody, use the cost calculator. To talk about a specific house, tell us about it.