Home Additions

Besides providing a home with more living space, home additions can be a great investment. However, before embarking on building a home addition, or other large home remodeling projects, there are a number of important items that should be considered first. These items include: neighboring home market values, home addition cost, architectural plans, financing, timetables for completion, and your personal disruption threshold and sweat equity commitment level.

Budget and planning are very much necessary for both room additions and remodel. Get a free quote to learn what we can do for you.

A home addition is a major project but when completed is very satisfying. Building an addition is a great way to add square footage and change the original integrity of your home if you're ready for a change but don't want to move.

Most American families are choosing to improve their existing homes, rather than move because you can customize your home to meet your families needs, you don't have to leave a familiar neighborhood or school district for your children, and its more cost-effective because selling your home and moving typically costs about 8-10% of the value of your current home, much of this goes into moving expenses, closing costs, and broker commissions.

Once you have decided to add to your home, carefully consider the addition's size and the type of rooms you need. You may know what function the space will serve when it's complete and what that function will be even in 5 or 10 years from now.Deciding how the addition integrates with the rest of your home is the first decision of your project.

The function and design of the project are important for long-term livability. Including new windows throughout your home will help to produce a seamless look easily and if your home has older windows, it will also improve your heating and cooling bills.

If you plan on replacing windows and doors and upgrade the insulation in other areas of your home, its energy efficiency could increase and you may be able to heat and cool the whole house with only minor changes to your existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. While the initial cost is expensive, the added cost will be partially offset by not having to increase the size of your HVAC system.

In most cases, it's better not to add a separate furnace, window air conditioner or heat pump to handle your addition. It may seem easier, but you could be doubling the potential maintenance problems with two separate systems. Also the area where the addition joins the rest of the house might be drafty and uncomfortable because its being conditioned by separate systems.

Earthgroup Construction can build additions in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Room additions can be plain and simple or exceptionally extravagant Here at Earthgroup Construction we understand that working around people and finished surfaces requires extra care.

Dust and utility (electric, plumbing) interruptions must be kept to a minimum. There are many things you have to consider with room additions that never are an issue when you build a new home from scratch. We can help make sure that there are no unexpected surprises along the way.

Do you want the roof line, overhang, gutter board, soffits etc. to match perfectly on the outside? It takes some work for this to happen. For these elements to match, you need to take apart the exterior of upper wall treatments to see where the actual finished wall ends and the bottom of the rafters begin. Earthgroup Construction, LLC can complete the construction of an overhang with precise craftsmanship.

Architectural Considerations when Building a Home Addition

Once the financial items have been addressed it is then time to focus on the size and scale of the project, as well as the architectural and aesthetics of the new addition. The home addition should be of size and scale such that it aesthetically melds into the original house. It should not be too small or too big. Frequently, homeowners get carried away and add large amounts of new living space without sufficient thought on the outside appearance.

From a market value, there is more to a home than just pure living space. A home needs to maintain its exterior aesthetics as well. It is important to consider such items as siding, doors, windows, roof lines, and elevations. All should meld into the existing home exterior seamlessly and aesthetically.

If you have a question about a home addition, please call our office at: (773)  930-4533  email us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or simply fill out an online estimate form for a free in-home consultation.