How much value do home improvements add to a property?

Signs of bodged DIY make people offer 11 per cent less

Monday 17 November 2014 13:00

Golden Pheasant: Owned by Gary and Lorraine Curd from Yalding in Kent. The shed used to be a farm store that was on the edge of collapsing but was transformed into a garden pub which hosts a number of strange and unique artefacts including a stuffed squir

Adding a garden to a property can add 10 per cent to its value, while a 'man cave' can add up to one per cent.

A new survey of independent estate agents by Move with Us suggests that a new kitchen or an extra bathroom can add five per cent to the worth of a home, while a loft conversion or parking space is nearer 10 per cent.

More unusual improvement such as a 'man cave' or a treehouse can make a one per cent difference when it comes to selling. A garden office may increase the total value by five per cent and adding a garden where there was none before, such as installing a roof garden, is worth an extra 10 per cent.

"More unusual home improvements are increasing in popularity," said Simon King, Director at Move with Us. "Home owners are ingeniously creating new spaces within the boundaries of their existing homes where they can live out their dreams. These include garden offices so they can work from home, workshops where they can carry out their passions, their own personal pubs and all sorts of other extraordinary structures."

Shed of the Year 2014 finalists

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1/9Shed of the Year 2014 finalists

Owned by Richard Pim from Pembridge. The Bottle Dome is made with about 5,000 glass bottles set between crossed arches - like a huge hot-cross bun. Some parts of the glass hemisphere directly face the sun at all times of the day reflecting the light into an interior pool.

Golden Pheasant: Owned by Gary and Lorraine Curd from Yalding in Kent. The shed used to be a farm store that was on the edge of collapsing but was transformed into a garden pub which hosts a number of strange and unique artefacts including a stuffed squirrel and an old chain saw.

Charlie Browns. Owned by 62 year old Patrick Lynch from Billericay Built over two years, the shed holds 60 people and houses a pool table, two slot machines and a 50's juke box. The full bar with optics and pumps, cabinet fridge, cocktail barrel and sound system keeps the party alive long into the night.

White Lodge. Owned by John Leaver from Steeton. A traditional log cabin situated in a wood featuring a large curved window looking over a small lake. Self-built by stacking logs one on top of another.

Owned by Paul Ruddiforth, 47 from Sheffield. Built to house Paul's growing collections of artefacts, Retro Fairground is filled with items such as old radios, a 1960s TV and a 1976 Raleigh chopper. With a lifelong love of all things related to Fairground rides and arcade machines - these were added to the collection and took over.

The Pool Hoose has been made entirely from recycled materials including telegraph poles, scaffolding battens, timber, roofing tin, and glass. Used as a studio, the shed links together the view between two pools and is furnished to accommodate passing touring cyclists.

Lodge's Tiki Bar is a tropical hideaway constructed from wood and finished with bamboo. It's complete with a bartop collage design, handmade from old surfing magazines, remote control LED lighting, hand carved coconut cups, carved sign, carved tikis, surf memorabilia and a surfboard hanging from roof.

Teapot. Owned by Ian Hunter, aged 59 from Melrose, Scotland. Built entirely from reclaimed materials, the ground level is used as a drying shed for timber with a summer house on the upper level accessed by steps through the teapot handle. The lid of the teapot, topped with an old fishing buoy, can be opened and shut by winding a reworked old hand drill creating a special open-air experience.

Blitz Street Museum: Owned by Darren Stride from Great Yarmouth Transporting visitors back to the 1940s, the Blitz Street Museum consists of a life-size street display made up of five different themed sheds housing reconstructions of a wartime cottage, sweet shop and an air-raid shelter.

On the other hand, a separate report by TrustMark indicates that signs of shoddy DIY result in people making an offer on a property by an average of 11 per cent less. Just over half of the 2,000 people polled said they were less likely to put an offer in at all on such properties.

Overall, 91 per cent said they would reduce their offer on homes with signs of poorly-done DIY by some amount.

Visible wiring is the most off-putting problem, cited by 40 per cent of people, followed by ill-fitting or unfinished kitchen units.

"While DIY projects can be immensely rewarding, homeowners should be wary of attempting DIY beyond their skill-set as inadequate work can seriously reduce the value of their homes, or even put prospective buyers off completely,”" said says Simon Ayers, chief executive of TrustMark.

"It’s worth noting that some of the most off-putting DIY flaws like faulty wiring are as dangerous as they are devaluing. Homeowners should never attempt to carry out electrical or rewiring work without a trained expert."

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