There are many advantages to extending your home compared with moving property and these are summarized below.

1. Cost

The cost of extending is generally cheaper than moving. There are various reports on the cost of moving but the total will clearly vary depending on the property you are moving to and from.

However, whatever the cost, all of this money could be utililized to pay a good proportion of the cost of your extension. A good way of comparing the cost of extending to moving is to add the cost of the proposed works to the existing property value and see if you can buy the space ready built cheaper.

For example, if you live in a 3 bedroom house worth £250,000 and there is a nearby 4 bedroom house for sale at £320,00, then the cost of moving would be £70,000 plus,say, £15,000 moving cost - i.e. a total of £85,000.

If you compare this to the cost of extending which may be, for example, £50,000, then you are saving £35,000 if you extend rather than move. Do your own sums to see what is best for you.

2. Design Control

The usual reason for extending or moving is to gain more space but by extending your home, you are in control of the space you create at the design stage (obviously within planning and technical limitations).

If you want more room in the bathroom and less in the bedroom or you want to make the whole building bigger, then that is your choice. When moving, very rarely do you find the layout and finishes exactly as you would like them and often this leads to further alteration costs once you have moved. Work that the vendor has recently completed is stripped out and redone as it is not to your taste.

With extending, as well as deciding on the overall size and shape of the rooms, you also get to choose the finishes such as sanitaryware, kitchen units and flooring from the start.

Extending can often lead to making more use of existing space by combining it with the extension. A small bedroom, for example could be doubled in size by extending it into the new space.

3. Added Value

Unless your extension is designed and built to poor standards it will undoubtedly add value to your property. It is extremely difficult to be precise about the amount as this will vary depending on the number, size and use of the additional rooms. As property generally doubles in value over a ten year period you are unlikely to lose out in the long term even without extending but a well designed and built addition will increase the value even further.

Opinions will vary from one person to the next as to the true added value but ultimately the only figure that really counts is how much a purchaser is prepared to pay for it.

It is considered that living space adds more value than bedroom space but often estate agents valuations relate to the number of bedrooms in a property.

Whatever the final figure is, it is essential that you design and build your extension to a good standard and we cannot overemphasize the importance of getting expert advice at an early stage. Poor quality work could lead to little or no value being added.

Our view is that most homeowners will extend a property in order to use the space themselves and improve their lifestyle. Unless you are a property developer, it is unlikely that you will be looking to sell the property immediately  upon completion of the work but it is comforting to know that the cost of the extension is also an investment in your property that you will realize when the property is sold.

4. Local Amenities

This is often an underestimated advantage of extending and staying where you are.

Local amenities such as schools, shops, transport facilities, etc may be the reason you moved to your property in the first place and these will remain. Also you get to keep your neighbours (assuming you like them!) and the kids get to keep their local friends.

5. Contract Control

Another advantage of staying put is that you are not reliant on other parties selling their properties in order that you can move into your dream home. The chain that is often created when buying and selling a home is completely avoided when you extend.

Gazumping is avoided and you can make decisions at you own pace. Remember that 1 an 10 of house sales collapse because sellers change their mind about selling their property.

6. Council Tax

The Government has recently announced (Sept 2008) that certain types of extension that do not require planning permission will also be exempt from an increase in council tax (i.e. due to the value of the property increasing). Every little helps!