Frequently Asked Questions

Nearly everyone thinks about ways to improve their home and, at some point, this musing turns into a need.

Maybe you have outgrown the home, or you realise the layout is not what you need. Maybe you just want to update the bathroom, kitchen or master bedroom.

With more people working from home, there’s also a fresh need to increase the size of your home office or improve your working conditions at home. And, aAs we spend more time at home, we start to assess all the things we would love to perfect about our house to make it our perfect home.

Moving house is a massive undertaking. You have to sell your home, refinance, look for a new home. Endless shopping around and negotiating with agents. Weeks of home opens. The stress of waiting for an answer. The constant unknown is so draining.

Uprooting the family, moving away from your community, and taking the kids out of school can be a huge disruption.

Why leave the familiarity you have already built around you when you don’t have to?

The obvious solution is to turn your current home into your dream home with a home extension. You can get exactly what you want for less money than you might think.

You don’t have to leave your friends, family, school or other nearby parts of your life. You don’t have to resettle in a new neighbourhood and go through the process of making all new friends. Most of all, neither do your children.

You can literally save thousands of dollars by building a home extension rather than moving. You will save on stamp duty, real estate agent fees, removalists, bank fees and many other hidden costs.

There is no “etched in stone” answer here. It depends on your needs and your tastes. The most fiscally prudent answer is to never spend more on home improvement than you can get back when you sell the house. If you plan to sell in 5 years, that may limit what you can spend. However, if you plan to hold on to your home for 20 years, your budget can be considerably higher.

Compare the cost of your home with the improvements you want to others in the area with similar features. Then, add the fees mentioned above. The difference between the total and what your home is worth now will make a good starting point for a budget.

You should look for a builder with a lot of testimonials and a great reputation in the local industry. It is better to choose a builder that can provide personalised service. Find one who will give you a free consultation and a fixed price.

You can also check references and talk to people who have had work done by the builder. If you can, go to a former site and check out their work first hand.

Council approval is mandatory for any structural change. Your local authority will need to give you building and planning approvals. You will also need engineer and surveyor, energy and bushfire ratings, drawings and inspections along with water authority approval. These approvals should be part of your fixed price contract.

We recommend looking on our projects pages for projects that are similar to yours and reading how long it took us to complete their jobs. This will give you an idea of what to reasonably expect. Since every home extension is unique, we highly recommend you talk to your builders for a consultation and estimate.

This is one of the reasons we send our designer Max Sardi to your home in the first instance. He’s a designer by trade and he specialises in extensions and second story additions. At the end of your free consult with Max, you will have a really clear understanding of what it will take to get the dream extension or second story addition to your home.

While it is recommended to have an independent engineer inspect your home to ensure it can support all of the extra weight of a second storey extension, we have found that nearly all homes are capable of supporting a second storey extension.

With some builders, you may need to move out of your home but you don’t have to with Next Level Extensions. In fact, we specialise in getting the job done with minimal disruption to your family’s lifestyle.

On occasion, we have provided customers with temporary bathing and cooking facilities , but there is usually a very small amount of inconvenience if any.

In the case of a second storey extension, there is nearly no disruption of your lifestyle until it is time to install the staircase. In the case of a ground floor home extension, we can supply temporary walls to seal off the construction area from your current living space.

With some builders, you may need to move out of your home but you don’t have to with Next Level Extensions. In fact, we specialise in getting the job done with minimal disruption to your family’s lifestyle.

On occasion, we have provided customers with temporary bathing and cooking facilities , but there is usually a very small amount of inconvenience if any.

In the case of a second storey extension, there is nearly no disruption of your lifestyle until it is time to install the staircase. In the case of a ground floor home extension, we can supply temporary walls to seal off the construction area from your current living space.

Our team make sure they keep the site tidy and respectable so there’s no intrusion or disruption for your neighbours or your street.