Renegade Conservatory Guy

This is the headline statement from Alison Cork, founder of ProblemSolved.co.uk, a website which helps you find local tradespeople.

“You splurge on a swimming pool. You splash out on a swimming pool. You don’t invest in a swimming pool,” she added.

Swimming pools cost up to £20,000 and can make a home less attractive to families with small children and those worried about high upkeep and heating costs.

The discussion about swimming pools is just a part of a wider discussion online about whether adding home improvements to your home is a good investment, or not.

According to Mortgage lender Abbey virtually all big-ticket expenditure on your home is now pointless from an investment point of view. After years in which property makeover programmes have told us how to extend, refurbish and rebuild, Abbey believes that in today’s falling property market, anything more than cosmetic improvement is just not worth it.

“Home improvements no longer make you money,” says Phil Cliff, director of Abbey Mortgages. Its research found that 30% of estate agents have changed their advice in the past 12 months when it comes to home improvements. Having previously advised homeowners that improvements such as new kitchens and bathrooms were worthwhile, they now believe homeowners are unlikely to recoup the money spent when their property sells.

The only home improvement that genuinely adds to the value of your home, according to Abbey, is a new lick of paint and other cosmetic additions.

The report states that the average cost of an extension is £33,800, but it will only add around £13,500 to the value of the average home, Abbey found. Crucially for our industry, Abbey state that Conservatories typically cost £18,700 but will push up the price of the standard property by just over £6,000.

This is obviously complete nonsense!

Conservatories do not typically cost £18,700. Certainly in the North of England a typical conservatory would be £10,000 to £12,000. Maybe in parts of London and the South East where these journalists live there may be conservatories selling for £18,700 on average, but throughout the country this is way off the mark.

Also this report fails to consider what will happen when house prices do start rising again. Surely a conservatory (or any home improvement) will then start to increase in value.

And let’s remember that all home improvements are not just investments anyway. A conservatory will add valuable living space for a family which is there to be enjoyed, and creates the link between the house and garden.

We should take all these surveys with a pinch of salt, as they tend to contradict each other anyway.

For example, the Nationwide says that adding a loft conversion can increase the value of your home by 21%, but the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says it adds just 5% to the typical semi. Spicer Haart reckons that top of buyers’ requests is parking space. Other desired features include a large kitchen/dining space, central heating and double-glazing.

So, I think I’m going to create (or make up) my own survey which finds that conservatories and double glazing are the best possible investments people can buy and send it to the BBC, Guardian, Times etc to publish.