Extend or Move? How to Decide What’s Right for Your Home

The True Cost of Moving

Moving costs more than most people anticipate. Estate agent fees typically run at 1-2% of the sale price, legal fees add £2,000-£3,000, and on an £800,000 property in Winchester, you’ll pay £30,000 in stamp duty. Add in expenses of decorating and furnishing a new home and moving easily costs £50,000-£70,000 before you’ve added any value.

When Extending Makes Sense

Extending typically makes sense when you love your location and need more space rather than a fundamentally different type of property. If your home has good bones but lacks a modern kitchen extension, an extra bedroom, or better living space, extending can transform how the property works without the uncertainty of moving.

Financially, extending is most beneficial if an extension focuses on adding more space and repurposing existing spaces with minimal expenditure. Effective design ensures that alterations aren’t compromised or push the cost up in pursuit of perfection that isn’t needed. There’s almost always a way to simplify alterations without compromising the end result. This is where a small investment in design can reap significant benefits. Architects and designers can miss this when they dive into designing large spaces and focal point kitchens.

However, extending has limitations and you can’t add a lot of space or make big changes for just a small fraction of your property value. We can present you with options at different investment levels and be clear as to the compromises with each of them and how they can be minimised.

When Moving Makes More Sense

Moving is the right choice when your needs have fundamentally changed. If you need substantially more bedrooms, a much larger garden, or a completely different type of property, extending may be impractical or impossible. There’s a point where the scale of works required makes moving more sensible.

Consider whether your property has reached its maximum potential. Some homes have a ceiling on value that limits the return on extension investment. This can be where a smaller project as medium term solution might make more sense along the way to moving later.

Questions to Help You Decide

We help clients work through several key questions:

Do you love your location? If yes, extending is often preferable. If no, moving deserves serious consideration.

Can extending deliver what you need? Some requirements can’t be solved by building and we aim to get to this answer very early on in the process to avoid wasted costs.

What’s the financial comparison? Calculate the true cost of moving including all fees and stamp duty, versus the cost and likely value-add of extending.

How long will you stay? If you’re planning to move within 2-3 years anyway, extending may not be worthwhile. If you’ll stay 5-10 years, extending often makes excellent sense.

What’s practically possible? Planning constraints, garden size, or the existing property layout might limit extension options.

How We Can Help

As architects, we’re in a unique position to help you think through this decision. We can assess what’s practically achievable on your property, provide realistic cost guidance, and help you understand whether extending can deliver what you need. Sometimes the answer is that extending won’t work, and we’ll tell you that honestly.

Often, clients come to us thinking they need to move, and we can show them how extending could give them what they want at lower cost and disruption. Other times, clients are set on extending, and we help them see that moving might better serve their long-term needs.

An initial conversation costs nothing and might provide clarity on a decision that’s been troubling you. We can visit your property, discuss your needs, and provide honest advice on whether extending is the right path.