Photography by Anne Matheis
Dr. Norman and Mimi Steele wanted a new house, yet they weren’t even considering moving from their Kirkwood home. “We’ll leave here feet first,” Mrs. Steele mused.
These days, those two statements are increasingly less contradictory.
“We’re seeing more renovations, yes,” says Joe Roeser, president of Roeser Construction, who worked on the Steeles’ nearly yearlong project. “Family rooms, kitchens—spaces that open the house more for everyday living.”
Sean Thompson of Twin Peaks Construction in Webster Groves agrees. “In Glendale, I added 1,800 square feet to a house,” he says. “More recently, on a house that backs up to Blackburn Park, I added a second story to a traditional ranch.
“I’m seeing the smallest house on the block becoming the biggest.”
“I Thought It Would Be A Nightmare”
The Steeles wanted a larger living room and a basement enlarged by three rooms. They interviewed three contractors and settled on Roeser. In December of 2004, plans were made to expand the house 16 feet out and 42 feet deep, to redo and enlarge the kitchen, put in a little library and music room and expand the bathroom. The basement would now have an exercise room, storage room and space for plants. Then the family hunkered down, opting to live in the house during construction.
“I thought it would be a nightmare, crisis after crisis,” says Mrs. Steele, an elementary school music teacher. Today, with the six-month project finished, she says that choosing the right company made the entire project go surprisingly smoothly. “I have problems with decisions sometimes,” she chuckles. “But they gave us plenty of lead time, saying I need to decide this by that date … and if that date came and I couldn’t decide, they made it okay.”
The long-time educator was asked if there was anything that surprised her about the daunting process. “I expected the language to be … not quite what you would hear in an elementary school. But [the construction workers] were just wonderful.”
She admits there was noise and dust, but she just “focused on the goal—I knew every hit of the hammer was leading to a more beautiful house.”
“These big additions can be very disruptive,” Mr. Roeser admits. Sometimes people move out, and that can make the project go faster. And the price tag is steep—most of the additions reach into the six-figure range. Sometimes, they can be less than financially prudent. But that’s not keeping people from doing it.
“Usually when one person overbuilds in the neighborhood, it’s a domino [effect],” Mr. Roeser says.
“My clients are all telling me the same thing: They look for a larger home with the space and character they want, but there are none to be found in their price range,” says Michael Blaes, a Webster Groves-based architect. “In the end, they find they can spend less by staying where they are and building an addition. They are usually looking for a master bedroom suite, a new kitchen that opens to a family room, and additional baths and bedrooms.”
Interviews and References
“You have to start with figuring out how you want to live in the house,” Mr. Roeser advises. “How is it going to help your family?”
Next up is finding a contractor or architect you can work with—“the lowest bid isn’t always the best bid. These people are going to be in your house for six months to a year, and they are almost like family at the end of the job.”
Like that annoying uncle type family?
“Well, like at holidays, you want the ‘family’ to leave at the end,” he laughs. “But really, you want it to be a pleasant experience. Down the road you’ll forget about the price.”
“You will find that architectural drawings are necessary for building the project and getting building permits,” Mr. Blaes says. “Interview him or her and make sure there is a good rapport. And if you see an addition in the neighborhood that you like, contact the owners to find out the name of the architect. The best projects will have you wondering where the addition is.”
“It’s always good to talk to previous references,” Mr. Thompson adds. “You’re not going to get fresh insights unless you talk to the most recent customer.”
Randy and Charlotte Schaefer in Kirkwood are doubling the size of their house. The project has taken more than a year; Mr. Schaefer and his father are doing all the work themselves. “We are adding additional kitchen, dining and laundry room space, plus a bathroom,” Mr. Schaefer says. “Upstairs we moved walls around, added a master bedroom and converted one of the bedrooms into an office.”
Mr. Schaefer, who by day is a MasterCard business analyst, works on the house every night and full days on weekends. They started in September of 2005 and are hoping to be done by this spring.
“We hired someone to do the excavating with bulldozers, because I didn’t want to accidentally knock the house down,” he says. “And we hired roofers because I’m afraid of heights.” Mr. Schaefer drew up the plans himself, but did employ an architect to help him get the plans approved by the city of Kirkwood. He hired a plumber to do the same. However, he decided to get certified to do his own electrical work.
As for getting his wife to sign off on this project, “it took some convincing, some wining and dining—she’s not one for dirt!” Mr. Schaefer says. But she “took advantage” of the situation and is using the time to finish her master’s degree at Washington University at night.
“I think we’ll get our money back out of it,” he says. “When we moved into the house, I looked at it as an investment. But after the work, it’ll make it much harder to leave.”
Sometimes Additions Don’t Add Up
“I know someone who did a fabulous addition, but used their entire lot and still only had a one-car garage,” says realtor estate agent Susan Schiff. “Then they fell in love with another house, sold [their old one], and financially it was a loss.” She offers other wayward examples: One family didn’t want to leave their neighbors, then their neighbors left them; another built a large two-story in a neighborhood with many smaller (and slab) homes. “When it was time to sell, they were hit hard.”
“If someone wants to put $300,000 into their $350,000 house, it’s up to them,” says Joe Roeser of Roeser Construction. “But yes, sometimes they don’t recoup. They get transferred, divorced, there’s a death in the family—anything is possible.”
Ms. Schiff has worked in the Webster Groves/Kirkwood area since 1992 and offers four things to think about when considering such an investment of time and money:
- Will the changes have universal appeal, or will they limit the marketability of the house no matter who sells it or when?
- Will these changes make you happy and truly satisfied for the long term?
- What are the chances of a forced move (job transfer, etc.)?
- Are you diversified financially, or is your home your biggest investment? If you had to sell the house below what you put into it, would you still be solvent?
Yet Ms. Schiff points out a home is about much more than equity: “Making a good investment isn’t always measured in terms of money. If you love your neighbors and your children are rooted, why not improve rather than move?”
