According to Virgin Money a well done driveway can add 10% to the value of a house. So if you need one and can afford it, it may be a useful feature and a good investment. However this isn’t to say that adding any driveway to any house will increase its value. To make sure your investment is solid consider these 5 things:
1.it’s better to be conservative with your design
Neutral colours and regular designs are the most likely to go down well because they will fit in with most tastes. If you are into unicorn patterns that’s fine, but the next owner of your property will have to be just as enthusiastic or it may put them off.
If you are considering a driveway from an investment point of view, its better to go for something popular and timeless like block paving, or sand stone.
2.Don’t go over the top with specific customisation’s
Your taste may not be someone else’s taste so if you want a driveway that looks like something you would see at the Tate be aware that you may turn off buyers in the future who don’t like it.
3.Think about the ceiling value of your house
Houses in certain areas with a set size cannot go up in value indefinitely. People looking it your house are likely to be taking into account the value of similar houses. They will have some specifications in mind which are most important to them.
If you spend £50,000 on a rare marble driveway with a bust of Churchill at the front don’t expect to get £50,000 more for your house when selling.
4.Driveways can add more value where parking is in short supply
Driveways near Preston city centre or on busy streets a driveway can add significant value to your house.
5. Quality matters
Its far more common for us to re-lay or fix driveways than it is to install new ones. Sometimes this is the natural degradation over time but more often than not, its a cowboy job which fell apart after a couple of years.
It may be tempting to got for the quote which is 50% cheaper than the others but consider how they are doing it that cheap. Its likely they are missing out some important step which will result in a very short life span or other problems.
A shoddy driveway will be seen as an extra expense for a potential buyer. This could devalue the property, rather than increase the value. Make sure to use quality driveway installers like Acorn Gardening to get the job done right.
