Mastering Home Additions: Alana Busse’s Strategies for Success

Nora Duran: Hello, everyone. Welcome to today’s episode of our podcast. I’m your host, Nora. And I’m thrilled to have you with us. And also, we have Alana here. And she’s our expert on our subject today. As I witnessed firsthand the incredible transformations people can do to their homes from cozy basement conversions to expensive second story additions, the possibilities are endless.

And today, that’s what we’ll be talking about additions. So, our special guest who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the realm of Home Editions. She has seen it all, she has done it all, and whether you’re dreaming of a silent summer room or a spacious new bedroom, you are in the right place to get all your questions answered.

So, let’s get started. I am curious, what inspired you to get into the field of Home Editions? 

Alana Busse: Home additions are great because then you get to add extra space. So many people love their homes but are just outgrowing it a little bit. Maybe they have another child on the way or a parent moving back in with them or children that are maybe staying a little bit longer at home as they’re going through school and starting their own careers.

And home additions are really a great way to make an existing home you love more functional for you and your family. 

Nora Duran: Yes, yes. They are. And it sounds like you have a true passion for transforming spaces and improving homes. Now, for many homeowners, the idea of starting a home addition can be quite overwhelming, so I want to dive right into the heart of it.

What are the initial steps homeowners should take when considering a home addition? 

Alana Busse: One of the first steps is figuring out why do you want the extra space? How are you going to use the extra space right now and in the future? So are you looking at maybe just making a bedroom a little bit bigger so you can get maybe two kids into that bedroom now?

Or maybe growing in the future where you might want that bedroom a little bit bigger and adding another bathroom to your home for when maybe the kids are teenagers and they’re getting ready in the morning and together and things of that nature. So it’s really figuring out what, why do you want the addition now and maybe why in the future because if you do it all now it is way more cost effective than doing a small addition now and then another small addition later.

So I would say the first thing to kind of think of, do you want a gym? Do you looking to hold, have more relatives in your home, in your home? What’s the purpose behind the addition and then moving on to how best to achieve that goal? 

Nora Duran: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I believe proper planning is really crucial.

It’s like building a strong foundation before you start adding the layers, right? 

Alana Busse: Yes. The planning process always helps you go through the construction process way quicker. So spending a little bit more time in the planning process of making sure it’s exactly what you want and not doing changes when you’re already under construction.

does make the construction go a lot smoother. So as much planning as you can do ahead of time is really the best way to go and limits the disruption to your home. 

Nora Duran: All right, sure. Now moving on to something that can be a bit of a maze for many, the regulations. How do local building codes and permits impact the home addition process?

Alana Busse: Well, every home addition in our area requires permits, so it’s really having the plans. And once we have the plans, we go down to the city or county jurisdiction. So, sometimes you’re in maybe a Thousand Oaks jurisdiction or Ventura County or Agoura Hills or, you know, Calabasas or wherever it might be, we go down to the proper agencies.

, sometimes we get to file online. Sometimes we go in person and we turn in the full set of plans along with all the engineering. And that is reviewed by the people at the city, the planning departments and plan checkers and engineers. And then they come back to us with, if there are any corrections or if there’s anything that they see that may need to be changed, and then we And they come back to us with the permits.

Sometimes you also have to get other clearances from the fire department. You also have to get clearances depending on your jurisdiction for a fire hydrant test. And sometimes there’s clearances from schools and other zoning requirements and HOAs. So we figure out what Your specific addition needs, certain additions need certain things and other additions don’t, depending on your jurisdiction, what you’re doing and the number of square feet you’re adding.

And we figure out all of those and we go ahead and get all of those taken care of so that we can get your permits. And once we get your permits, we’re able to start your project.

Nora Duran: Interesting. It’s good to know, like, what to expect up front so there are no surprises down the road. And another important aspect is ensuring the new addition blends seamlessly with the existing structure. How can homeowners ensure their addition matches the existing style and the structure of their home?

Alana Busse: When we’re designing an addition, we always want to try to use similar materials, or the same materials, if possible, of what the home is already. So if you have a Spanish tile roof, we’ll continue the same Spanish tiles, stucco, siding, whatever it might be, to kind of blend it seamlessly. And then we also work on roof angles and how walls are going to look.

, and it’s designed to, , die into other walls, just so it doesn’t look like a big box scabbed onto the side of your existing home. So sometimes you want to add a little more, interest to it. We just finished one where we did stucco and siding to kind of break it up a little bit so it didn’t look so monochromatic.

And that matched some areas of the rest of the house where they had different stucco and some siding. And also trying to do windows that are similar. A lot of times Sometimes you drive by and you see an addition and the new windows look way different than the old windows and you can tell it’s an addition, but if maybe replacing a couple windows on the front of the house so that all of the windows match, or if you have black windows or white windows sticking with those same windows throughout the new addition so that we can kind of tie everything back together as best we can.

Nora Duran: So to get that cohesive look, that’s very important. And thanks for sharing your insight. I want to move on to, , some of the details. So what role do engineers and designers play in planning and executing home additions? 

Alana Busse: So with additions, typically, , the designer takes care of drawing up the plans, figuring out where the bathroom’s going to go, where the, how big the bedroom’s going to be, maybe where, how the kitchen’s going to lay out with the addition.

So drawing up a kind of the space plan of how all of that’s going to come together. And then we also take care of drawing up all the interior elevations. So, you know, maybe where your French doors are or your window, or a lot of times a doggy door we had in and other things, and we drop all the exterior elevation.

So all the pretty stuff and all the stuff you’re going to see when your addition is done is what the designer kind of takes care of. And then the engineer takes care of all the stuff behind the scenes that you’re once it’s drywalled and buttoned back up, you’re not going to see. So he’s going to take care of calculating what size beam you needed to have as a header over a window or a door, or to carry a load of a roof, or how big the, thick the foundation or the footings need to be.

So all the stuff behind the scenes that holds up, , the pretty stuff or the pretty stuff gets attached to is what the engineer does. And he runs all the calculations to make sure everything’s safe for you and your family to live there. The addition can hold that Spanish roof tile or whatever we’re putting on there.

Sometimes it’s a two story addition and it’s got to hold your family upstairs and things of that nature. So he takes care of all of the stuff behind the scenes and takes care of all of that. And then we take care of all of the, , things that are the pretty stuff and the stuff you get to see when you’re all done.

Nora Duran: It’s clear, like they’re so essential for a successful project and their expertise really brings, the vision to life. And I’ve always been intrigued by creativity involved in home additions. Like what are some innovative ideas for a small bump out additions? 

Alana Busse: , , I think it’s just kind of making sure you get enough space.

So sometimes maybe it makes a huge difference. And a lot of times in a kitchen, sometimes like the one behind me, if you just bump it out a couple feet, then that was able to give you the island. So it’s just seeing how far out do you have to go if you want to go further or not as far, but seeing what that difference is.

And I think that’s. Kind of a thing to keep in mind and something that you can figure out those small additions. But the other thing you also have to look at is sometimes small additions are similar cost to big ones. So maybe bumping 3 feet and 5 feet or 5 feet and 10 feet is going to be about the same price.

So if you’re going to gain a lot more, then you might want to pop and do a little bit more of an addition. 

Nora Duran: Right. And now let’s talk about different types of additions. Can you explain what an interior addition is? 

Alana Busse: So an interior addition is actually, I just did one to my home, is we had really high ceilings over our living room.

Very, very high ceilings over our living room in our two story house. So we went ahead and we framed in a bunch of floor joists and we created a whole nother room It’s now a gym that’s being used in our in our home, and we added about 218 square feet. The actual footprint of our home did not change the exterior did not change the roofline or anything like that.

We didn’t eat up any space in the yard, but we gained 218 square feet just by adding this extra space, taking down a little bit of a wall upstairs. So sometimes when people are talking additions, , they want it bumped out. On the outside of the house, but other times you can do it on the inside and it is more cost effective because you’re not touching exterior walls.

You’re not doing any roofing. The framing is more minimal in my situation. I didn’t even need to add any footings or underpin any footings. So you get a lot of bang for your buck to add extra square footage if you can. So if you have those higher ceilings over your living room, dining room, wherever it might be, if you.

frame in that floor, you can add quite a bit of square footage, um, for not a lot of money. 

Nora Duran: That’s that’s very good to know. And what about adding a sunroom? Like what are the benefits of adding a sunroom to your house? A 

Alana Busse: sunroom definitely you get kind of that square footage and you get that in out California room style.

So that kind of indoor outdoor living, which is very popular out here when we’re not having super hot weather or super windy or something like that. And so you really gain that in out style. space that people are really loving, , big windows. And then it just, it just depends on, you know, your lifestyle.

But if you’d love to entertain, it’s definitely a great option.

Nora Duran: Yeah, it sounds like a wonderful addition. I can imagine like how much enjoyment it could bring to a home. And similarly, garage conversions are becoming quite popular. How can a garage conversion Be effectively utilized, to add to a living space.

Alana Busse: So we’re definitely seeing a lot of garage conversions. It’s a great way because you already have the roof, you already have the walls framed. , so the, the amount you have to do structurally is a lot less than what if you were just truly adding on an addition. , we see a lot of times people adding if it’s a two story house, maybe they have no bedrooms downstairs.

So this way, maybe when the mother in law comes to live with them or stay with them or an older child or something, they can have kind of that in secondary bedroom with a bathroom attached to it so that they have that downstairs bed bath combo by converting the garage and it. Yeah. Sometimes you’ll take the whole garage, but sometimes you’ll still leave some of the garage for maybe some garden tools and or maybe a motorcycle or something along those lines, but it’s definitely a great option because you have that structure there and you’re not eating into your yard.

Sometimes people have plenty of space for additions and we can go into the yard and we can take from the front yard, backyard, side yard kind of thing. But unfortunately out here a lot of times we all live in a track home, our neighbors are really close and maybe we’re kind of maxing out on space or we don’t want to give up yard space.

This way you’re not really giving anything up, , in the out on the outside of your house to create that. 

Nora Duran: So it’s a brilliant way to make use of like existing space. And I’m sure many of our listeners will find this idea appealing, especially if they are looking to maximize their homes potential without any major construction and another intriguing option is the detached accessory dwelling unit.

So what is a detached accessory dwelling unit? And. What are its advantages versus a junior ADU? 

Alana Busse: So you, the, detached, , ADUs are what we probably used to call like granny flats. So it’s a real, it’s a mini home, typically in your backyard. So there’d be some yard in between and it’s completely separate.

So it has separate kitchen, separate bathroom, separate bedrooms. , , it would typically have an entrance. If you maybe made a path or something from a side from a side yard or something like that. So a lot of times you see people creating this so that they can maybe move into it and rent their front house out.

If there may be retiring, they want a little extra income. They’re not going to be home as much because they’re traveling. Or you see younger couples putting it in so that they can rent that ADU out and have kind of that secondary income. And maybe move a mother in law in there in the future or something along that line.

So it’s a completely detached. Mini home, basically. Now, junior ADUs, sometimes we are on, , the lots are not always big out here, so sometimes we’re on a smaller lot. If we’re on a smaller lot, a junior ADU is basically a mini home that’s attached to the existing house. So it could be attached maybe to the back or the side, and it would again be just like a little mini house with its own kitchen, bathroom, laundry, bedrooms, all of those great things.

But you’re not going to have any space. It’s going to be right next to the existing home. If you’re going to be renting a house or renting it out, sometimes having a detached is a little bit better because it gives a little more space. In between a little more privacy and if it is attached it, you know, you are sharing a common wall.

So they are a little bit closer. So it depends on what your lot looks like to which one’s going to be a better fit. There are some zoning requirements and restrictions and things that also support that. Sometimes help dictate that. But a lot of times we work with clients to figure out which is going to be the best option for them.

Maybe one versus the other works a lot better in their situation. Sometimes doing junior ADUs is more cost effective because if we can tap into A lot of the already utilities that are there, and they’re going to be close versus having to pull them more into the middle of the yard. So we really look at the situation and determine which one’s going to be best.

But if you kind of think of any ADU is kind of that mini house and then a junior ADU is attached and kind of that, and then you have the detached regular ADUs.

Nora Duran: I can see why they’re becoming more popular, especially for like an extended family or as rental units. And then there’s the option of building up instead of out. So when is a second story addition? More beneficial than expanding outwards. 

Alana Busse: A lot of times when we do second story additions, they tend to be over garages.

, one I can think of, they had a two story house over most of the house, but then over the garage was a one story. They didn’t really have a primary bathroom, bedroom combo. So what they were looking at doing was going over the garage and adding that primary bedroom and bathroom and kind of break through the hallway to create, , create the, , the go through area.

, And it’s a great option because they were on a smaller lot. It was still an okay size lot, but they had a beautiful backyard and a beautiful pool and barbecue and all sorts of amazing stuff. And if they would have gone out with the footprint instead of going up, they would have had to lose some of those outdoor amenities that them and their kids really enjoy.

So sometimes going up is a really great option and still being able to keep that yard, great. , and the look of the house and versus the yard area that’s being covered. , as far as cost wise, it really depends on what you’re doing and what you’re tying into to if one’s going to be more cost effective than the other.

, but that’s something that we can cost analyze and see which way is going to be the best. But if you have a yard you love and you don’t want to rip it up and you want to add extra square footage, going up is definitely the best option. 

Nora Duran: Yeah, sure, sure. And I’m sure there are many misconceptions out there about Home Editions.

What are some common misconceptions about Home Editions that you have heard of or came across? 

Alana Busse: I would say a lot of times people think it’s not possible when it really is possible. It’s just maybe we have to rip open a little more wall to do some structural or we have to underpin some footings , or different things, but it’s definitely possible to do and in almost every situation.

, the other thing is people think it’s going to take years to get it done, years to go through the planning process, years to go through construction and all of this. And it’s not that long of a process depending on what and stuff like that, and you could be just a couple weeks going through to getting plans.

, or even for , my own loft edition, it only took us a couple hours to get the permits and go through that process. So it just depends , on what that is. And then, How long the construction , is if you pre plan everything, make sure everything’s purchased. , windows still take a long time to get in depending on what you’re doing.

 So we really get everything purchased before we start. And then it makes the construction kind of a very tight, time frame versus the addition. People say, oh, they’re going to take forever. It’s going to take forever if you start it now and order everything later. Okay. And if you order everything now and then start, once it all comes in, you’d be surprised how quickly an addition can move and you get that new space up.

Nora Duran: Yeah, that’s great information. Thank you for clearing it up. And another big concern is always the budget. And what are the Post effective types of home additions and why? 

Alana Busse: So a big thing for the home additions that you can, you have a little bit more control over is if you’re adding a bathroom, if you’re don’t add a bathroom, you’re definitely saving a good chunk of money.

Moving over freshwater lines is not a big deal, but moving over waste lines, if you have to trace them back. Quite a bit. And you need certain size lines for certain fixtures. Toilets take bigger lines than sinks and you need to have a certain slope. So sometimes you have to dig up a lot to get a waistline over to an addition area.

So that’s one of the costs can be kind of the plumbing side of it. Another cost is the building. So concrete, you know, you need Lumber kind of getting up that structure and figuring out what that’s going to be. So that kind of depends on what we’re doing in the space to, to how much that’s going to cost.

, but we do try to control that where we can, so it could maybe be if you’re trying to stay on a tighter budget, maybe there’s certain windows or doors, or we control things more with the finish materials that happen. In the process, so you can kind of maybe do a little if you want to get a bigger addition going, maybe you do a flooring that maybe costs a little less to help pay for a little more structural or things like that.

Or if you’re doing a bathroom, maybe we try to move that bathroom towards the left side of the addition because it’s going to actually be way cheaper to tie everything back in than if it was on the right side. So we could show you different options and kind of say like, this is more of the low, this is more of the medium, and this is more of the high.

And then you can make that decision if it’s worth to spend a little bit more and have that bathroom definitely on the left, or if it’s better to have that bathroom on the right. And it’s even just how the structural beams and things lay out, even with, , Lots of times with a loft addition, sometimes you go one, you just tweak something a little bit one direction or a little bit the other direction.

All of a sudden, it means you don’t need a secondary post. You don’t need to underpin a footing and you save a bunch of money if you were okay having two or three less square feet or two or three more square feet, just depending on where they want to kind of tie everything back into.

Nora Duran: And I’m curious, it’s, is it generally cheaper to build a new house or? Add in addition to an existing home, 

Alana Busse: typically, it’s going to be cheaper to add to an existing home because the rest of the home was built more at a cost effective amount being 2030 40 years old. The other thing is you’re not going through all the stress of moving.

So when you’re doing an addition you only got to move your stuff out of that area you’re working so if we’re working in the kitchen you’re moving your stuff out of the kitchen or a bedroom or something like that. You don’t have to have people, you know, keeping your house perfectly clean while your house is on the market, having to pay the realtor fees, having to find another home.

And unfortunately out here we’re seeing it’s hard to get fire insurance. So if you move, getting new fire insurance is sometimes an issue versus if you’re just adding square footage, you can keep with your current insurance company. And a lot of us, myself included, are lucky enough where we’re grandfathered in with we have certain policies and we know if we ever moved, we wouldn’t be able to take those policies with.

So if you can add square footage, make your home more into your dream home, that’s definitely more cost effective than moving and you have, you know, you have house taxes and other things that factor into that. And whenever you bought your house, we work with a bunch of amazing clients that have been in their homes for 40, 50 plus years and they purchased their homes for, 100, 000, 200, 000, 300, 000, and we would love to go back to that, but, you know, it’s, and it’s amazing to hear their stories, but those aren’t on the market anymore.

So moving just becomes a really cost, , costly process. And you get to know what neighbors, you know, what neighbors you have, you know, you don’t get the, get to move and figure that out later. 

Nora Duran: Yeah, true. That’s very enlightening. And moving on to the execution phase, what are the most common challenges encountered during a Home Edition project?

Alana Busse: Most common, I would say our biggest challenge is if you have an HOA going through the process to get approvals. Depending on the HOA, some are very easy to work with, and others it has to be approved through architectural committees that only meet a few times a year, Certain paperwork that has to be turned in.

We’ve even had one that needs samples. We had to get window samples, big chunks of windows to turn in so they could see what those were going to look like. So I think our biggest challenge is sometimes just making sure we get our HOA approvals and and dealing with certain community HOAs, , and then just getting everything ordered.

Nora Duran: And what are the, , potential risks and how can they be mitigated during a home addition? 

Alana Busse: So we always do a schedule so we kind of know what’s going on every day of the process. Then we always want to double check weather. So one of our potential risks is weather. , we do get rain sometimes out here.

I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. you But we always want to make sure the home is buttoned up properly when certain things are going to hit. So if there’s going to be a storm coming through or something like that, that everything is buttoned up. And then we also want to make sure the home at the end of every single day before we leave, that the home is buttoned up for safety, that nobody can get in.

Without having a key and or, a certain method of getting in and out of the house. So we always make sure those two things are taken care of. But if we plan ahead, then we know what’s going on that week. And we know if we have to, , whatever we have to do to make sure , the property is protected.

Nora Duran: Yeah, it’s, it’s great to have these all different strategies, in these situations. And now I wanna talk about the value. How can a well spend home edition? . Well, planned Home Edition can increase the overall value of property. 

Alana Busse: So you have first you have the enjoyment value. So it’s what you and your family are going to enjoy living there and what the addition accomplished.

So if it’s a gym that you added, which now saves you an hour a day of having to dry. Now, you don’t have to drive to the gym and come back. There’s value in that. If you’re now able to create your dream kitchen and you’re able to now put in your island, so there’s a lot of enjoy. Now, maybe your mother is able to move in with you or kids are able to stay longer or certain things like that.

So you kind of have enjoyment value, but then you have resale value. So if you add square footage to your home, it definitely helps where maybe your home will sell quicker. You’ll get more money than maybe somebody else with the similar model because now you have that added benefit. , and more and more people are looking for bigger homes to have, you know, sometimes, you know, To families live in them because everything is getting a little bit more expensive in real estate right now So you do see a lot of bang for your buck on that , so you just and you do see a lot of value in doing that and the upgrades that sometimes come with an addition So maybe if you did windows or insulation or energy efficient And so you’ll see the return on that when you go to sell the home in a few years or 10 years or 20 years Sure, 

Nora Duran: it’s an investment that really pays off.

It’s a win win. 

Alana Busse: Yeah, and additions never, you know, they never age versus maybe something else in the house that might age, as you’ll always have that square footage. Nobody says extra square footage is out of style. 

Nora Duran: Exactly, exactly. And what are the latest trends in home additions that homeowners should be aware of?

Alana Busse: I would say a lot of masters, , or a lot of primary bathroom bedroom combo additions. , a lot of times downstairs And we’re very much into aging in place. So maybe you have a two story home and you know, the stairs are going to get a little bit harder for you to go up and down. So we definitely see a lot of people either bumping out very small offices or bedrooms and then adding a bathroom or adding a full bedroom and bathroom downstairs to make their home a little bit more aging in place.

Is our. Big trend, in one way and then in our other big trend is definitely kitchen additions to get an island. We all want our island. We all want our big dream island. And a lot of times that does mean we need to bump out a little bit to get our nice big, , our nice big island. So those are our 2 trends right now.

But there’s always new and exciting things. People want additions for 

Nora Duran: right? And Can you share some of your success stories or examples of like particularly challenging home addition projects you worked on? 

Alana Busse: So, I would say additions with the right planning, they aren’t that challenging. It’s pretty straightforward by the time you start construction and all of that.

The most challenging part is probably deciding what you want and why you want the addition and how big the addition should be because it’s all give and take your property is only so big. So how much of the backyard are you willing to give up or how much of the front yard you’re willing to get up what do you gain on the inside and kind of figuring out what it’s going to be best for you and your family is kind of I would say the biggest challenging part that we kind of work through.

, and and get it all worked out.

Nora Duran: Great. And finally, what advice would you give to homeowners to make the home addition process as smooth as possible? 

Alana Busse: I would say it’s definitely be patient during the planning process and to understand that the planning process and there is a lot of things behind the scenes that are happening. There is full architectural sets of drawings that are being done.

There’s energy calcs. There’s all sorts of stuff happening behind the scenes to try to make it so your construction process goes as smooth as possible. So I’d say just understanding that. Maybe before you start, you see like a little bit of extra time happening, but all of that is just for your benefit.

So when we do get under construction, we are in your home as efficiently and as quickly as possible to create your dream edition. 

Nora Duran: That’s excellent advice. Thank you so much for sharing your insights today. It’s been incredibly informative and helpful. And that wraps up our episode guys. Thank you so much and thank you to, thank you our expert for joining us today.

And until next time, happy remodeling. Take care. Bye bye.