Home Addition 101

What takes 9 months and a lot of hard work, planning, and waiting?

Building a home addition, of course!

(I’ve had 2 kids and years of fertility center help so I thought it was OK to make this joke)

In real talk, at the end of 2023 we went back and forth about turning our giant front yard into something more useful.

We thought about a gated patio area, a nice walkway, even a pickleball court in the front yard (it was never gonna happen Jonathan). We also threw around the idea of adding onto our home and building a home addition. This would end up being the idea we came back to the most. Then in November 2023, we found ourselves starting the process of building on to our home!

That process started with the worst part: PAPERWORK & APPROVALS

Before we even started planning what we wanted in a home addition, we had to make sure it was even possible. That meant contacting our HOA (and waiting 45 days for them to even look at our proposal), then hearing back that they wanted more detailed plans from an architect, which meant we had to pay $2,000 for architect plans just to see if we could even get approval.

Easy to say this was the worst part of the process for me because of all the waiting, submittals, approvals, and more waiting. Finally, the HOA said if the City approved our plans, they would most likely approve as well and they saw no issue with our building.

Side note: Our neighbors had just recently finished building a casita in their backyard, and our neighbor is part of the HOA board, so we had a strong case for our own home building since they had just undergone a large build themselves.

So we did the official architect plans, using the same people our neighbors used for their casita, and we sat down to design what we actually wanted to build! We wanted two large rooms and Jonathan suggested a bathroom, which we debated for a few weeks until deciding to keep it. We got rid of closets and stuck to a simple layout. We knew one room was going to be our home gym (we had a treadmill already and other gym materials).

The City approved our architect plans

Step 2 was jumping into ACTION. Mapping things out, more plans, and then getting to WORK.

My husband works in the construction industry, specifically in concrete and project managing, so this made everything a LOT easier. Typically, the next step would be hiring and working with a general contractor, who would do everything for you essentially. Instead, we acted as our own general contractor and hired out subcontractors (framers, drywallers, HVAC technicians, etc.) to do the actual work.

But make no mistake, we also did actual work ourselves! We couldn’t let our DIY skills go to waste. Jonathan did most of the outlining, rock removal, grading, concrete prep, and concrete pour himself, with major help from his buddies from work. For example, to remove all the existing rock to make a flat surface for building, we rented a mini excavator and Jonathan called up a friend from work who worked weekends (on top of his full-time job) (yes we paid him!) to help!

Step 3 was a whole lot of WAITING.

We used the concrete as a makeshift tennis court for a few days!

As Jonathan coordinated the subcontractors, making calls and setting up appointments, I was left to wait. After concrete was poured and cured, we waited on framing (the wood frame of the house). After a few weeks, we organized stucco, which took 4-5 weeks of work and re-work after we found a few spots we wanted to fix. While subcontractors were working on the outside, Jonathan and I were working on the inside, mainly the electrical wiring, including outlets and switches.

We worked with a trusted window company to install 2 windows onto the home addition, then waited some more for stucco, then waited for exterior painting, all the while roofing was working along at the top.

We really didn’t run into many challenges or hurdles besides waiting for schedules to line up and asking for a few fixes on stucco and HVAC (we went with a mini-split system installed in the ceiling with a unit mounted to the back of the addition).

Step 4 was DIY, DIY, and DIY.

This process took MONTHS; it didn’t happen quickly. But finally it was all enclosed and connected to our existing home. Then we could move in and out and get to work on the inside.

We started working on the inside from the very beginning, so there were some very hot and humid nights in the home addition before HVAC was installed. This was also summertime in Arizona.

Besides electrical, the other areas we DIYed included painting (walls, ceilings, everything), flooring (we went with Lowe’s flooring that we already had installed previously in our entryway), and shower tiling and overall shower work.

Jonathan also installed all the lights and ceiling fans, and I secured some window shades, decor, and finishing touches.

We’ve documented all this on our Instagram and TikTok pages, so if you want to see more detail, go check them out in our highlight buttons on our page.

Step 5 was sit back and finally enjoy it.

This blog only scratches the surface of this process—it took almost a full year to add 800 square feet to our home. We use our home addition daily and love it so much! We created a home gym in one room and a playroom in another, with a 3/4 bath attached to the playroom.

We didn’t add closets to either space, so I can’t say if they’ll ever be used as bedrooms, but there’s certainly enough space for us to reimagine them as we see fit in the future!

The playroom has a giant gallery wall I created with fun artsy prints, and it’s my favorite part of that space. The home gym has enough equipment for us to stay busy and buff (LOL).