A question for all you experienced renovators out there. I have a 2001 brick veneer house in northwest Melbourne that I am doing a minor cosmetic renovation to. We currently live in it but intend to sell in the next 6 months and want to increase its value by $20,000 to $30,000 with a $10,000 minor reno to carpet, kitchen and bathroom. It is a corner block and the fence on the side boundary is the original timber slat 1.5m fence and is in reasonable condition. However the posts are moving in the clay soil and it is beginning to lean over at the front and there is now a 6 inch gap at the corner where it meets the front fence. To straighten the posts really means pulling the fence down and if I am going to do that I had might as well replace it with the locally accepted colorbond fence. My question is – does replacing a fence generally add additional value to the house or is it really just one of those maintenance items that have little affect on the value regardless? I have the same question regarding putting in a relatively large shed (car size). It would solve a few logistical problems for me but would it add enough value to the property to cover its cost or more? So in short would a replacement fence and a nice new shed add significant value to the property or am I just wasting my time and money with little chance of recovering my costs? Thanks.
If a fence is generally in good condition especially the post and rails then straightening a fence is not a difficult solution. Dig around your post until you can realign it and backfill with concrete in a bag. Generally a post hole should be 900 deep. You only have to fix the bottom and top of a post hole to stabilise a post. So concrete in the bottom 100mm, fill with dirt leaving about 200mm for the top. Brace the post till the concrete goes off. Usually good in about 2 hrs in clay soils.
To reno the fence hire an airless spray gun and repaint it with a fence stain. You can do all this for a fraction of the cost of a new fence and about a days work for 20 – 30 meters of fence.
Are you talking about a shed or garage?
A fence won't necessarily add value but if the fence is in bad repair it could result in an offer being lower to allow for the new fence. And people generally over calculate by offering a fair bit lower. When people buy they try to find faults to justify their lower offer so the less "faults" the better. The shed I would leave as it's personal preference. Maybe the buyer won't want a shed?
Kitchen and bathroom are the main things people discount (or walk away) for. Definitely do those (even if a cosmetic reno). You can do it for a lot cheaper than people think. If people think they need a new kitchen they'll estimate $30,000 so take that off the price, when in reality you can do it for a LOT cheaper.
Both will add value if you are doing for a reason.
If you are building a high fence to make the yard private, with gate and second driveway, this would add value.
If you are building a big storage/car shed that can be accesses by car via the second driveway on the corner block yes this would be adding value.
If though you are building a lower fence that doesn't offer anything extra, or a shed with no access then no they won't add real value.
Thank You one and all for your comments. The fence is still in good condition really so I have decided to straighten it. Thanks Freckle for the idea of painting/staining it. Hadn't thought of that one and your right, quick, easy and cheap to make it look a lot better. The shed is a tough one. I could definitely set it up with driveway access via the current side double gate and intended to make it car size anyway but I hadn't planned on adding the driveway etc to make it an actual property improvement feature. It would add an extra dimension and functionality to the property but I will need to do it carefully budget wise.
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