7 Granny Flat Secrets – The Masterclass – Build & Design Presentation
7 Granny Flat Secrets was part 2 of a Granny Flat Masterclass held at The Build & Design Center in Brisbane
The masterclass was hosted by Adrien Mamet from Mamet Homes who guided the attendees through 7 Granny Flat Secrets guaranteed to make their Granny Flat stand out and become a much sought after investment to their property.
The first of the 7 Granny Flat secrets to ensuring you have the best experience when building your new granny flat – Select your builder FIRST. This simple process will allow you to woerk in a collaborative process and design and build your project within budget, ensuring you have taken the time to eliminate any areas that could cost you money in surprise variations!
The second of the 7 Granny Flat secrets has to do with earthworks. Nothing can derail your granny flat plans like poorly executed earthworks. The more data you have at this stage, the less your risk exposure!
The choice to go Full custom design or an off the plan Granny Flat. Granny flats that have already been designed – ie off the plan, are far less likely to blow your budget. Off the plan Granny Flats have been optimised for build-ability to reduce costs, and often built numerous times before, so the risk of cost blow outs is minimised
This next secret may be a little bit contentious, however from our experience, there is a lot to be said for timber. From a sustainability stand point – a timber framed Granny Flat uses far less embodied energy than a steel frame. But then you also factor in expansion and contraction – The overall measurements of a Granny Flat often sit at the extreme limits of where steel is able to expand. this means that the Granny Flat either requires more expansion joints, or risk more movement. Movement is not something that you want in a home. Timber expands and contracts at much lower rates than steel does!
Most granny flats these days are built to a very low price point, and quite often, cladding is overlooked in terms of value management. Granny flats are often built in the back yard and quite often the rear and at least one side are not seen – so who cares what these materials are made of – Select a more affordable option on these elevations, and you can make better choices for the elevations that are seen. This Granny Flat Secret will have your new home head and shoulders above the rest in your neighbourhood.
Granny Flats have a smaller footprint than a regular home – so this next Granny Flat Secret could actually make a huge difference to the equity in your investment. With such a small footprint, comes smaller elevations and less materials. this means that up grading to a better building system, although more costly in the short term – could pay massive dividends in the long term. Increasing the thermal mass of the walls is not a massive upgrade, but this will greatly reduce the running costs of your new granny flat, making it more marketable at sale time or if you decide to sub lease down the track
The last of the 7 Granny Flat Secrets to make the biggest improvement is higher ceilings! In smaller places it is easy to feel cramped and closed in, and Granny Flats are no different. Increasing the ceiling height is a great little Granny Flat Secret to make your new home feel far more spacious and luxurious. There are a few different ways to increase the feeling of space in your granny flat!
