Do you want to convert your bungalow or a house into a bread and butter-making piece? Do it clearly by turning a residential property into a commercial one, or in other words, commercializing residential property. Let us describe to you how to do it:
Visualize the Change
Firstly, the most significant part is the zoning. Take a look at the area in which you have the residential property. Just visualize for a second what will be the condition of the property after its commercialization. What impression will it make on the neighbors around? First, get this answer from yourself and then move on to the next level.
Permissions Required
Well, without the permission of the town authorities and local municipalities, you cannot make any change obviously. Notify the local town authorities and describe to them the proposed changes, in writing, or by meeting the authoritative officers individually. This will let the officers understand the purpose of change and would assist them in making a decision.
Call the Experts
Well, it might be a bit costly to call experts, but it will undoubtedly save a lot of your time, financial worth, and cognitive energy as well. Call some specialists like an architect and a town planner and discuss your plans with them and know if the changes you want to make are feasible or not. The architect can also recommend some tips which might even not be in your mind — so consulting experts is the premium approach.
Additional Costs
While making alterations to an existing building might seem like an uncomplicated and thus comparatively cheap option, there are many hidden costs that you might not have considered. Possibly the largest of these is the cost of labor, with skilled workers often needed to carry out the work to comply with residential standards. It might also be that the property is subject to additional building requirements, relating to the conservation of power and fuel. Once you add these extra costs to the project, it might be that the new build is the cheaper option.
Access Points
An underlying problem with many commercial properties is that they are in town centers. This could mean that there are complexities when it comes to traffic routes and parking. You would be very annoyed at having built the perfect home, only to discover that you had to queue in traffic for fifteen minutes to access your property, due to a recently implemented one-way system. And that parking restrictions mean that the closest you can park to your house is at a fifteen-minute walk away. You must always check these details with the local council.
It would help if you also kept in mind that some properties will have joint entranceways. So, it might be that the hallway is also used to access an existing flat or an apartment that is situated next to your property. This can be checked with the current owner of the property and is absolutely worth considering if you intend to make any internal changes to the building.
External work
While new legislation recently passed by the Government makes it easier to convert commercial buildings into houses, and it is essential to remember that this only applies to the inside of the property. If you are refurbishing or extending a shop front, then you will have to apply for regular planning permission. Plus, if you are looking to convert a commercial property in a market town, then you have to maintain the face of the building or a house to look similar to those in the surrounding area according to a covenant. This can affect the cost of the project if specific materials are necessary to undertake the work.
Surrounding area
There can be many advantages of living in a traditionally commercial area. Such as being close to retail shops and travel networks. Though, you should also consider some of its disadvantages. These include education and health institutions nearby. If not that, then there are chances you might be subject to different noises if the property is situated close to takeaway shops. If there are already a few residential properties nearby, you might even want to ring on a few houses and find out how the residents find living in this place.
Compulsory changes
In many cases, you might need to demolish the whole structure and then build a new one on it. In other instances, it might occur that you do not need to demolish the complete structure to make appropriate changes. But a much mandatory change is the inclusion of a parking lot; this is probably the biggest and most significant change required.
The parking should be ample enough and properly lighted to accommodate a vast number of cars. The type of building would also require some changes as regards to fire resistance, such as the installation of better quality fire extinguishers and sand buckets. The distance between two buckets and extinguishers must also be according to laws.
Some other changes mentioned below might also be required:
- A proper waiting area is compulsory.
- New exhaust fans should be installed.
- A proper exit and entranceway should be generated.
- The air conditioning system needs to be revised and should preferably be changed to a centrally air-conditioned system.
The overall process can be summarized in the following steps:
- Take proper permissions and fulfill legal requirements form the concerned authorities.
- Consult professionals
- Make the necessary changes.
These changes would enable you to convert your residential property for sale into a commercial one in a very suitable way, and you can efficiently commercialize the residential property.