Does your home have instant kerb appeal? Or is it more likely to put potential buyers off? From quick and inexpensive touches to longer-term projects, updating the front of your property can add instant value - Words Katherine Sorrell

First impressions count. It’s said that buyers make up their minds about a property within the first 11 seconds – so you don’t have long to grab their attention and get them hooked. And in the current market first impressions are even more vital, says Russell Jervis, managing director of Haart estate agents. “With prices likely to fall slightly further in some areas of the UK over the coming months, it’s incredibly important to ensure that you showcase your property’s assets,” he says. “Presenting a home that stands out from the crowd will give the vendor an advantage in any market, but in the current climate can help secure a sale closer to the asking price.”

The basics
Where to start? Step outside your house for a moment and give it a long, hard appraisal. Be honest. What does it look like to someone who has never seen it before? Smeary windows and wonky gutters just won’t cut it in today’s competitive climate. Neither will piles of windswept leaves, overflowing bins or grubby net curtains. These are the easy things to fix. Move wheelie bins or recycling boxes out of sight, clean the windows, wash the nets, polish the brassware on your front door and sweep the driveway, mow the lawn and trim overgrowing garden plants.

If necessary, ensure that your gutters and downpipes are neatly attached and aligned, and clip back any flapping aerial cables and align satellite dishes – the aim is to reduce visual clutter so that your house looks as attractive as possible, says Paul Treanor of moveme.com, who adds that owners of shared properties with a common entrance should ensure that they’re up to scratch, too.

Walls, doors and windows
While most buyers will spot a cover-up paint job from a mile away, it’s still a good idea to ensure that any paintwork on the front of your house is as pristine as possible. This means paying attention to your gate, railings and/or fence, front and garage door, windows and perhaps the façade itself. For wood – and metalwork, remove any rust or rotten wood, fill or replace as required, prime and then paint, using appropriate products and ensuring the colours complement your property and the street as a whole. A window may require just a quick sand or a lick of paint, while a front door could take a few coats over several days, either way there’s no substitute for that gleaming, fresh look.

Walls, may, depending on their height, need scaffolding to be repainted safely, but if they’re letting the house down with blemishes, cracks or bulging render it’s worth tackling them. If you can see damp patches, make sure you know what caused them and fix the problem; blown or missing areas of render should be repaired first, too.

Use a paint colour that’s appropriate for the house and its surroundings – now is not the time for anything too wacky – and avoid painting brickwork, which is usually designed to be left bare. If a brick wall is a problem, it’s best to clean off surface grime and, if necessary, repoint the mortar. For some walls, however, the only solution is to cover them over – more about cladding in the ‘Bigger ideas’ section.

The next step up from renovating and decorating doors and windows is to replace them entirely. This is really most worth doing when they are either rusted, rotten or otherwise past their sell-by-date, or their style is such that they seriously detract from the property as a whole. A 1960s window in a period house, for example, is crying out to be replaced with an elegant timber sash, and a solid, panelled front door would be a great substitute for a flimsy, flat one. In many circumstances, uPVC windows are inappropriate (and they’re rapidly going out of fashion) and you could enhance your property enormously by fitting windows that are more sympathetic. Replacing windows gives you the opportunity to install double glazing, with resulting improvements in energy efficiency, too.

And you don’t just have to do like-for-like in terms of size and shape, points out Hugo Tugman of Architect Your Home. People really do read the façade of a house like a face, he adds. They look at the elevation and think about its proportions, and one of the things that often upsets the proportions of the front of a house is the windows. Without any significant structural alterations you can make a window higher or lower. You may even be able to put in a projecting bay, it usually costs less than you think.

While tackling doors and windows, consider how much of a wow factor (or not) is given by their knobs, handles, latches and other ‘furniture’. Architectural ironmongery is relatively easy and inexpensive to replace, particularly if you’re already tackling paintwork and can, therefore, easily cover up holes or gaps left when shapes or sizes change. And the difference can be truly amazing – from uninspiring, old-fashioned or cheap-looking fittings to modern or traditional, high quality, tactile accessories.

Rainwater goods
House facades aren’t designed to be cluttered with too many gutters, downpipes and hoppers – but internal alterations over the years can sometimes result in messy external pipework that adds nothing to the appearance of a property. “You don’t want rainwater goods to stand out, but it’s usually fairly easy to tidy things up, perhaps with internal pipe runs or just by simplifying the external appearance,” explains Hugo. “It’s the diagonal, branching pipes and extra hoppers that are the main problem – you don’t notice downpipes and gutters so much. You can buy beautiful cast iron goods that are very suitable for important period properties and listed buildings, but otherwise choose plain plastic ones – they come in a range of colours – and just keep things very simple.” 

Porches
Talking about front doors inevitably leads to the question of porches. If yours is good-looking and functional but a bit run-down, it’s time for a repair job. If, however, it doesn’t suit your property (too big, too small, out of character) this may be an opportunity to re-think and re-build. Or perhaps you don’t have a porch and would like to add one – provided, of course, this will complement both your own house and the street as a whole. In most cases, you don’t require planning permission to erect a porch, but it’s always a good idea to check. And unless you’re going to follow the exact format of other houses nearby, it’s worth having the design drawn up by a professional, as a porch in the wrong materials or built to awkward proportions may actually devalue your property. Get it right, however, and it will not only help retain heat in your hallways but also provide a handy space for wellies, umbrellas, coats and so on, and create an attractive feature in its own right. Even a canopy over the door can add interest and personality, as well as a sheltered space while you search for your key.

Drives and garages
Cracked or potholed drives, or tarmacked ones that look like an Eastern Bloc motorway, aren’t going to do you any favours when it comes to viewings. But before you create another perfectly smooth run of concrete, think about the environment. Impermeable driveways can contribute to flooding, and if you want to lay a new one that’s more than five square metres in size, you’ll have to apply for planning permission. Alternatives include gravel, porous asphalt or concrete, permeable block paving or a grassed or planted area.

The Royal Horticultural Society has some advice, including paving just the wheel-track area and planting the space between with low-growing thymes, bugle or creeping jenny. It also recommends innovative, recycled plastic ‘trays’ made of honeycomb-matrix cells that hold resin-bonded aggregate, and tiles made from chipped, recycled rubber that allow water through. “Clever and inspired garden design, hand in hand with the development of new, more permeable materials that allow rainwater to soak through, surely hold the key,” says the Society. As for your garage, ensure it looks fresh and clean from the outside; if necessary, paint or even replace the door. And if a little disguise is needed, consider siting an attractive climbing plant so that it scrambles over the garage, softening the edges and adding colour and fragrance to the area.

Bigger ideas
There are plenty of major works that can dramatically improve the outside appearance of your house – at a price. And they’re worth considering if you really want to turn your ugly duckling into a swan, and provided you’re not planning to sell straight away (since you’re unlikely to get your money back in the current climate). Back to Front Exterior Design specialises in such remodelling, with spectacular results. Designer Aleksa Gibson explains: “We look at a house holistically, and we especially consider the roof, walls and windows. If you take a fresh eye and change all three you can really transform a house.” Roof lines may be altered (shallow slopes tend to look civic and unwelcoming, says Aleksa) and materials replaced – natural slate is a particularly good substitute for, say, concrete tiles.

Windows can be remodelled and replaced and walls, especially if made from uniform, modern brick, can be clad for a more interesting surface. Rendering is one solution; tile-hanging another (very expensive) option, while weatherboarding – using pre-painted boards made from fibre-cement – is another, striking solution. “There’s nothing new here,” says Aleksa. “It’s a question of using the architecture that’s already around us, and using it to maximise the character of the property.” 

CONTACTS
• Architect Your Home www.architect-yourhome.co.uk; 0800 849 8505. Pay-as-you-go services of a local architect
• Back To Front Exterior Design www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com; 0125 282 0984. Transformations of dated or unattractive houses, and new builds
• RIBA www.architecture.com; 020 7580 5533. The Royal Institute of British Architects can help you find and commission an architect for your project
• Jim Lawrence www.jim-lawrence.co.uk; 0147 382 6680. Ironwork, door and window furniture, and other handmade products for the home
• Purlfrost www.purlfrost.com; 0800 599 9421. Bespoke window film, including fanlight designs and house numbers
• Ecomerchant www.ecomerchant.co.uk; 0179 553 0130. High performance wooden doors and windows
• The Original Box Sash Windows Co www.boxsash.com; 0800 169 3198. Energy-efficient timber sash windows and doors
• International www.international-paints.co.uk; 0844 770 9444. Specialist paints for indoors and out
• Dulux www.dulux.co.uk; 0870 444 1111. Wide range of paints, including Weathershield for exteriors
• The Greenshop www.greenshop.co.uk; 0145 277 0629. The UK’s largest supplier of natural paints