Additions Plus: A home improvement company offers homeowners alternatives to selling

Editor’s note: This is an installment in the HOMES Spotlight series, which features residential developers, homebuilders and brokerages in Greater Richmond.

Seven years ago, Phillip and Erin Cobb built a 3,400-square-foot house for their family in Hanover County. It was the third one they’d built in 16 years, and they were happy with the design.

Once they moved in, though, they realized it needed a few tweaks to become their dream home.

“We have three children – two of them teenagers, with a lot of friends who visit us,” Phillip Cobb said. “So we wanted this to be a home where we can host friends and family.”

Other homeowners – especially ones as experienced with homebuilding as the Cobbs were – might have considered selling the 20-acre property and building a new house at another location.

The couple didn’t even consider it an option, though.

“This is our final build because we’re on family land,” Cobb said.

Plus, the Cobbs liked the house’s core features, which they had helped design. So instead of selling, they decided to build a full-featured pool house that could be a gathering spot for family and friends.

The Cobbs also decided to build a detached garage on the property.

The couple discussed their options with a few builders before choosing Hanover County-based Additions Plus to undertake the project.

The company, which was founded in 2024, specializes in large-scale renovations and custom-designed additions, and it offers turnkey services for its clients.

“We realized a couple years ago that there was a big gap in the market for structured, large-scale renovation and addition companies that can handle everything in-house, from initial design through construction,” said Steven Fogleman, a co-owner of Additions Plus and its general manager. “We saw a huge need for that because it streamlines the process and makes the client’s experience smoother.”

Because the company is an offshoot of Hanover-based RCI Builders, it draws on the older company’s design and construction expertise for its own projects.

“There’s some overhead and talent between the two, but they’re separate companies,” said Todd Rogers, a co-owner of Additions Plus and RCI Builders.

The Cobbs found Additions Plus’s turnkey operation to be especially appealing.

“Having built three houses, we knew the fact that Additions Plus was a one-stop shop was going to make the process seamless,” Cobb said. “We came to them with the idea, and they created it for us.”

From designing the two structures through building them, the project took six months.

“The quality of the work was high, and the communication with Steven and his team was great,” Cobb said.  “It turned out really nice, and the pool house is a perfect space.”

The Cobbs’s decision to modify their property rather than selling it isn’t unusual these days. 

“A lot of people are doing home improvement projects as an alternative to moving,” Rogers said.

For many homeowners, high lending rates are driving factors.

“A lot of people still have three-percent mortgages, and adding on to their house rather than buying a new one means they can keep their mortgage rate in place, while improving their house’s livability and adding to its value,” Rogers said.

The prospect of paying a higher lending rate with a newly purchased house is daunting enough to impact national mortgage stats.

“Prior to last year, the average mortgage lasted five years,” Fogleman said. “Now, it’s seven years.”

Low inventory for pre-existing homes and limited lot availability for new construction are also keeping homeowners out of the market.

“Many localities are convinced they don’t need more housing, and that has squeezed housing a lot,” Rogers said. “We can’t build on air.”

In the course of its two-year history, Additions Plus has done full-house renovations as well as smaller projects like adding primary suites on the first floor.

“For one project, we took the roof off of a one-story home and added a second story,” Fogleman said.  “We’re also building ADUs (accessory dwelling units) because the City of Richmond has lifted its restrictions on them.”

With the growing interest in home improvements, Additions Plus has stayed busy in its first two years.

“After last year’s growth and increasing market recognition, we’re moving into a busy season,” Fogleman said. “We have multiple full‑house renovations, several large additions and a number of detached construction projects scheduled for this year.”

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