RENOVATE VS REBUILD: HOW TO BE SURE YOU’RE MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE
It’s not uncommon to feel uninspired or simply tired of your own four walls. Regardless of how long you’ve been in your current home, different factors can lead you to feeling like you’re craving a change up. The scale of transformation you’ve got in mind will lead you to two options, if moving home is off the cards - to renovate, or to rebuild. Once you’re in the mindset of making this type of change to your home, you’ll need to weigh up your options carefully; we’re going to help you to do exactly this!
Assess your starting point - and be realistic
Your most tangible home transformation avenue will be largely based on your starting point. Naturally, there’s going to be a considerable difference between the potential for a Victorian terraced home, versus a detached new build. Is there scope to completely knock down, and rebuild your home? In all home rebuild instances, your plans will be subjected to local laws and you’ll need to obtain planning permission from your local council before you proceed - if not, you may be ordered to knock your rebuild effort back down to the ground. We’ve created a residential planning permission guide to help you to understand some of the complexities at this stage.
That being said, when you work with the right professionals, you might be able to achieve a lot more than you’d imagined through either option. We’ve transformed terraced properties with precisely planned rear home extensions, so you don’t need to rule out a rebuild or extension. However, if you’d like to completely escape the legality that rebuilding or extending your home brings, then a full renovation may suit you better.
Use your goals to guide you
At the start of any design and build project, we ask our clients to tell us what they’d like to achieve from their home renovation or rebuild project. Usually, their answer confirms their intentions for us, and they tend to fall into two clear categories. There’s those who fixate on aesthetics, and there’s those who are driven by space and practicality. While we build both values into our work, they come in handy when we’re considering renovations and rebuilds or extensions. If you’re more concerned about how the decor choices that you made a decade ago don’t reflect your current preferences, then your project would be better suited as a renovation. However, if you are constantly getting frustrated with the lack of worktop space in your kitchen, then a rebuild and reconfiguration or new extension may work better.
Factor in the future
When you’re wondering whether you should renovate or rebuild your home, you should see it as an investment that needs to serve you in the long-run. Granted, interior renovations can be done periodically, but you’d get much more from your budget if you can price some longevity into your thinking. By this, we mean don’t be blindsided by trends; approaching a renovation project and getting hung up on the latest decor fads will actually limit the value that you’ll enjoy from the project. Luckily, we’ve got an eye for timeless design, and we are always here to curb your enthusiasm for whatever is ‘viral’ or ‘trending’.
In the question of rebuilds, you should think about the way you’d like your home to serve you in the future. If it’s not going to be your forever home, a complete rebuild might not be as effective for you. However, if you’ve bought your dream home and you can see yourself living in it for years to come, a rebuild or extension effort may help you to make it perfect for you now, and future you.
Is it cheaper to reno or rebuild?
It might be surprising to learn that renovations and rebuilds can come with similar price tags - and there’s actually ways that you can save on a full rebuild, that you can’t do when renovating. Different VAT relief schemes mean that per square metre, a rebuild can end up being cheaper than a renovation.
When you’re renovating an existing house, you’ll have considerations that need to be made that can make the total investment pretty much equal to a rebuild - from carrying out asbestos surveys, to encountering any kind of structural issues. If we had to share our top priorities for your home renovation, it’d definitely include being aware of the state of your current property, as without this awareness, you may begin a project that ends up costing even more than knocking your home down and starting again - it sounds dramatic, and it’s a worst case scenario; but nonetheless, it should be food for thought!
Homeowner ROI: renovating versus rebuilding
The financial value that you make from a home renovation or a full rebuild can be impressive, reaching up to 20% profit in some cases. However, the only real way to maximise your ROI as a homeowner or property developer is to work with home renovation experts or professional contractors on your project. Taking shortcuts or choosing poor-quality tradesmen or materials will only cause issues further down the line, and it could even be to the detriment of any profit you’d made. It’s also worth noting that when you rebuild in a way that suits you and your requirements, you may be limiting yourself in terms of profit - but if you’ve created your forever home and you can’t envision yourself moving, then the value you’ve added will far outweigh this.
Design or build your dream space with us
Here, our ultimate goal is to give our clients as much value as possible from their renovation or rebuild project. As a team of trusted general contractors in London, we work closely with you, understanding your aims and assessing your current home, suggesting ways to improve the space that offer the perfect balance of practicality, aesthetics and long-term value. Whether you’re exploring a renovation or a rebuild project, simply contact us today to get started.
