Renovating v Building New

While there are advantages and drawbacks to both renovating and building new, the choice ultimately comes down to individual circumstances and requirements. 

RENOVATING

Pros….

• Working with an existing home, avoiding full demolition and building new, carbon emissions are a lot lower.
• If you have emotional connections to your current home and want to maintain the heritage and history of the home this can be done through renovations.
• Finding somewhere to build a new home can be difficult and may push you out of the area that you want to live, so renovating your current home you can maintain your location and neighbourhood.

Cons….

• There are lots of unknowns when embarking on a renovation, once you start peeling back some of the home you can expose things that need more work and you can cause more damage.
• Because of these unknowns costs are higher with a renovation, there is more work involved in maintaining the original parts of the home, access can be tricky if you are extending out towards the rear of the home.
• There will always be compromises and limitations with the layout, sizes of rooms etc. You may not end up with your ‘dream layout’.
• It can have a negative effect on re-sale.

BUILDING NEW

Pros….

• Starting from scratch you have full flexibility with the design of the home, the spaces that you want, street scape.
• Designing and building a new home is easier to manage the costs, this can all be clear from the beginning of the project.
• You can also maintain design continuity throughout the home.

Cons….

• The process of building new can take longer than a renovation, this all depends on the extent of the renovation.
• You will have to move out, rent somewhere for a period of time which can be costly and inconvenient. In certain renovations, there is the opportunity to remain in your home whilst the works are being carried out.

We find that the decision between building new and renovating is typically based on circumstance. Building a new home is popular for those that want complete control over a customised layout for their home and don’t want to compromise. With the lifestyle changes that have occurred over the last few years with adapting to the COVID-19 situation, people have worked out exactly what they need from their home, adding in spaces for working and exercising from home etc.

Renovations are popular for those people that want to reduce waste and carbon emissions. It results in being able to stay in the location that they want to and if it is a small scale renovation then it will be more cost effective as well.

Some advice for those embarking on this new home journey would be to find a designer and builder that you connect with. It is an extensive process and you need to make sure that you are happy with the end result. Ask lots of questions, read reviews and testimonials and ask to view recent works. Also, if you are thinking of doing a large scale renovation, be open to changing your plan to a new build instead of absorbing more costs than you had budgeted for and compromising on the end result.

Schedule a consultation with Weststyle’s custom home design team and build your dream home today.