Renovation vs. New Build

✨ The Delight of Design: Renovate or New Build?

Recently, a past client reached out, expressing how much they were enjoying their home. They shared how they were simply delighted to wake up in their refreshed space and, equally, how much they enjoyed showing off their beautifully personalized home to neighbors and friends. They understood the profound joy of daily living in a well-designed space.

It leads us to the fundamental question facing many high-end homeowners: When should you renovate, and when should you embark on a new custom build?

This decision, I find, is deeply personal and always sits at the intersection of financial strategy and your most authentic home desires.

(For context, this was a kitchen refresh project.)

1. 📍 Location: The Irreplaceable Asset

The very first, and often most critical, consideration is your home’s address.

• Is Your Location Prime? Does your current spot offer proximity to everything you cherish—family, schools, downtown access, or perhaps an irreplaceable view? If your location provides the highest value to your family's daily life, a renovation allows you to upgrade your structure without sacrificing your place.

• Do You Desire a New Environment? Conversely, are you longing for more space, greater privacy, or a different community? If the land itself—the size of the lot, the distance from neighbors—is the ultimate constraint, then a new custom build on a new property might be the necessary step to fulfill your spatial desires.

2. 📐 Design Scope: Transformation vs. Creation

Both renovation and new construction offer opportunities for bespoke design, but they differ in scale and freedom.

• Renovation: The Art of Transformation. A skillful renovation can accomplish an astonishing amount: unlocking additional storage, vastly improving spatial flow, delivering a state-of-the-art kitchen, and completely refreshing interior finishes. Even exterior renovations can achieve extra square footage, while interior design tweaks can make existing spaces work exponentially harder. You are transforming a treasured existing asset.

• New Build: The Blank Canvas. A new build is the purest chance to truly craft the home of your dreams without structural limitations. Every ceiling height, window placement, and room dimension is precisely engineered to your specifications, resulting in a cohesive, uncompromised piece of architectural art. But it comes at the cost of time, about 18-24 months for a new build.

3. 💰 Financial & Logistical Strategy

The budget and timeline are inherently different for these two paths.

• The Cost of New Construction: The price per square foot for new construction is highly variable, depending on the builder's expertise, the quality of trades and materials specified, and the cost of the land itself.

• The Cost of Renovation: Renovation often appears to price better initially, but you must factor in the complexity of dealing with existing structure and systems. Furthermore, you must consider the logistics: will you live in the home during the renovation, enduring construction noise and disruption, or will you need to secure and pay for temporary housing? The latter significantly impacts the total project cost and stress level.

  
  

I often tell clients this: If you genuinely love your current home and its location, but are longing for a few critical upgrades—a renovation is likely the perfect fit.

In either scenario, it is wise to bring a designer and builder together early in the process. This integrated team can navigate the complexities of permitting, manage financial decisions with transparency, and offer realistic timelines, ensuring your project—be it renovation or new build—culminates in that same, delightful feeling of waking up in your perfect home.

The TLDR version: location + design + money = overall value and impact. Bring experts to this process early, if nothing else, to help you assess your options and see a house in a new light.

Thanks for reading -

Montana