When your home no longer fits the way you live, you might consider two options for customizing your home: remodel your current home, or build a new house. Which option should you choose?
We’ll begin with a big, “It depends.” It depends on your needs and the scope of the project. You may be looking at changing up one room to better suit your needs. Perhaps you want to finish your basement, or upgrade your kitchen to have better counter space.
Remodel, or Build a New House?
If you’re looking to modify multiple rooms or do major overhauls, it turns into a significant undertaking. You might start wondering whether it makes more sense to build a new home instead of remodeling your current home.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer on whether to remodel or build a house. The best choice depends on your current home, goals, and budget. We’ll outline some things to think about when deciding on whether to remodel your house or build a new house.
When Does Remodeling Make Sense?
When should you go for a remodel instead of building a new home? Typically, it comes down to scope and big-picture considerations.
You may opt to remodel your house if your home checks all the boxes except that one little thing. For example, you love the layout and location, but you really could use one more bathroom. You happen to have a good space for a bathroom addition, so you work out a plan to add that in. Now your home accommodates everyone’s needs. You have achieved bathroom balance!
Remodels also can make sense if you really love your current location, your home’s layout works for you, and the updates you’re considering are mainly cosmetic or low-cost. This can include things like kitchen renovations, finishing the basement, or small home additions.
If you’re considering a remodel, we offer whole-home remodels and can explore that option with you.
Where Remodeling Gets Complicated
Remodeling tends to get complicated, in a lot of cases. It can be tricky when you start thinking about things like:
- Tearing down or building new walls
- Correcting structural issues
- Reworking plumbing and/or electrical
- Working around your current layout and foundation to add/remove a major element from the original home design
Complicated work means expensive work. And oftentimes, compromise. You might have a certain vision in your head that can’t quite be fulfilled based on the limitations of your current home’s build. After the remodel is complete, you might not end up with exactly what you had hoped for.
When Should I Consider Building a New Home?
Building a new house often makes more sense if you want to get the most out of your home. Your current home may not fit your lifestyle anymore. If you need significant additional space, a different floor plan, or better energy efficiency, consider building a custom home.
When you build a house, the possibilities are far more open. You simply need to work with the land and neighborhood guidelines.
Key Advantage of Building: Get What You Need From the Start
Building a new home reframes how you get to think about your home. There is no existing infrastructure to work around. You decide everything that you want and need!
Instead of asking, “How can we make this house work?” you get to explore, “What do we actually want our home to do for us?”
Building a new home opens the door to options that often aren’t practical or possible with a remodel:
- Including quality of life features like a mudroom or custom storage
- Choosing the land to build your house on
- Designing a kitchen that works best for your cooking style
- Having the exact number of bedrooms you need
- Setting up your outdoor spaces for your needs
- Factoring in your future needs
Cost Considerations
Remodeling and building houses each have nuanced cost considerations.
Remodeling costs depend a lot on your existing space and the scope of the project. Renovation costs tend to be more difficult to estimate upfront, because bigger issues can be uncovered once the sledgehammers come out.
New home construction includes land and site costs, and the home cost itself will come with a bigger ticket price than a remodel. However, you get more control over where your money goes, and price estimates are often more accurate than renovation estimates. You also will end up with a home that is designed exactly how you want it.
Time and Stress Assessment
It’s also smart to consider your long- and short-term life disruptions.
If you’re remodeling your current home, that means you’re living in a construction zone. Depending on the project, that can either be a minor inconvenience or a major pain. Maybe you can’t use your kitchen for a few weeks, or you even need to stay at a hotel or friend’s place while certain work is underway. And if surprises come up during the remodel, that can add to the cost and timeline.
New home construction requires more planning upfront, lots of decisions, and a bigger investment. The upside is that it can be lower-stress overall because the project takes place before you move in, and the result is a finished home customized to your lifestyle.
If you design your home with your future needs in mind as well, you can live in a home where you won’t need to ask yourself about remodeling versus building ever again!
Break it Down for Your Lifestyle Needs
Remodeling can be a great option when you love your current home and location but need to make some simpler changes. When your home wish list grows and involves major structural changes, additions, or a completely different layout, it is worth considering what you could build from the ground up.
A custom home gives you the opportunity to start with how you want to live, and let that guide the design of your home. Instead of figuring out how to make an existing house work, you can choose the layout, features, and finishes that fit your needs and style from the beginning.
Sarona Homes specializes in custom home design, and we are here to answer questions about that process! If you aren’t sure whether to remodel your home or build a new one, let’s talk about your home goals. We have helped build dream homes for Southeastern Wisconsin homeowners. Is yours next?
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