You need a better home. Should you build or remodel?

We often meet folks at this fork in the road.

REMODEL

If your home isn’t working for you, for whatever reasons,  the opportunity to build a new home is alluring. You’ll create the spaces and features you need in the style that you like. It can be built to levels of comfort, health, durability, and energy security unlike any existing home. It can even harvest the sun to produce all the energy it uses.

Building a new home has the advantages of buying a new car. And while there are new homes sitting on the equivalent of a dealers lot, all the decisions about size, spaces, style and features for those development homes have already been made, not to mention any opportunity for them to meet Zero Energy Home standards.

NEW DEVELOPMENT

As a consequence, building a new high performance zero energy home takes time. Time to locate and purchase land. Time to design the new home. Time to establish costs, apply for building permits, and of course, time to ready the building site and construct the home. In short, building a new home requires time and commitment. And just like a new car, it costs more than a used one.

On the other hand there are a lot more “used homes” available than there is land to build on, and in many more desirable locations. This includes the place you already live and the relationships you already have with your community and neighborhood, right on down to your yard.

Making a good home better is what remodeling is all about. Imaginatively reworking and updating existing space breathes new life into old real estate. If needed, even a little extra space can allow big changes to take place. There are usually opportunities to reduce energy use, and in some cases to achieve the performance of a Zero Energy Home. Every home will be renewed over and over as owners come and go. Every owner is a steward of their home.

REMODELED HOME

This crossroad ends up looking like this. In one direction is the allure of building a new home just for you. It requires time and commitment, but in the end you will have that “new car.” Down the other path are two options, improve what you have or find a home on the market with good bones in a location you like that will likely require its own remodeling. This path has the advantage of seeing what you’ve got and achieving change more quickly (or pacing change to suit your resources), but in the end, you still have that “used car.”

We provide the information and guidance to help people like you weigh these options, providing insight into cost and design opportunities and challenges as you meet this fork in the road. We have five steps to move you forward. Learn more about starting your Project Feasibility and Orientation here.