The needs we have from our home can change in the blink of an eye. An unexpected pregnancy may mean needing an extra bedroom, or two! New hobbies may mean additional space needed for accommodating the stuff that goes with them. Sometimes our wishes and desires for a home can warrant thinking about the future and what we want from our space. If we already have a home it may not be so much what we want or need from the home, but how to get it. Trying to decide between a home renovation or buying new can be a tricky question, but Gerard Construction has a few tips to help you decide.

Structural Integrity

If you are looking to dramatically change the structure of your home, you may be looking to build a new home. While, with a flexible budget and time frame, we can make large structural changes to your home, it may not be the best option for every space, especially if you are partially entertaining a move. There are a number of structural changes to a home that can be made in renovations, adding walls, removing portions of walls that aren’t load bearing, and adding on to certain homes are projects we regularly tend to. There are others we may discuss with you further to see if this really is the best option for you and your home.

Budget Considerations

Depending on the type of renovations, it may be a smaller investment to renovate the home you have. For typical renovations it is $50 per square foot cheaper on average, according to Forbes. While this is not always the case, if you are working on a budget, you should consider this in your decision. Exceptions to this may be certain types of add ons, structural changes to the home, or budgets where the new build isn’t comparable. Labor is actually cheaper for a new build, but overall renovations are more budget friendly.

What Changes

The scope of your project will determine whether you should renovate or look into buying new. If you love every part of your home except for one portion, like the kitchen or an outdoor living space, then it is clear that a renovation is a good option. It would be more costly and time consuming to find a new home you loved as much. However, if you start working through the changes you want to make to your existing home and you begin to see more rooms you want adjusted than not, take good notes and we can start making a plan for a new build. With a renovation or new build, we recommend taking a serious amount of time to imagine an ideal day in each room of your home to think about what your needs might be. If you aren’t sure if something is possible, come see our team, we enjoy thinking creatively about making a space yours.

Other Factors

There may be other factors at play that keep you in your home or drive you to move. An ideal school district, a closer commute for work, proximity to family, or looking for more urban or rural spaces can be driving factors to where we live, outside of the actual space of our home. These factors should be considered as they are just as important for our lives as the walls we live between.

If you are considering a renovation, a new build, or still mulling between the two, contact us at Gerard Construction. You can work with our team, who has decades of experience, in finance, construction, design, and renovation. We can help make your dream into a reality.