Renovate, rebuild or move?
Updated: 9 hours ago
If your current home no longer works for you, renovating may seem like the obvious solution.
But before investing substantially in an existing property, it's worth asking a broader question:
Is renovating actually the best option?
Depending on your home, site, budget and priorities, rebuilding—or selling and moving to another property—may provide a better outcome.
There isn't one answer that suits everyone. The important thing is to compare the options before becoming committed to a particular design or course of action.
Why renovate?
For many homeowners, the strongest argument for renovating is simple: you already have a property and location you want to keep.
You might like the neighbourhood, schools, neighbours, garden or proximity to work and family. The house itself may also have qualities worth retaining—character, established landscaping, good orientation or spaces that already work well.
Renovation can allow you to keep those advantages while addressing the parts of the home that no longer suit you.
It can make particular sense where:
much of the existing house is worth retaining
the house can be adapted reasonably efficiently
the site has opportunities for extending up, out or under
the existing character is important to you
buying an equivalent property in the same area would be difficult or expensive.
A good renovation doesn't necessarily mean making the house much larger. Sometimes re-planning the space you already have can achieve much of what you need.
When does renovating become difficult?
The more you ask an existing house to change, the less benefit there may be in retaining it.
A project can become expensive when it involves extensive demolition, structural alteration, house raising, major excavation, replacing most services and finishes, and then adding substantial new floor area.
Older buildings can also contain uncertainties that aren't apparent until work begins.
This doesn't mean a major renovation isn't worthwhile. Many are. But once relatively little of the original house is being retained, it's reasonable to ask:
Are we still getting enough benefit from renovating rather than starting again?
That question is particularly important before spending significant money developing a renovation design.
When should you consider rebuilding?
Starting again provides a very different opportunity.
Rather than designing around an existing structure, a new home can be planned specifically for the site and the way you want to live.
That may allow better:
orientation and natural light
connection between indoor and outdoor spaces
room relationships and circulation
accessibility
energy efficiency
structural and construction efficiency
use of a difficult or constrained site.
Rebuilding can become worth investigating where the existing house is in poor condition, poorly positioned on the site, difficult to adapt, or where the proposed renovation would retain relatively little of value.
But demolition and rebuilding have costs of their own, and planning controls may make retaining the existing house necessary or advantageous. This is particularly relevant to some older Brisbane properties affected by character controls.
A new house also doesn't automatically mean a cheaper project. The appropriate comparison is between the complete cost and outcome of each option, not simply a renovation $/m² rate versus a new-build $/m² rate.
What about moving?
This option is easily overlooked once you've started imagining what your existing home could become.
But sometimes the most practical solution is to buy a property that already provides more of what you need.
Consider what your current property is worth, what you would need to spend on it and what the combined amount might buy elsewhere.
For example, if your home is worth $1.5 million and you're considering investing another $700,000 in it, the relevant question isn't simply:
“Is the renovation worth $700,000?”
It may also be:
“Would we prefer the renovated home, or what approximately $2.2 million could buy us elsewhere?”
The comparison is more complicated than simply adding the two figures. Selling, buying and moving involve transaction costs, finance implications and potentially compromises in location, land or the qualities you already value.
But it is still a useful test.
Start with what you're trying to achieve
Before comparing the three options, define the problem.
Ask yourself:
What isn't working about our current home?
What additional spaces do we actually need?
What do we like about the existing house?
What do we like about the property and location?
How long do we expect to live here?
What are our priorities if the budget can't achieve everything?
What is the maximum total project budget we're comfortable with?
These questions can reveal whether the problem is really the house, the property, or simply the way the existing house is currently configured.
Compare the complete costs
One of the biggest mistakes is comparing the options using incomplete numbers.
For a renovation or rebuild, consider the total project budget, not just an anticipated builder's price.
This can include professional fees, approvals, contingency, site works and other costs outside the building contract.
For moving, consider selling and purchasing costs as well as the price difference between properties.
The objective isn't to predict every dollar at this early stage. It's to make sure you're comparing the options on a reasonably consistent basis.
Consider what you already have
Financial comparisons alone don't tell the whole story.
An established home may have things that are difficult or expensive to recreate: mature trees, a good relationship to the street, character, views, privacy, a large garden or simply years of familiarity with the neighbourhood.
Conversely, an existing house can impose compromises that remain even after substantial renovation.
The question is therefore not simply which option costs less.
It's:
Which option gives you the best overall outcome for the amount you're prepared to invest?
You don't need to know the answer before you start
You may already be certain that you want to renovate. If so, the question becomes how to make the best use of the existing property and budget.
But if you're considering a substantial investment and aren't sure whether renovating is the right decision, you don't need to decide first and investigate later.
The options can be tested before committing to detailed design.
Understanding the property, identifying what you want to achieve and establishing a realistic budget can often make the appropriate direction much clearer.
Not sure which way to go?
Our Project Definition process starts by understanding your property, objectives and budget before progressing into detailed design.
For some projects, that means establishing the best way to renovate. For others, the early investigation may help determine whether rebuilding or moving deserves serious consideration.
The aim is to make that decision while your options are still open and changes are inexpensive to make.
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