What's the difference between rebuilding and completely renovating?

Quiet often we tackle a project to fully renovate an old property by stripping it down to its studs and pretty much rebuild the whole thing. Not much remains from the original structure and basically everything is rebuilt anew. Then, the question is why not just bulldoze the old house and rebuild it as new?

One such project we are currently undertaking is in beautiful Brookswood neighborhood of Langley. This 2,700 square feet rancher was built in 1972 and homeowners recently bought it and wanted to convert it into their dream home.

They like the footprint of the home, but everything else of this 50+ years old home needed to go. So, they asked the very same question: "Should we flatten it to a ground and start a new? Or fully renovate it instead?"

The decision ultimately comes down to basic economics: The Cost

Building a new home means building permits from municipality must be obtained, old home must be demolished, excavating for a new foundation, and site service for utilities must be completed. And then you will also need a new building architectural design and blueprint, followed by new framing, sheathing work as well as roofing, just to name a few. The total cost of this phase is substantial.

So, the alternative consideration is a full renovation. By keeping the existing structural frame and restructuring everything within the original envelope instead, you can skip and eliminate all of the above steps and save associated costs (well, some permits could still be required, depending on what type of full renovation planned!). Yet, you can have pretty much entirely new home built.

That's exactly what we are doing at this project. When completed, we will have built entirely new home with new kitchen, new cabinets, new bathrooms and bedrooms, new doors, new energy-efficient windows, new exteriors, new plumbing, new and upgraded power and electrical wirings, new energy efficient LED lightings throughout, new charging station for electric vehicle, new beams for covered deck and patio, completely new landscaping design and construction, including new pool in the backyard and modern landscape lighting, and finally wrapped in a beautiful new sidings and soffits.

Pretty much brand-new home construction on an existing foundation and structural frame for much less cost than building anew from ground up. Now, that's indeed a smart decision that makes total sense.

Photos on this page show where we are at today and as we progress with the transformation we will be posting new photos and updates. Please visit this page often to see how different it will look in before and after comparison!