Are you asking professionals and friends if you should renovate or detonate?

You may be trying to decide whether to do a knock down rebuild or work with your existing home to renovate, retrofit or extend.

Learn more about how to improve your existing home, and create a great outcome for your budget and lifestyle.

HOME Method member, Angela, shares her experience in working with her designer to choose the best approach for their Tasmanian project.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 330. In it, I continue my conversation with Angela, a Tasmanian HOME Method member.

She and partner have decided that, instead of doing the knock-down rebuild of their home as was originally planned, they are undertaking a more efficient and lower cost renovation of the existing home.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of my conversation with Angela and how they arrived at this decision, I encourage you to check out Episode 329. In it, you’ll hear what drove their project change after initial discussions about a new build with a local builder.

In this episode, we learn more about the design process, and some of the specific renovation preparation Angela has been undertaking to explore the condition and energy efficiency of the existing home.

You’ll also hear me give Angela a reality check about how she’s approaching this project, so she doesn’t get tripped up.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

Before we jump into my conversation with Angela, let me remind you of the timing for context.

Angela joined HOME Method in early 2021. They conducted their design feasibility with their designer in 2023. This conversation with Angela happened in July of 2024.

As we finished off our last episode, I was asking Angela where they were in their design process. 

She shared that they had completed a feasibility study with Designful to explore what was possible for the existing home conceptually, and to test some of the ideas Angela and her partner had been having to rework the existing footprint of the home.

And then, Designful had a 6 month waitlist before being able to commence working with them further. We kick off this episode with Angela discussing where they’re at in their design journey currently.

Let’s hear from Angela now.

This is the transcript of my conversation with Angela and whether to renovate or detonate, and how their design approach is set up to help them decide.

Angela
So we had the feasibility done, they came back to us with five different concept ideas. So sketch plans. And then went through those, they proposed a few different things. So when she was on site, she said, “I understand what you’re trying to do. But because you’re getting rid of a bedroom, would you be open to an extension?” I said, “Well, at the moment, we’re open to anything. That’s what we want, we’re just after ideas and see what it could look like.” So a couple of the designs came, some of them were fairly similar but with slight variances. We basically ended up settling on a combination of two of them. So one of them is basically very similar to what we’d done but moving the front door, which had never occurred to me. I was just like, “Oh, we’ll have to come through the laundry, it’ll be like a mud room type situation, I will live with that. That’s fine. It’ll be like an entryway or just make it look less like a laundry, more like an entryway.” And then so they’d propose putting it where the front door is now, and rejigging that a little bit. 

And so that was actually one of the things that I said to Damian after we’d done it, “Do you think it was worth going through this process?” Given he was so sold on, “You’ve got the plan, why would you bother?” And he said, “Well, yeah, they have kind of come back with what you said. But it’s worth it for these extra little bits that we didn’t think about, and just had never occurred to us.” So I said, “Yeah, actually, it was worth doing.” I mean, that was less than $5,000 for us to go through and do that, I think, for the peace of mind even that it gave us. 

Because they had given us these ideas back, then obviously, they work as well. So it’s not just us looking at something going, “Well, I’m sure that would be okay.” And then not being a designer, obviously having no spatial awareness and stuff of not being able to judge circulation and things like that. So they actually did come back. One of the concepts was for, effectively, a one bedroom extension. And so we kind of liked that idea. And they had put preliminary pricing just from an online calculator, in with all the different options as well. And so we were looking at it and going, “Okay, well, yeah, the price difference between just leaving the house as it is and rejigging it, and adding this one bedroom on, I think it was around $70,000.” And we’re like, “Well, for resale value and just extra space, it’s probably worth $70,000, like we’re spending all the rest.” So we said, “Yeah, that sounds good. We’ll go with that one.” 

We’ve kind of slightly backtracked from that, we’re getting that done in the plan. So we’re getting DA for that. Because we think it’s important to get the planning for it. Because then we’ve got the option to do it. So at the moment, it’s kind of floating. I think it will depend on budget, but also just what’s happening when we get to build. Hopefully, we don’t need the bedroom. At the moment, the third bedroom is kind of a junk room. But it’s got a piano, it’s got all the linen because there’s no storage in the bathroom, it’s got a couple of wardrobes, and it’s got all that sort of other random wrapping paper and all that kind of stuff that just doesn’t live anywhere else. So my hope is that all the storage will be taken care of and there won’t be anything that needs to go in that room. So the fact that we’re getting rid of it won’t matter. 

But I think probably for resale, even if we’d sold the house and we only had the plans, I think that would help because it might have someone look at and go, “Oh, okay, well, they’ve already got the third bedroom approved.” Or we could slightly modify that extension and you can keep this house and make it bigger if you needed to, but kind of counteracts what you were saying before about someone could just come along and knock the place down and do what we were going to do. So, yeah, we’re playing that by ear, I suppose. But it was definitely worthwhile going through that process. 

There was delays on our part as well, we were waiting on another project to happen. And so we didn’t want to commit to starting the design until we knew that that was underway and sorted out. So then we came back to the designer and said, “Okay, we think that we’re in the position where we want to be able to, not that we’re ready to go, but that we knew that there was so much time that we had to spend in the design phase and all that kind of thing anyway.” So we weren’t looking to start building the next day or anything, but we thought, “Well, we can get prepared. And if it’s going to take a year or so to get all the designs and the approvals and all that sort of thing done, then we might as well start working towards it.” 

I think at that point, they had a six month waitlist. So we went on the waitlist. And we started the design phase part of it March this year, so probably two or three months, we’ve sorted into that. We did have a refresher, just because it had been, I think it’d been over a year since doing the feasibility. So just had a meeting, ran through everything, we ran through our brief again just to make sure that nothing had changed or we didn’t want to add anything. 

Amelia Lee
Did anything changed in that timeframe?

Angela
Well, they’re only really small things. So originally, we’d put in that we wanted parking for our caravan. But we’d sold our caravan. So that was taken off. So like, “Oh, that’s easy.” And we also had flagged that we had a lot of drainage issues. And there was basically a swamp at the bottom of our garden, which we thought was related to the septic system just being really old. But we actually had found that one of the hoses was leaking, so we patched that up and then it dried up. I was like, “Okay, good news. We don’t have to worry about a swamp.” And that’s the thing, we were so close, when we were talking to that builder originally about doing this knock down, and we said, “Oh, we’re on probably four months from selling our house.” And we said, “Do you think we should move in and get a feel for it, the sun, the wind, all that kind of stuff?” And he’s like, “Well, if you’re knocking it down anyway, what’s the point?” And like, “Good point, I can see that.” 

And then, because we ended up selling, we’re like, “Well, we’ve got nowhere to go, we have to go through the design phase, all that. We may as well live in it, save ourselves some brand until we actually have to demo and move out.” And I think it was just a complete fluke that we actually moved in. And it’s just amazing how much that seemingly small decision has completely altered our course. It’s nearly like the butterfly effect thing. It’s amazing. And even just, maybe if I hadn’t heard that podcast with Jane, or if I hadn’t seen you doing the review of your own floor plan, or I hadn’t started working full time from home, all those tiny little unrelated things could have just had a completely different outcome. And yeah, it’s quite amazing, I think, what people can actually adapt to. And now that we’ve been living here two and a half years, it doesn’t feel small anymore. We still have the issues where we argue about the laundry because I dry everything in the lounge room and so got all these clothes everywhere and all that kind of stuff. So there’s still issues, but it doesn’t feel small anymore. It feels, well, right-sized really, because we got rid of everything that we didn’t need to be able to fit here. So I think that also makes a lot of difference. And I mean, if you’d told me that before we moved in that I would be saying that, I would not have believed you for a second because we just looked at it and go, “That house is too small. Who would even build a house that small? Like that’s just ridiculous.” 

And it was a black and white thing. It’s our little tiny house. That’s what we always used to say, “We’re just moving into a tiny house.” And now, it’s just our house. I mean, it is small. But now, my mind has completely flipped. Now I look at pictures or videos online of big houses and I just think, “Oh, I couldn’t bear the thought of cleaning something that big.” I mean, I can clean our house with the Dyson and it’s like 10% battery. It takes me five minutes. And yeah, it’s amazing not only what you can adapt to, but how once you’ve adapted to it, it actually becomes the preference. So I couldn’t imagine living in a big house anymore, like our old house. It just seems quite foreign to me now, having lived here for so long. So it’s quite strange how brains work.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, it’s really interesting, because you obviously just adjusted your whole perspective on things through that experience. And what I love is that you kept questioning. And that’s the whole thing is that, I feel like a lot of what we can do, when we’re creating the environments in which we live, is we just get caught up in what the status quo is, and what we’re being fed by media and well meaning friends and family, or comparing ourselves to that we’re seeing fed on our social media feeds. And if you don’t ever question, “Is this really for me? Is this how I want to live?” Then it’s very easy just to go with the flow, and it’s kind of almost expected that you just go with the flow, and that you just stay on track to what everybody else’s expectations are. 

What I love about the Undercover Architect community, and particularly the community inside HOME Method, is there’s a willingness to disrupt that and at least question. And you may still decide, “Yes, it is for me. Because my lifestyle needs this kind of container, this is the vision that I have for my future. This is where I want our family to grow, all that kind of stuff.” But if you don’t ever actually question it, you’ll never really know if what you’re creating is ultimately and truly for you. So I love that you were open to questioning it and, as a couple, you are open to considering that there could be an alternative for yourselves, and that that then led you down this path. And as you said, you’ve adapted and adjusted and then realised, “No, this is actually more us, this is more what suits us. And this is going to also set us up to not freeze up that cash.” And that debt that you now are not going to take on gets freed up for other things. And the fact that your home doesn’t take so long to maintain frees you up for other things. The fact that you’re just not carrying the bandwidth of all of those belongings and all of that space and all of that maintenance in your head on a regular basis frees you up for other things. So it’s really awesome. 

So you started working with the designer a couple of months ago, and you’re thinking you’ll submit a DA with that extension on it? What’s your expected timeline for how you’re thinking about moving through that design phase, and construction and completion and that kind of stuff? Have you got that in mind? Or are you just thinking, “No, we’re just going to get through the design phase, look at our approvals, and then we’ll figure out what we’re doing after that.”?

Angela
Yeah, I think we will continue it on. So, sorry, you did ask that before. So yeah, we’re back with the designer now. So they’re working on the concept drawings, and just fleshing it all out in a bit more detail. So we’re due to get those in around two weeks, I think, with the 3D models and all that kind of detail in it. And then, I think from that stage, then we’ll be moving into the DA. So we’ve never really had a timeframe as such, you know, the infamous Christmas deadline, Grand Design style. We’ve kind of just always, I suppose, because I was part of the course before we moved in anyway, but it was just like, “Well, we have to go through the process.” And it is a process. So we’ll just start moving through the process and then get the timeframes along the way. So we’re kind of working through it like that. 

So we’ll say to the designer, “Okay, what’s next, and what sort of timeframes are we looking at?” And then we’ll take it one step at a time, I suppose. We probably do want to keep the momentum going, now that we have actually got a plan and we’re sticking to the plan. With the extension, I’m not sure when that will really be decided. We do need to start talking to builders soon. I think that’s possibly one of the things that I am a bit sad about with not doing a new build is that I was so convinced that we would do this awesome PAC Process. And because we have now such a small scope, I think it changed the way that I looked at it that a builder probably wouldn’t be interested. I mean, we’re effectively moving two rooms around. So there’s probably not so much.

Amelia Lee
You might be surprised. I think for the right builder, because there’s still so much in the fact that you’re working with an existing house, you’re looking at reconfiguring and adding plumbing. And there will be retrofit and repair of existing work. And I imagine the designer’s looked at the condition of the house, and I was going to ask you about the condition of the house and what you have to do to bring it up to current standards. But, I think, getting a builder, at the very least to help you understand what could you potentially uncover in the process of renovating this house that could be a surprise to you, and then have budget implications and time implications, would definitely be worthwhile. And there are builders who operate smaller operations, who operate smaller businesses, who like doing the PAC Process and getting involved earlier. Because it gives them the opportunity to help you understand that before they’re there on site with a contract in place, and then having to pull the house apart to discover those things. So I wouldn’t dismiss that it’s not possible for you to work with somebody in that way. And you won’t know until you start having conversations with them about it.

Angela
Yeah, that is something that we do need to start looking at. So the designer has encouraged us to still, as part of how they normally work, it’s not a PAC Process as such, but they do encourage people to start interviewing builders early, so around DA stage, and then narrow it down as you go through the process and filter them that way. So we do have some recommendations from them of builders that I do need to get around to contacting. 

And that feeds into what I was going to say about the timeframe too. So we were very loose, we didn’t have a deadline, there was no life event or anything that it had to be finished by or anything like that. But the house is starting to need a lot of work. Like we have issues with mould, we have issues with rot, we have issues with water. So there is that it’s becoming more urgent sort of thing. And yeah, hadn’t really considered too much that the builder would be that interested in the existing. But that does actually make sense. Even the known issues that we have, that they get involved in that as well.

Amelia Lee
So in terms of the existing building then, so you mentioned those couple of issues, and you said that it’s a double brick home, what do you know you need to upgrade in terms of to get it to be a good performing home? Like how comfortable is it in the colder months? And what are you factoring in, in terms of your project overall, to think about it making sure that that home delivers a comfortable lifestyle for you in its existing format?

Angela
Yeah, so we’ve got a energy assessor that has modelled the existing house, because that’s something I was keen on doing. I know that the designer was explaining, “Well, there’s no point doing that. Because you might as well just do what the end result is and then spin the budget there. I go, “Yeah, I totally understand that. But I think, and maybe it’s just an accountant thing…”

Amelia Lee
No, I love it. It is so good. Because you know what, you’re working with them. What is the foundation from which you have to move from is so worthwhile.

Angela
And Damian actually said to me, he’s like, “You can do it, but just understand you’re doing it for your own benefit.” I’m like, “That’s fine. I could admit that to myself.” And I think as a homeowner, it’s hard to wrap your head around what’s six stars, it’s not tangible. So if you go, “Okay, well, I’m two stars and I’m going to get to seven stars.” You can go, “Okay, well, I know what two stars feels like because I live here now. So I can imagine how much better seven will be.” Whereas if you don’t know what you are, and someone says, “Okay, well, your end house or the end result will be eight stars.” And you go, “Okay, is that way better than what I’ve got now?” And so, I think, in the end, that’s why I did it because I thought, “Well, if I know where we’re at now, I’ve got more of an idea about how much better it will be when they’re telling me what the end result will be.”

So got some feedback last week that it’s currently 2.3 stars. And I did have a chat with the assessor as well, and he said double brick homes are normally pretty good. I thought they were very rare entirely. Obviously, WA have lots of double brick homes. But I haven’t really heard of any here. So I thought it was kind of an odd thing. But he said usually it’s condensation, that is the main issue. And we do have issues with the mould, and we’ve got some leaking plumbing somewhere in a wall, which is probably the main maintenance issue we have at the moment, which is in the bathroom. So that is due to be fixed. It will just be fixed because we’re moving the plumbing around. So it’s just a matter of, I think, waiting that out at the moment, unfortunately.

Amelia Lee
I don’t know if you’ve got a dehumidifier, can be worthwhile getting it.

Angela
I do now. Yeah, I got that a couple of months ago. I was like, “I’m not going through another winter with that.” The designer’s also discussed the roof. And so at the moment, we’ve got a flat roof. So it’s very loud, possums and rain and all that sort of stuff. I had assumed there was no insulation in it. It’s also 1968. So I thought, “Well, whatever’s up there is probably long gone, or not very efficient.” He did run around with a thermal camera. And I think there’s insulation, there are some gaps. So there’s something up there. But they’ve suggested maybe redoing the roof, that will give us more insulation, also some condensation management as well. I’m not entirely sure if we can do too much, given that it’s double brick, so there’s no insulation in that cavity at the moment. I haven’t dived into what options are available.

Amelia Lee
Are there brick vents on the internal walls?

Angela
No, there’s no vents anywhere. And it’s concrete slab as well.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I mean, there’s a few strategies that you can do with brick homes to retrofit insulation to them. Double brick’s a little bit tricky, because the cavity is how the wall is sort of drying out. But there are some blow-in options and things like that, you just then have to look at the selections to make sure it’s not something that’s going to get wet and grow mould in it, and then look at ways that the wall can still dry out. But I love that you got that energy efficiency assessment done to understand where you’re working from. Are your windows single glazed at the moment?

Angela
They’re single glazed and very thin. And they’re timber framed, and quite a few of the timber frames are actually rotten. And I realised yesterday, I think, we’ve had some Arctic winds apparently, and they were actually heating our house and not only just coming straight in but also going up slightly. So we’ve found a few gaps that had water coming in. So I might go around with some silicone on the weekend and try and patch up a little bit more. Obviously, someone’s done that in the past quite a few times, I would suggest. A lot of them are painted shut, the windows. So I was kind of a bit surprised, we don’t have too much draught proofing to do because double brick, there’s no vents. Most of the windows are fixed pane. But definitely looking forward to upgrading the windows.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I think it’ll be really interesting to see, and getting that energy efficiency assessment looked at as you go. Even in making those value decisions, you know how there’s the session of the NatHERS Under the Hood inside HOME Method where Sid Thoo is actually showing how he identified individual changes, and then the impact that they had on the star rating, and then got those changes priced so that the client could make value based decisions with the data about what was worth investing in on a case by case basis. Rather than just going, “Okay, well, we’re going to do all of this. And this is what it will cost, but you don’t really understand the nuances of what is driving the improvements.” So it can be worthwhile, definitely, looking at those things individually. 

I think it’s really awesome, the way that you’re travelling along this and thinking about it methodically. And it sounds like you’ve got really great alignment with the designer. Because I think that what a lot of people can contend with is that they want to do what you’re doing, but then they meet a designer who doesn’t stay constrained, who just keeps suggesting, “Well, what if we do this, and what if we do this?” And keeps leading them down this path, and they end up with a house bigger than what they’d planned. Whereas the designer that you’re working with is very much aligned with you in terms of your values and the way that you’re looking at this house. So I think that’s going to send you in really good stead as you travel along this journey. Did you have any questions for me in terms of where you’re at? Or things that you’re thinking about?

Angela
Well, mainly, it was just the insulation and that kind of stuff. But I know that, obviously, inside the course, there’s a massive wealth of information for all that kind of nitty gritty sort of detail. So I think it’s just a matter of trying to maintain momentum, and probably using the downtime, as well, that we have, like when we’re waiting for stuff to come back to us. It’s very easy to kind of, “Oh, it’s a week, we’ll just let it slide. Oh, it’s another week.” But so many times we were like, “Oh, the waitlist is six months, that’s so far away.” And then next minute, they were emailing us saying, “Can we come out next week?” You’re like, “Oh, but I haven’t done anything. I’m not prepared.” So it’s amazing how slow time goes, but then how quickly it goes as well. So I think even two and a half years in this house, we probably thought we’d be finished by now, if we were way back on day one. But then also, it seems like we’ve barely been here. So yeah, time, it’s a bit of a weird thing.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I think there are many listening who will totally resonate with what you’re saying. It’s very, very, very familiar and very common. So it’s really exciting and awesome to hear you share your story of this journey, because I think it is something that a lot of people are now starting to think about as an alternative for themselves. And I love, as I said earlier, that you’ve really thought intentionally about this, and then you’re pulling the right team around yourself. So I would definitely encourage you to start having those conversations with builders. You will find that maintaining momentum is always going to be difficult, especially in these things that do feel very long in their duration. You’d give your designer feedback, and then they go away for a while. And it can feel like it’s moving quite slowly. And I think that’s because our expectations can be educated by reality TV and other things where we just see stuff happening super fast. And so the momentum can be maintained by setting yourself those tasks on a weekly or fortnightly basis of things that you want to get done or content that you might want to watch. But then also, if you start pulling in those other professionals like chatting to the builder, like thinking about those kinds of things, then their work will start to also set tasks for you. And you’ll start to maintain some momentum with that. And yeah, I think given the renovation, given the work that needs to be done to the existing house, getting a builder to help you understand the real cost of that can then help you make decisions about is that extension going to be part of this process now, is that something you want to delay or even not do yourself. So it’ll help you get more containers around some of that thinking so I think that’s definitely a worthwhile bit of homework for you to do.

Angela
Yeah, I think it definitely is. It’s amazing how quick time flies while you’re busy waiting, and I know it’s something that’s been mentioned in the other homeowner podcasts as well about they wanted to get as much stuff lined up before they started with their designer because they knew once that happened, it would just take off like a train. I think that’s probably something that we probably hadn’t considered enough. And also, because we were just doing little bits and pieces along the way, it’s probably something that I feel has caught up to us now a little bit. Whereas, when we first started speaking with a designer, we’re just like, “Tell us if we’re crazy, it’s very high level, very early process.” And then because of that, and because we did gel so well with their values and our values, and that being on the same page, we just did snowball a bit. So I mean, there was the obvious gaps, being on the waitlist. But then yeah, we’re just like, well, it all came together sort of unplanned, I suppose, to an extent. So it was kind of just, “Oh, this is happening now. Okay. We need to be doing our brief. We’re on the train, it’s moving. We need to sort stuff out. Like, we actually have to write our brief and to do all this stuff.” So I do feel like we were playing catch up a little bit with that. 

And even moving through the course, I’m a completionist. So the amount of times I’ve gone back to step one, like, “No, okay, I need to convince myself, I’ve done the pre design module, stop looking at it. I need to move on and do the next step.” So that’s probably been a bit of an issue for me to just go, “Okay, this is where I’m up to, I know that I’ve done the previous step, I need to keep moving and going forward, rather than going, “Oh, but did I check all the resources? And oh, did I do that?” And all that kind of stuff.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, Angela, you’re okay. You can move on. Focus on the design and the pre build and start thinking about those kinds of things. For you, I think, because I imagine that there’s a little bit of a mindset of, “Look, we’re really not doing that much. But yet you are, you’re going to spend some decent cash, it’s going to take some time, it’s going to transform the way that you live, so you wrapping your head around the fact that this is still a project, it’s not just a mild renovation, I think, then can help you mindset wise gear into this isn’t just something that we’re going to let coast along and deal with on the side. If it was a new build, we would be getting in the trenches of thinking about this. And so I think if you can try and have that thinking about it as you approach it, it’ll just help you be able to give it some grunt. And I think with this kind of project, you just need to give it some grunt to make sure that you’re thinking clearly about the design, because you have travelled along this path of going, “Okay, could we do this? Oh, it looks like we could do this. We could do it this way. Or we could do it this way. Or could we do a combination? Let’s do a combination. Let’s maybe think about the extra bedroom. Okay, all right, that sort of looks good. Alright, they’re ready to work with us.” 

And, I think, because you have found such a values aligned designer that’s going to stand you in really good stead, that the information that they’re giving you, you’re not going to be have to be auditing whether it’s something you really want. They understand what you want, and they’re in alignment with what you want, so that you’ve solved a lot of the problems that a lot of people have with designers right from the start in terms of finding somebody whose values-aligned. 

But you still want to be auditing, that what they’re giving you is going to work for your lifestyle. And so looking at those room notes that are in the design module, checking dimensions of things, testing it at one to one in the spaces and thinking about it so that you can make sure that the design outcomes are the way that you want them to be and then you can start solving the construction problems, and that will help you then figure out the budget constraints over the top of that. So I think if you can just get your mindset to just treat it like it is, you’re actually going to be doing just a project and it’s something significant. And I think because you came from we were going to knock down and build a brand new house to, “Oh, we’re just, like you said to me, we’re just moving two walls.” It’s like, “No, you’re extending your laundry, you’re going to replace all your windows, you got to look at what your thermal performance of your envelope is, you’re looking at the roof, you’re going to have to move out, all of that kind of stuff.” And if you’re redoing a kitchen, if you’re looking at flooring, if you’re looking at lighting…

Angela
We’re doing all that too. 

And I think it’s probably going back to when we’re talking about the budget, it’s easier, I think, to allocate a pot of money to a new build, because you can go, “Okay, well, I’m buying a house for that.” So when we’re looking at it, we look at the budget and go, “Well, how can it be 350,000? We’re only doing two rooms.” But then, as you say, you add a new roof, you add all new windows, flooring, lighting, kitchen, bathroom, and then you go, “Okay, well, actually, that is what we’re getting for our money.” So it’s important to think about even the little things that you’re doing. And probably in a reno, obviously, you still have to make the same decisions in a new build about your door handle and your taps and things like that, but, I suppose, because you’ve already got it all when you’re doing a renovation, then it all exists, you’re just replacing, it’s a different way of thinking about it.

Amelia Lee
It definitely is. And it can be the stumbling block, that can be the tricky thing, and that can be why, I guarantee at some point, you’ll look at what this budget is and then you’ll see an ad for A Project Home in the paper and go, “What? We could get an entirely brand new house for what we’re spending on just replacing everything that we currently already have?” But at the same time, you know that what you have needs maintenance, it needs improvement, and it needs upgrading. And so yeah, it is that age old quandary that people do struggle with with renovations. And it’s, like you say, you already have everything that you’re going to be essentially having in your new home, except for the laundry and the powder room and some reconfigured space, but as you said, you’re pretty much replacing everything so that it’s up to standard. It’s up to current performance, and it’s ultimately creating a better lifestyle and a more comfortable home. 

But yeah, renovations are always like that. It always is like, “Where is all this money going?” And I think the interesting thing is that if you can remember that if you are building a house to that standard of performance, it’s never going to equate to the same amount of money. Like that $800,000 house would be probably over a million now, like you have potentially thought through. And yes, it would be bigger, but not significantly bigger. And so it’s always tricky to remind yourself, “We’re not comparing apples with apples here, renovating your house this way, I can’t compare that to building a new house.” And I love that you said, “I can see that you think it would be easier if you were buying a whole new house with that.” 

For me, I actually find that the renovation is easier, because I can see all the things that are falling down. And I know that they take money to upgrade. And so you can actually get a sense of the space that you’re going to create and improve through the money that you’re spending rather than something brand new. Where a lot of the money that you spend on a new build, it goes in the walls, it goes in the structure that doesn’t exist yet. Whereas you’ve got all the structure that exists and the money that you’re spending is actually on the things that you’re going to touch and feel and all of those that are going to improve the performance of your home. So there’s a lot of sunk costs in your existing house that you don’t necessarily get to feel the benefit of, if that makes sense, in the same way when it’s physically leaving your account through a new build spend. So it’s all that money mindset stuff that starts to play as well. Yeah, it’s amazing, renovating and building, it’s like a personal growth exercise.

Angela
It is, definitely, yeah.

Amelia Lee
Oh, it’s been such a fantastic conversation with you. I am super grateful for everything that you’ve shared. I’m really looking forward to getting you back on as you move through your project and sharing your updates with us. And, of course, being able to help and support you as you go. It sounds like it’s going to be an amazing project. And I love the way that you’ve pursued it and that you and your partner have really thought about this and the team that you’re creating. It sounds really, really awesome. So I’m really, really glad that you could be here Angela, thank you so much for your time.

Angela
Thank you.

RESOURCES

Renovate or rebuild? Read the blog and the 7 questions to answer here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/renovate-or-detonate/ 

Here are my conversations with Jane Hilliard from Designful:

• Episode 237 ‘Designing Your Home Using ‘Enoughness’ with Jane Hilliard from Designful’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-designing-your-home-using-enoughness-jane-hilliard-designful/ 
• Episode 238 ‘Creating Your Ideal Home with Jane Hilliard, Designful’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-creating-your-ideal-home-jane-hilliard-designful/ 

Access the support and guidance you need (like Angela is) to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder 

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan