Rip It Up and Start Again…. no, we’re not talking about the great 80s song by Orange Juice, but instead the decision that many homeowners in this area struggle with when they feel they can no longer live with the problems in their house.

If you live in the DMV area, you have seen many older homes leveled and a brand-new home put up in its place, typically maximizing the lot coverage and creating a house with as many bedrooms and bathrooms and as much square footage as possible.

Many of our clients have looked at these ‘new build’ homes and considered buying one, but something holds them back. The reasons that they nine times out of ten choose to go with a remodel rather than a tear down are myriad. From the cost to the time, to the fact that many of them love the charm of their house and many of its originally features to the fact that they do not want a cookie cutter house that has the same layout as their neighbor three doors down the street. And yet, they are also struggling with many pain points that they know might be solved with a new build, like overall flow, the need for more space, updated kitchens or bathrooms and of course newer systems like HVAC, electrical and plumbing.

In asking our clients why they ultimately chose to remodel rather than tear down with us, they liked our process, they wanted to see how we could retain what they liked about their home while still solve for the many priorities they had for changes.

From a somewhat selfish standpoint, we love problem solving! We love walking into a house and seeing all that we can do to improve the space and bring beauty as well as functionality and ease to how a client lives.  From an environmental perspective, we would much rather see what materials, systems or structures can be salvaged or repurposed so that we are not adding more to the landfills. And most importantly, we delight in meeting our clients needs and helping them to (re)build the home of their dreams.