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Renovation

Is It Cheaper to Remodel or Build a New House?

When remodeling wins

Remodeling keeps the foundation, structure, and shell, which are expensive to build from scratch. If the home is structurally sound and in a good location, remodeling almost always costs less and is faster than a full rebuild.

When building new wins

Building new can make sense when the existing home has major foundation or structural failure, when remodeling costs approach the cost of new construction, or when you want a completely different footprint that a remodel cannot deliver.

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Frequently asked questions

At what point is it not worth remodeling?

A common rule of thumb is that if a remodel would cost more than about half the price of an equivalent new home, or the home has severe structural problems, building new starts to make more sense.

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