New York\u2013based designer Leslie Banker\u2019s summer home in Rhode Island had seen better days. Poor insulation, no air-conditioning, and single-pane windows left the 1890s Victorian cottage drafty in winter and humid in summer. \u201cWe redid a bathroom that looked like it was going to melt into the ground,\u201d she says with a laugh. Still, the house was hers, and she wasn\u2019t willing to quit it. After replacing the roof, she and her husband put on solar panels and added air-conditioning, heat pumps and as much insulation as they could manage. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to move\u2014we loved the quirky charm of our house, and the idea of completely moving or building was very daunting in this real estate market. We thought, \u2018We\u2019re going to hold tight to what we have.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Banker is one of millions of Americans who are choosing to stay put\u2014and put in the not-insignificant work of home improvement\u2014rather than chase the greener pastures of a new address. Headlines from The New York Times to the National Association of Home Builders herald an increase in renovation spending by homeowners, citing everything from an inventory of aging homes and a lack of available housing to punishing mortgage rates. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies estimates that renovation figures will top a record $524 billion in 2026 alone.<\/p>\n
That leaves interior designers and architects who have grown accustomed to a healthy roster of new builds and move-ins with an interesting realization: If it seems like renovations are taking over your project pipeline, that\u2019s because they are. \u201cThe renovation market is much more prevalent,\u201d says Chicago-based designer Kim Scodro<\/a>, who estimates that renovations now account for more than half of her projects, an increase from three or four years ago. \u201cA lot of people bought their homes and got these amazing interest rates, and if they move, they lose that. It just makes so much more sense for people to renovate where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Scodro says that\u2019s true for every demographic, from growing young families who are already established in a desired neighborhood to empty nesters who find it\u2019s too costly to get what they want elsewhere. \u201cIt\u2019s just too expensive to move today, so people are saying, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s embrace what we have and make it fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n Banker cites another interesting reason for choosing renovations over new builds: Older houses are often grandfathered into current zoning regulations. Homeowners who knock down houses and embark on new construction can lose valuable square footage. \u201cIf your garage is by a property line and you tear it down, then you\u2019re subject to the new zoning, and you have to observe the setbacks or adhere to the cubic volume,\u201d she says. Banker recalls recent clients who wanted to demolish a home to rebuild, but quickly opted to remodel when they learned that the footprint of the new home would be smaller than that of the existing structure.<\/p>\n Pennington, New Jersey\u2013based interior designer Lindsey Walsh says she\u2019s experiencing a similar uptick in renovation projects, though she attributes it as much to aging inventory as to a new appreciation for older homes. \u201cSo much of what makes this area so desirable to live in is the history of homes and the architecture of the neighborhoods,\u201d she says of the centuries-old communities that her clients seek out in the New York metro area and along the East Coast. \u201cThere is a certain \u00e9lan and prestige to living in a home with age that\u2019s enviable.\u201d Homeowners\u2019 enthusiasm for aging homes may be a function of necessity, not simply style: According to real estate brokerage website Redfin, the median age<\/a> of homes currently on the market is 36 years old.<\/p>\n While these designers say the larger economic landscape of the housing market certainly plays a role in some clients\u2019 shift to renovating, personal financial situations are much more nuanced. For clients who are on a budget but want to refresh their current space, \u201ca renovation can be much more targeted\u201d than moving, both in terms of financial cost and scope of work, says Banker. Across the board, kitchens and bathrooms are the focus of most projects. Nashville-based designer Elizabeth Burch has received so many inquiries for these spaces\u2014often accompanied by unrealistic expectations of the expenses involved\u2014that she has developed a service she calls the \u201cNo Demo Reno,\u201d in which she keeps the structure of the existing space, cabinets and all, but alters nearly everything else. By transforming mirrors, lighting and fixtures, she\u2019s able to create a fresh look for clients who don\u2019t have the budget for a complete overhaul. Her method also addresses the considerable inconvenience of clients living in a construction zone for extended periods of time\u2014one obvious downside to renovating a current home\u2014or the delay and costs associated with optimizing a home clients are patiently waiting to move into.<\/p>\n Yet some of the home improvements many other clients are undertaking have a project budget more typical of new construction. \u201cThese are major renovations: additions, dropping ceilings for different lighting effects, ripping up tiling and hardwood flooring, replacing windows and moving walls. They\u2019re not inexpensive adjustments,\u201d says Scodro, noting that some of them can run upward of $1 million. \u201cTo really change a home is quite expensive, especially when you\u2019re talking about these cavernous great rooms. More people are saying, \u2018Well, I can live with the size of that room not being great because I\u2019m going to make it so beautiful that everything else is OK.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Elizabeth Graziolo<\/a> of New York\u2013based Yellow House Architects has seen clients\u2019 values shift in this climate. \u201cIt\u2019s less about scaling back and more about value and control,\u201d she explains. \u201cMany clients feel that investing $500,000 to $1.5 million\u2013plus in a renovation allows them to achieve a highly customized, high-quality result versus purchasing a new home at a premium that still requires significant work. It\u2019s often a strategic decision: \u2018If I\u2019m going to spend this amount, I\u2019d rather shape something exactly to my needs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The shift toward renovating reflects something deeper than just finances. \u201cWhat\u2019s most interesting is that renovation is no longer seen as a compromise; it\u2019s becoming a preferred approach,\u201d adds Graziolo. \u201cClients are thinking more long-term and more holistically about how they live. Renovation allows for a level of thoughtfulness, craft and personalization that is often harder to achieve in a speculative or newly purchased home. In many ways, this shift is leading to better, more considered architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n According to New Jersey\u2013 and Philadelphia-based designer and architect Melinda Kelson O\u2019Connor, clients are finding another benefit to remodeling. \u201cRenovations offer something a new build simply cannot: the ability to phase the work. This gives clients genuine power and agency over the process. They can choose to invest deeply in the critical underlying systems\u2014electrical, HVAC, structural changes\u2014and defer other elements, such as a bathroom refresh or a planned addition, to a later phase. A new build, by contrast, typically demands everything be resolved and financed at once.\u201d<\/p>\n To meet the moment, designers are approaching renovation projects with more forethought and consideration than they would a more straightforward new build or move-in, calibrating their processes to ensure a smoother client experience. \u201cRenovations require a much deeper understanding of existing conditions, greater coordination with contractors early on and more detailed drawings to reduce uncertainty in the field,\u201d says Graziolo. \u201cPrecision and clarity in our drawings becomes even more critical in renovation work. The more resolved the design is on paper, the more efficiently the project can be executed on-site, ultimately saving time and cost.\u201d<\/p>\n For Kelson O\u2019Connor, renovations also require greater organization and a willingness to adapt. \u201cIt\u2019s essential to build the reality of unknowns directly into your billing model,\u201d she says. \u201cAs walls are opened and concealed conditions are revealed, you continuously learn more about the home\u2014and that knowledge inevitably affects both the design direction and the budget. Pricing and design iterations must remain responsive to these discoveries throughout the process.\u201d To manage all of the variables, she opts for flexibility during the pre-design and schematic phases, then shifts to fixed billing as unknowns are progressively eliminated. \u201cThis approach creates transparency for the client while preserving the adaptability needed to respond to what the house reveals along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, clients with healthy budgets and plenty of early preparation are ideal. But not every client has pockets deep enough to essentially build out a new house on top of an existing one\u2014or the funds to navigate the inevitable surprises. If you find yourself fielding smaller renovation inquiries or facing a dwindling project pipeline as a result of clients being more conservative, business coach and BOH columnist<\/a> Gail Doby advises designers to go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re waiting until you\u2019re not busy, you\u2019re about six months too late,\u201d says the Pearl Consulting co-founder. She suggests mapping out the market in your area and shifting your message to the luxury sector. \u201cIt depends on what level of client you\u2019re serving. You have to take a look at your market and say, \u2018What is the market doing? What is the high end? Are you serving the high end?\u2019 If you\u2019re in the midtier, you\u2019re probably going to need to take those smaller renovation jobs. But if you\u2019re at the high end, you might not be as affected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2013based designer Leslie Banker\u2019s summer home in Rhode Island had seen better days. 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