The Difference Between Renovating and Remodeling

You’ve probably seen a lot of construction and design websites talk about remodeling and renovating, but you likely think these terms are interchangeable. But the fact is, they’re not, and each has a specific purpose. These can be key when you’re planning a major home project. Renovation and remodeling can each have different price points, requirements, and take different amounts of time.

What is Renovating?

Renovating is refreshing or restoring something old into a like-new state. Basically, renovations can change the appearance of a room but not its intended function. So most updates you might make will be cosmetic. This can be something as simple as repainting a room, reflooring, swapping light fixtures, and more. Renovation is often a bit more DIY-friendly than remodeling. However, more extensive or labor-intensive projects, like reflooring, should still be done by professionals. Even having to throw away any debris or trash at a dumpster can be labor-intensive.

Generally, renovating takes less time and money to do, though it does depend on how big the project becomes. It also has a higher return on investment (ROI) simply because they’re cheaper to complete while resulting in a room that looks practically new. However, it does limit you in terms of creating your dream home, as you’ll need to start off with a base room or house that is, functionally, everything you already want.

What is Remodeling?

Remodeling is far more in-depth than renovations, as it entails restructuring or drastically changing something. For example, adding a shower to a bathroom that didn’t have one before would be remodeling. Another example would be building a deck or adding an addition to your house. These are bigger projects that can drastically affect the structure or utility of the room. These should always be left in the hands of the professionals.

While remodeling is more expensive than most renovation projects, it’s simply unavoidable in certain circumstances, especially when you’re building your dream house. If you want to give your home an open floor plan, there’s no way around the fact that you’ll have to remodel and remove a few walls. Remodeling can also involve more red tape. You’ll likely need to get inspections done and be held to more strict rules for the sake of safety. The benefit of this, however, is that you have more freedom to customize your dream home. You can change the layout and structure of the interior as you like instead of trying to make do with what you already have.

You should note, though, that remodeling isn’t always a major structural change, either. Changing a home office into a nursery doesn’t require extensive alterations, but the function of the room is, indeed, still changed. That means the room has been remodeled, even if you never had to take a sledgehammer to a wall.

Renovating and remodeling are two drastically different types of home design projects, but both can be useful in creating your dream home. Contact our contractors today to discuss which service you’ll need. You’ll get a dedicated team who will manage your construction project from concept to completion.