Building new vs. Renovation
Having built three new homes myself and worked on numerous others as well as having renovated dozens of homes “beyond the studs” I have yet to decide which I like better, new construction of renovation. Truth be told I adhere to an old proverb that “you never wrestle with a pig in the mud, because the pig likes it” and building things is all mud to me.
I come from a building family which might be no surprise. The seventh son of seven boys and three girls we all watched our dad build thousands of houses while renovating around the many homes we occupied while growing up. Even today, with dad long gone, I find inspiration in just asking myself “how would dad do this?”. Invariably the answer always comes to me, whispered over my shoulder while I’m focussed on a saw cut or level reading.
The beauty of new construction is that it gives the mind the free rein to create in broad swathes of creativity. I believe there is a perfect home for every piece of ground out there but so often consideration of what would be right is surrendered to the drumbeat of what can be afforded. As a consequence we generally end up with an architectural blight on the landscape with which we all have to live. And don’t think that ugliness doesn’t take a toll. It wears at us like a sandpaper on wood and we eventually break without even knowing that we have. However, I am a believer that cost is simply an excuse, rather than a real constraint. If you think long and hard enough you can get something beautiful for the same or often less money.
The great value in renovation is the repurposing of old assets and the reimagining of space that might once have been stunted and underutilized. The practice of making old space more beautiful, more functional and more utilized is a study in a thousand small victories played out against the restrictions imposed by the space’s structural members. It can be as simple as the fridge and stove trading places or as complex as integrating a new addition with the old structure and making it all seem as one. But I can tell you that with every positive change there is a little electric current generated that warms the heart. And with every use of that small change there is a follow up glow that simply makes life better and living more tolerable.
I realize that what I expereince in doing these things is simply a glorified version of nest building. But if I am to be compared to the birds and bees of the world then, as a builder, I feel rather honored.
