It is the question we get asked more than any other, usually somewhere in the middle of a first consultation. The family has outgrown the house, or the kitchen has aged out, and they are weighing the cost of fixing it against the cost of starting again somewhere else.
There is no single right answer, but there is a reliable way to get to yours. Start with what you would lose by moving. If the neighbourhood, the schools, the commute and the lot are all working for you, those are expensive things to replace and they rarely show up on a spreadsheet. Plenty of homeowners find that what they actually want is not a different house but three more rooms of the one they have.
Where the money goes
The costs of moving are easy to underestimate. Agent fees, closing costs, moving expenses and the inevitable list of things you want changed in the new place add up quickly, and none of that money stays in your own asset. Money spent on a well-planned remodel does.
What we have noticed over the last few years is a shift in the kind of work people ask for. Fewer homeowners are chasing the largest possible project. More are putting the same budget into a smaller footprint done to a higher standard, better cabinetry, better tile, better lighting, on the rooms they use every day.
When moving is the right call
We will tell you when it is. If the lot cannot take the addition you need, if the foundation or the roofline makes the work disproportionately expensive, or if what you actually want is a different location, then remodeling is the wrong tool. Being straight about that early costs us a job occasionally and saves the homeowner a great deal more.
