Remodelling, Renovation and Restoration: What’s the Difference?

Amateur home improvement and DIY enthusiasts tend to use the terms remodelling, restoring and renovating interchangeably. So why do we have three words to describe overhauling the structure of a building? Well, we don’t. They actually mean three different things. And it’s all about the size and scope of your construction project.

If you’re talking to a contractor, builder, interior designer, architect or structural engineer about an upcoming project you want them to work on, it’s probably a good idea to know the difference.

Remodel

Remodelling (or remodeling if you’re American) is the biggest of all the three home improvement projects. It basically means reshaping and restructuring an entire room or building. It often requires planning permission and it almost always requires the help of an architect. Remodelling activities include things like:

• Demolition and construction work, i.e. knocking down old walls and adding new walls
• Adding central heating systems or cooling systems
• Lowering floors (which requires either underpinning or benching)
• Raising ceilings (which tends to mean appropriating loft space)
• Changing the layout of a building, such as moving the kitchen or bathroom to a new location
• Adding an extension or enclosing an open space

It is, of course, the most expensive of all the three types of home improvement work you’ll carry out, as it will involve people from lots of different trades to ensure the work carried out on the building is safe, meets legal requirements and is carried out to the highest standard. So make sure you have plenty in your budget, if this is what you’re planning to do.

Renovate

Renovating a building isn’t quite as big a job as remodelling one. The word itself is synonymous with renewingand that’s, essentially, what it means. Taking what’s already there and replacing it with an improved element.

If a building is generally in a good state of repair, but just needs certain structural components to be replaced to make it liveable, this is what we’d think of as a renovation project. It would include things like:

• Laying new floors
• Putting in new plasterboard and replastering walls
• Putting in a new bathroom or kitchen
• Replacing old windows
• Changing the location of light fittings
• Rewiring the building

A renovation project can still be quite expensive, as it will still require you to work with professional tradespeople with various skill sets – carpenters, joiners, builders, installers, plasterers and so on.

However, it isn’t quite doesn’t demand quite the same level of investment as a full remodelling project as it shouldn’t require planning permission or help of an architect. (In fact, if you’re unsure whether it’s a remodelling or renovation project you’re looking to undertake, that’s a good question to ask yourself to help determine which one it is: does it need an architect or not?)

Restore

A restoration project, though it might sound grandiose (and even though popular TV building repair shows will often get it wrong), is actually the most straightforward of the three types of home improvement. It means exactly what its name suggests: restoring a building to its original condition.

The way restoration professionals tend to like to do things is to replace only the parts that either no longer function or are broken or damaged in a visibly significant way. Otherwise, it’s all about leaving the original features in-tact. So, a restoration project will include things like:

• - Repairing damaged plasterwork
• - Replacing broken balusters on an original banister
• - Removing old carpets
• - Replacing broken floorboards
• - Replacing rotten window frames with replicas of the original
• - Chipping off modern tiles to reveal the original ones
• - Replacing old bathroom taps with complementary ones

Sometimes, you might need to get a tradesperson involved to make sure the work is done to the highest standards. However, a committed DIY enthusiast should be able to handle the demands of many restoration jobs with a little help from YouTube and a good set of tools.

Which type of project should I undertake – renovation, restoration or remodelling?

Whether we’re talking about your own home, a property development or a commercial building such as a pub, office or shop, you’re going to want to think about which type of project it is you want to undertake before you start the work. There are three benchmarks by which we do this. We call them The Three Cs to make them easy to remember:

Capital investment

How much do you have to spend? Remodelling your home will likely run to around 10% of the value of the entire building, so just bear that in mind. If you paid £250k for your home, you could be looking at spending £25k on the remodel. That’s quite a layout, so you might want to think about a renovation or restoration if you don’t have the money to do it.

Changes wanted

What are you looking to do with the place? When you saw the building, did you view it as a blank canvasgiving you the opportunity of a complete overhaul? Or are you not the kind of person who wants to take on something so big? Think about the level of disruption to your life, think about the difference the improvements will make to your life. Considering the kind of changes you need to the building will help you decide whether it’s a remodel, renovation or restoration you’re after.

Contentment level

Can you live with the building in a similar state to how it currently looks or does absolutely everything have to go so you can start over? Will you be happy if everything stays where it is, but the broken and dilapidated elements are simply replaced, repaired and generally spruced up? Or will you not be happy until you start taking sledgehammers to walls, even if it bites further into your budget than you’d like?

Want something else to read? Check out our 7-step guide to working with architects.