It's the most expensive fork in the road a homeowner faces — and the honest answer is that each path wins in different houses. Here is the framework we actually use in feasibility reviews, including the cases where we advise against the bigger project.
The cost picture first
When renovation is the smart money
Renovation tends to win when…
- ✓The structure, foundation and drainage are sound
- ✓The layout works — you're improving, not fighting, the plan
- ✓Heritage character or trees you love would be lost in a rebuild
- ✓Zoning wouldn't let you rebuild the same floor area today
- ✓You need to stay within a defined budget envelope
A rebuild tends to win when…
- ✕Foundation, structure or drainage need major surgery anyway
- ✕The layout is wrong at its bones — chopped rooms, dead ends
- ✕You'd renovate more than ~70% of the house
- ✕New zoning (multiplex, laneway) lets the lot do far more
- ✕Energy performance matters — new envelopes start decades ahead
The 70% rule and other honest heuristics
- The 70% rule. When a renovation touches more than about seventy percent of a house, you're paying renovation prices for a new home you didn't get to design from zero.
- Exploratory openings before pricing. On older homes we open walls before contracting, so rot, knob-and-tube and asbestos are priced up front, not discovered at month three.
- Count the zoning upside. A rebuild question is really a land question in Vancouver now: if your lot allows four units, compare against that, not just a nicer version of one house.
70%Renovation share where rebuilds win
$0Cost of the feasibility comparison
2Paths, one honest recommendation
100%Of surprises we price before contract
Our promise: feasibility reviews compare both paths in writing. If the renovation is the better project, we'll tell you — we build both, so we don't need to steer you.
Standing at this fork right now?
Book a Free ConsultationBring us the house. You'll get a written renovate-vs-rebuild comparison with real numbers — free.
✱ Representative planning figures for Metro Vancouver, mid-2026 — assembled from municipal permitting schedules, the BC Energy Step Code framework and Armacan project records. Every lot and scope is different: treat these as orientation, not a quote, and confirm against your property in a free consultation.
