Renovate or move? A quick guide for heritage villa owners.

If you love living in a heritage villa, but are looking at buying and moving into a similar style home that’s ‘better finished’, you have a couple of options to choose from.

Continue on and wear the expense and upheaval of selling your current home, and then buying and moving into another home. Or opt to renovate – which is what many heritage home owners are choosing.

First step. Engage an expert.

Completing a renovation means you get to retain the aspects you’ve always loved, as well as creating new and exciting elements. But renovating a heritage villa isn’t something that every builder can do well.

Working around these beautiful old buildings requires a knowledge of specific building techniques. It demands a detailed understanding of the design stage right through to the completion of the project. And crucially, what’s required to get final council signoff.

Compare this to banging up the ‘cookie-cutter’ houses you see in new developments and it’s night and day.

Extend for extra space.

If you’re trying to accommodate a growing family or add value by optimising the available space, consider a house extension. You can add a garage, bedroom or even an extra floor. All of course matched to your original house.

Kitchens are the centrepiece.

Renovating a small or dated kitchen creates a new and vibrant look to the heart of the home. It makes meal preparation easier and more enjoyable. Giving a new facelift to an existing kitchen, without structural change, can also be the key to an enjoyable environment that brings people together.

Better bathrooms.

A new bathroom should combine the heritage style with modern functionality for you and your family. The design process should allow you to ‘envision’ exactly how it will work. This helps you get the little things right - whether it’s the height of the shower, the way the doors open or the position of the hand basin.

Living spaces to love.

Need more room to move? An open-plan renovation will free up space for you producing more light and giving your house a great new feel. Maybe you want to enlarge your living spaces or open up a kitchen and dining area for better flow. Or perhaps you have a small or awkward space that would be better utilised when opened up.

Indoors outdoors.

Heritage homes weren’t designed for indoor-outdoor flow, but with a clever design, you can transform the way your space works. Sometimes all the elements are there, but the layout needs to be improved. Perhaps you are thinking of increasing the size or changing the layout, a new deck with wider ranchsliders or French doors to the outside world can give you a feeling of simplicity. Creating an outdoor room can also work wonders.

Exteriors. First impressions count!

It’s a fact (and every real estate agent will agree) – that a tired exterior significantly lowers the value of the home, even if the interior and location might be very appealing. Restoring the exterior of your home does not need to be scary or daunting. A lot of homeowners choose to reclad or repaint their homes to modernise and add value.

Talk to a heritage renovation expert.

No matter how big or small the job, BBM Construction has the knowledge and passion to help heritage owners create the home they’ve always wanted. From a simple renovation or makeover to full extensions or restorations, we are your team.

Our latest project on 10 Taupo St Green Bay: