A Contractor Asks What Can Be Built. A Developer Asks What Should Be Built.

The most valuable decision in a renovation is sometimes knowing what not to do.

By Mitch Smith | URBN Founder

One of the things I've learned after years of developing and renovating homes is that there is a significant difference between asking what can be done to a property and asking what should be done.

Can we remove this wall? Probably. Can we add 500 square feet? Maybe. Can we move the kitchen, add another bathroom or completely redesign the backyard? With enough time and money, there is a good chance we can.

But those aren't necessarily the questions I start with anymore.

I want to know what problem we're solving, how the change will improve the way the home lives, what it will cost and whether the market is likely to recognize enough value to justify doing it.

That is the developer's side of the conversation.

More Construction Doesn't Always Mean More Value

Renovations have a tendency to gain momentum. A $250,000 project can become a $400,000 project surprisingly quickly.

The additional $150,000 may produce a nicer house. It doesn't necessarily produce another $150,000 in value.

When it's your own capital at risk, you become disciplined about separating what would be nice to do from what makes sense to do.

That's why I believe good design begins with solving a problem, not selecting finishes.

Maybe the kitchen is isolated. Maybe a formal dining room consumes valuable square footage nobody uses. Perhaps the house has a beautiful backyard but almost no visual connection to it.

Sometimes one thoughtful change can improve several spaces at once.

I'd rather find the $50,000 decision that fundamentally changes how a home lives than spend $150,000 adding things simply because we can.

Three Questions I Ask Before Spending the Money

Before making a significant renovation decision, I generally come back to three questions:

1. What problem are we solving?
If we can't clearly explain why we're making the change, I become hesitant to spend money on it.

2. Will it improve the way the property lives?
Flow, natural light and the relationship between spaces often matter more than simply adding square footage.

3. Will the market recognize the value?
There is a ceiling to what almost every neighborhood will support. If the likely finished value of a property is $2.7 million, I don't want to build a $3.2 million house and hope someone eventually agrees with me.

That isn't development. That's speculation.

Sometimes the Best Feature Is a Possibility

We're dealing with an interesting version of this right now on one of our coastal projects.

The property sits on approximately an acre, which is extremely unusual for the area. With that much land, we could add any number of recreational amenities.

But I started thinking about the eventual buyer.

Imagine one hundred qualified buyers walking through the property. Perhaps twenty would love a particular amenity. But what about the other eighty? Some might be indifferent, while others may immediately see the cost and inconvenience of removing something they don't want.

Suddenly, an expensive feature we added to make the property more desirable may actually narrow our buyer pool.

Our solution is to show the possibility without forcing the decision.

We can create professional renderings illustrating what the space could become. If a buyer loves the idea, they can immediately see the vision and we can build it for them. If they don't, they still have a beautiful open property they can make their own.

That's something I've come to value more and more in development: optionality.

Sometimes creating value isn't about adding another feature. It's about leaving the right possibilities open.

Where Small Design Decisions Can Have an Outsized Impact

There is another side to this. Some relatively modest improvements can create an immediate emotional connection with buyers.

We've seen this repeatedly in our projects. Three examples I particularly like are:

Custom millwork. Thoughtful built-ins can make a home feel considered rather than simply renovated.

A reading nook. It may occupy only a few feet of space, but suddenly a buyer imagines sitting there with coffee on a Sunday morning.

A breakfast nook. It creates a place for everyday life that feels warmer and more personal than simply adding more cabinetry or another expensive finish.

None of these necessarily requires an enormous budget.

What they have in common is that they help a buyer picture themselves living in the home.

That emotional response is difficult to put on a spreadsheet, but after years of selling our finished projects, I've learned not to underestimate it.

The Next Buyer Is Always in the Conversation

Even when we're designing a home for someone who plans to stay for years, I think there is value in keeping another person quietly in the conversation.

The next buyer.

Not every decision should be made for resale. A home should reflect the people who live there. But someday someone else may walk through the front door and decide what all those choices are worth.

So I ask myself: Will this make the home live better? Will people understand why we did it? And perhaps most importantly, how many buyers will see this decision as an advantage rather than something they need to change?

That's where my experience in development, design and real estate all begin to overlap.

Almost anything can be built with enough money.

The real skill is knowing what should be built in the first place.