The danger of one decision at a time
Why the best answer to one problem can sometimes create three more
By JACOB KIRST
You’d think this would be easy. After all, there has never been more “renovation” information available to you.
You can research heat pumps over breakfast, compare window performance at lunch, watch an architect explain floor plans over dinner, and spend the evening reading about electrical service upgrades, insulation systems or construction costs.
It’s a good thing, because it’s important to know as much as possible before you begin. However, there can be a downside to all this information. You can be tempted to look at everything individually and to start solving problems one decision at a time.
But things don’t work that way.
A home is a system. Imagine you're renovating an older place to make it more comfortable. You research heating, and you decide a heat pump makes sense.
But what happens to the heating load if windows also need to be replaced? What about improving airtightness? Will the electrical service have enough capacity? And if it doesn’t, will upgrading it affect the project budget elsewhere?
What happens to ventilation as your house becomes tighter? Should your existing equipment remain as backup, or should it be removed? And where will the new equipment go?
And there you have it. A decision about heating is not just about heating. It’s an envelope decision, an electrical decision, a ventilation decision, a design decision, a budget decision – and potentially a sequencing decision. That’s renovation for you.
The best answer by itself might not be best for your house. It’s one of the hardest things to communicate during design. You might research a particular product or solution and conclude: “This is better!” And you might be right.
Your windows might perform better. Your mechanical system might be more efficient; your insulation assembly might achieve a higher R-value. All quite possible.
However, there’s one more question. Will it all be better in the context of what you’re trying to accomplish? The technically superior solution isn’t automatically the most appropriate one.
A renovation has competing priorities: architecture, performance, budget, durability, comfort, constructability, schedule, aesthetics and future flexibility. The objective is not to maximize each one independently. It is to find the combination that produces the best whole-home outcome.
Budget works the same way. This becomes especially important when you try to understand where your money is going. It’s natural to ask what a particular part costs. Sometimes it’s easy to answer, but sometimes it’s complicated.
Removing one element from a renovation does not necessarily eliminate everything associated with it. And adding something does not affect only the line-item carrying its name. This is because construction has interdependencies: A wall moves. Electrical changes. Flooring changes. Millwork changes. Mechanical distribution changes. Drywall changes. Painting changes. The schedule changes.
Looking at each component independently can therefore create a misleading picture of both savings and costs. That's why we believe the investment conversation needs to happen along with design and not after it.
Lots of available information is great, of course, but unfortunately it doesn’t always create more clarity. And this is where things can become overwhelming. You start with a simple question. Three evenings of research later, you have 17 browser tabs open, four conflicting expert opinions and three products you did not know existed last week.
However, don’t stop asking questions. Ask better ones instead. For example: rather than “Which heat pump is best?”, ask “What heating and cooling strategy makes the most sense for this home?” Or, instead of “How much can we save by removing this?” ask: “If we change this scope, what else does it affect?” Not: “Is this product better?” but “What problem are we trying to solve, and is this the best way to do it?”
Every major renovation must be collaborative. You bring something no one else can – knowledge of your life. You know how your family uses your home. You know what frustrates you about it, and what matters the most. It’s important to know where you are willing to compromise, and what you want life to feel like when the project is complete.
Our team brings something different: architecture, interior design, building science, construction, cost, sequencing, trade knowledge, and experience understanding how one decision affects another. One doesn’t replace another; they all work together.
Integration is the real value of design-build. People sometimes think it means the designer and contractor work for the same company. It’s way more than that.
Design shouldn’t happen without understanding construction. Construction shouldn’t happen without understanding design intent. Mechanical systems shouldn’t be considered independently from the building envelope. Budget shouldn’t arrive after architecture. Selections shouldn’t happen without understanding their consequences. And individual decisions should not be made without considering the house as a whole.
That’s what integration is. Someone needs to hold all those threads at once. Someone still has to step back and ask: Does the whole thing work? This is the beauty of a good design-build team.
We're not renovating an HVAC system, or an electrical panel, or a kitchen cabinet. We're not even renovating a collection of rooms. We're renovating a home, your home. The quality of the final result depends on whether these decisions were made intelligently together.
That’s the difference between assembling a renovation – and designing one.
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