Re-build or renovate dilemma

[Troublesometuesday]

Help!!! I am so conflicted and would like a few opinions on the above.
We bought a 1930’s bungalow in a lovely area of town. It has been rented out for the last 18 months as we dither about what to do with it. We are planning for this to be a down-sizer home, youngest of 2 DC will be heading to uni in a couple of years.
At first, I only considered a re-build (have what you want, modern, low running costs etc)
But now, I am swinging towards a renovation project. I have been looking at some fab projects online, and can see this idea would also work out as a lovely option.

Theee are so many pros and cons, and whilst we wouldn’t get VAT exception on a renovation, I can also see there would be other huge savings.
Does anyone have experience of this dilemma - do you wish you had made the other choice if you renovated or vice-versa?
Thanks

I've done rebuild and refurb. With the rebuild there was no option to refurb, so I haven't been in your position, but without hesitation I can say the rebuild was a much better house than any of the refurbs.

I think it really depends on whether a refurb will get you close to your ideal. For example my new build had wet underfloor heating upstairs and down and solid walls throughout and a sap rating of 99 and exactly the room layout I wanted which we would never have got with a refurb.

I would check and see what you are likely to get permission for - our council has clamped down on rebuilds because of the disruption to neighbours

The council wrote that in the reasons for refusal ?

I'd rather go for a re-build unless you really like the current layout.

It is much easier to tear down and rebuild exactly what you want from scratch than it is to mess about with existing structures. Costs probably don't end up being THAT different given the unforeseen crap that crops up and less efficient working processes with a full refurb.

Build yourself a nice, modern, efficient and future proofed home.

Thanks for your ideas .... new build is coming back to into play!

We are refurbing and renovating, having made the active decision to do this rather than rebuild. Now 6m into it, and having the choice again, we would rebuild. There have been a lot of unforeseen surprises and joining the new house to the old house has been difficult. We are left with just the front wall, one side wall and a few internal walls from the old house - none of the character of the old house has been kept, all through very logical and practical decisions as we went through the refurb.

The cost difference between refurb and rebuild has been knocked down as well - given all of the changes I would say it is now cost neutral between the two choices (and that's excluding the VAT).

Depends on the scale of your project of course, and your Council's attitude to rebuilding, but if we were in this position again we would choose rebuild.

Thanks Throwa - it’s the uncertainty of what might crop up that’s putting me off. Meeting a new architect tomorrow, so it will be good to get a new perspective.