Renovation Planning: The Most Expensive Decision Is Usually the First One

FIELD NOTES

July 31, 2026

Work in progress PEID kitchen cabinetry install

If I asked someone what the biggest renovation decisions are, most people would probably point to the cabinetry, windows and doors, or the appliances. And technically, they’d be right. Those are all significant decisions. But after years of designing renovations, I’ve come to believe the answer is a little more nuanced than that.

Here’s the interesting part: the decisions that shape a renovation the most are usually made long before anyone starts thinking about finishes.

When I say “the first decisions,” I’m talking about the foundational ones. What stays and what changes. Which walls move and which don’t. Whether the kitchen belongs where it is or somewhere else entirely. How the home should function before we ever begin deciding how it should look. Those choices become the framework that every other decision is built upon.

Those foundational decisions have a way of multiplying. Move one wall, and you may also affect the structure, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, cabinetry, flooring, lighting, and ultimately how the home feels to live in every day. What looks like one decision is often the beginning of dozens more.

That doesn’t mean those decisions should be avoided. Quite the opposite. Some of the most transformative moments in a renovation come from making exactly those kinds of changes. Moving a wall just eighteen inches can completely change a sightline, improve balance, create a better flow between rooms, or make a home feel far more effortless to live in. Those improvements can absolutely be worth the investment. The key is understanding the ripple effect before making the decision, not after.

Don’t get me wrong. Those material decisions matter. Cabinetry, windows and doors, appliances, lighting… they’re all significant investments. But they’re also decisions that build on a foundation that’s already been established. Once those early planning decisions are made, everything else begins taking its cues from them.

I’ve seen clients spend days worrying over the right shade of off-white paint. Meanwhile, the decisions that would shape the next twenty years of living in that home had already been made.

That’s because the earliest decisions rarely stand on their own. Every one of them creates a ripple effect.

That’s why I believe the first decisions are usually the most expensive. Not because they always cost the most, but because they’re often the most consequential. They don’t just solve one problem. They quietly shape hundreds of decisions that follow.

I’ve never had a client tell me we spent too much time planning, even when they told me at the beginning that their biggest priority was getting the project done as quickly as possible. I have had many tell me how glad they were that we’d already answered the difficult questions before the walls came down.

Beautiful homes rarely happen because someone chose the perfect countertop. They happen because the most important decisions were made in the right order.

XO

PE