MASTERWERKS LLC BUILDING SERVICES Custom Home Building, Transformations, Renovations
Case Studies
RECONSTRUCTED HOMES
Architectural Full Reconstruction
How the owners gained their ideal home and kept their treasured location,
far more affordably.
You are viewing the full reconstruction of a rambler originally built in 1953 during Edina’s post-war era. Reconstruction, a specialty of our talented team, is essentially the art and science of reclaiming and recycling the remaining structure value of a house that others might deem a teardown.
By repurposing the foundation, original frame, and other components—often of much higher quality materials and labor than many new-built homes— and redesigning the space in keeping with how life is lived today, we significantly lower the overall construction cost with far less waste. The resulting as-new home can compete with new construction in its category at a more affordable price.
While not every older property is suitable for reconstruction and must be rigorously vetted both financially and structurally, this home proved to be an excellent candidate.
Challenge:
Although this mid-century rambler on Chantrey Road had received occasional updates over the decades and was well-located in Edina’s desirable Mirror Lakes area, it no longer met the owners’ requirements. Their family was growing, and they had specific professional needs beyond the scope of a home built in a bygone era.
They began to seriously explore alternatives, despite feeling extremely conflicted about leaving their neighborhood, where they had many established friendships and connections, as well as enjoying its inherent locational advantages. They also quickly discovered that the cost of new construction homes they liked in comparable neighborhoods ranged from $3.5-$4.0M, far more than they were willing to pay, while available existing homes would require substantial upgrades to meet their needs.
Feeling stymied, they reached out to us based on a trusted referral.
Strategy:
After thoroughly vetting their existing property and determining that it had enough inherent structure value to merit reconstruction, we developed a strategic rebuilding plan that would meet the owners’ needs much more affordably than the alternatives they had viewed in this and other neighborhoods. The plan would also position the home to compete with new construction in its price category, should the time come to sell.
By conserving the home’s solid foundation and original frame—dramatically reducing the overall costs—and working with our talented design team, we devised an architectural plan that modified and enlarged the existing structure to 5,650-SF of finished space with a total structure size of 7,374-SF.
In addition, the plan called for replacing the mechanicals, windows, insulation, drywall, flooring, tile, cabinetry, trim, exterior siding and trim, masonry, roofing, and gutters. To complete the picture, we designed an oversized garage and reformatted the rear patio with a pool room addition with bath/shower and equipment/storage space.
Result:
Essentially a new home, this quietly elegant living space meets the owners’ needs and reflects the way families live today, with an intelligent design flow conducive to family togetherness and independence, work and play. The entire reconstruction was performed for significantly less than the cost of teardown and new construction, while providing the expected appearance, size, features, and amenities associated with comparable newly built homes. All this, of course, was achieved without the sacrifice of leaving their ideal location in a well-loved neighborhood.