How We Remodeled Our Own Holladay Home and Sold It in Two Days

Most of what we build in Holladay is for clients. This one was ours. We bought a dated mid-century ranch on Edgewood Drive two and a half years ago and did what we do for everyone else: took it down to the studs and rebuilt it end to end, design and build, both in house. Then we lived in it. For two years it was our family home, which is the real test of a remodel, you find every decision you would have made differently. We found almost none. When we finally listed it, it went under contract in two days. This is the breakdown of what we did and why it sold that fast.

Why Holladay rewards a full rebuild

Holladay is one of the strongest remodel and rebuild markets in the valley, and for a specific reason. The lots are big, mature, and tree-lined, and a lot of the original houses are 1950s and 60s ranches sitting on land that is worth more than the structure on it. That math is why so much of the real work here is a whole-home remodel or a tear-down, not a cosmetic refresh. Our house was exactly that profile: good bones, great lot, a floor plan and systems that belonged to another era.

The move in a neighborhood like this is not to fight the street. It is to keep the single-story ranch footprint that fits Holladay, and bring everything behind the walls and inside the finishes into the present. That is the version buyers in this market actually pay for.

What "to the studs" actually meant here

Down to the studs is a phrase that gets used loosely. Here it was literal. We replaced all of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, so the house runs on new systems end to end rather than a patchwork of old and new. New roof. New windows throughout, which changed both the light inside and the energy performance. Then we added a two-car garage, rebuilt the landscaping front and back, and reworked the floor plan into the open, connected layout the original house never had.

Doing MEP, structure, and finishes as one scope under one team is the difference between a remodel that feels whole and one that feels stitched together. Nothing in this house is a compromise between what was there and what we wanted. It is all new, and it reads that way.

The choices that moved the needle

A fast sale is not luck. It is a series of decisions a buyer can feel the moment they walk in. In this home, the ones that carried the most weight:

• An open main living space with a real mountain view framed through new windows, anchored by a clean fireplace and a beamed ceiling.
• A kitchen built around a stone island with custom millwork from our own shop, Citizen Millworks, so the cabinetry fits the room instead of the room bending around stock boxes.
• Terrazzo in the guest bath, the kind of material choice that photographs well and holds up for decades.
• Finished, usable outdoor space: a covered deck off the main living area and a landscaped backyard on a large Holladay lot.

None of these are expensive for the sake of expensive. Each one does a job, and together they are why the house did not sit.

Designed and built under one roof

The reason a project like this holds together is that no scope was handed off. We designed it and we built it, which means the person drawing the kitchen was talking to the person building the cabinets and the person running the plumbing. There was no gap between the vision and the execution, and no finger-pointing when a detail had to be resolved on site. For a whole-home remodel, that single line of accountability is worth more than any individual finish.

It also meant we knew the real cost going in and the number held. That is how we run every project, not just our own.

The takeaway for Holladay homeowners

If you own one of Holladay's older ranches on a good lot, you are probably sitting on the same opportunity we were. The question is rarely whether the house is worth updating. It is whether you do a cosmetic pass that will feel dated again in a few years, or a real whole-home rebuild that resets the house for the next few decades and shows up in the sale. We did the second version on our own home, and the two-day contract was the answer.

See the finished home in our Edgewood Residence portfolio, and if you are weighing a remodel or rebuild in Holladay, start a conversation with us. We will give you an honest read on remodel versus rebuild before any design begins.