Arcadia is the most active gut renovation market in the Phoenix metro, and it's been that way for years. Buyers acquire 1960s and 70s ranch homes on large lots, sometimes under Camelback Mountain, and they don't intend to live in what they bought. They intend to build something else using what's already there: the lot, the location, and the bones.We've completed multiple whole-home renovations in Arcadia. Here's what we've learned about what makes them work and what makes them fall apart.
Arcadia renovations are construction projects first
The word "renovation" undersells what most Arcadia projects actually involve. Walls move. Kitchens get relocated. Bathrooms are rebuilt from the studs. Sometimes the footprint expands. Outdoor kitchens, resort-style pools, and covered patios get designed as part of the same project. If you approach this as a decorating job, you'll end up with a beautifully furnished home that still has a 1970s floor plan underneath.This is why the firm you hire matters so much. Interior designers who don't hold a general contractor license will take you through a design phase and then hand you off to a contractor for execution. You are now managing two relationships, translating between two visions, and absorbing every miscommunication as a budget overrun or a timeline delay.Living with Lolo is a licensed Arizona General Contractor (ROC #347577) as well as a full-service interior design firm. On an Arcadia project, we pull the permits with the City of Phoenix, manage the licensed trades, and oversee the structural work, all with the same team that designed it. The vision doesn't get lost because there's no handoff.The neighborhood has its own character and it's worth respecting
Arcadia has a look. Canopy streets, mature landscaping, and homes that sit back from the road with generous setbacks. The best Arcadia renovations we've done feel like they belong there, even when the interior is completely transformed. That means thinking about how the indoor and outdoor spaces relate, how natural light moves through the home across the citrus grove in the backyard, and how the architecture reads from the street.Clients who move to Arcadia usually moved there intentionally. They like the neighborhood, the walkability, the proximity to Old Town Scottsdale and the Biltmore corridor. A renovation that ignores the context of where the home sits misses the point of buying there in the first place.What our Arcadia projects look like
Our Home Plate Hideaway and One Hundred Hills projects show the range of what we do in this neighborhood: full gut renovations with structural reconfigurations, custom kitchens, reimagined outdoor spaces, and white-glove furnishings and installation all managed under one contract.Both projects are on the Arcadia page with more detail on scope and approach.How to start
If you've bought a home in Arcadia and you know it needs a serious renovation, the most important decision you'll make is who manages it. Not who designs it and who builds it separately, but who does both. That's what we do. Our Arcadia interior design and renovation page has more on the process, typical project scope, and what these renovations cost.Living with Lolo is an award-winning luxury interior design and construction firm serving Arcadia, Scottsdale, and Paradise Valley, Arizona. Named Best Interior Design by Phoenix Magazine three consecutive years. Licensed Arizona General Contractor ROC #347577.
Lauren Lerner is the founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, Scottsdale’s luxury interior design and licensed design-build firm. Named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Design three consecutive years, Lauren leads projects from concept through construction for high-end homes in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Phoenix.