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Custom Home Building Cost in Scottsdale (2026 Guide)

Custom Home Building Cost in Scottsdale (2026 Guide)

by | Sep 7, 2026 | Uncategorized

A custom home in Scottsdale costs about $350 to $700 per square foot in 2026, with luxury builds in North Scottsdale’s premier communities frequently passing $900 per square foot once land, site work, and high-end finishes are factored in. Three things drive that range more than anything else: your lot’s site conditions, your finish level, and whether your design and construction are managed as one project or two separate contracts. Land and site work are usually the real cost driver, not the finishes people fixate on first. This guide breaks down what each tier actually buys in Scottsdale, and how a ground-up build differs from the whole-home renovation numbers we cover elsewhere.

I am Lauren Lerner, founder of Living with Lolo. We are a luxury interior design studio and a licensed Arizona general contractor, ROC #347577, and we design and build custom homes across Scottsdale from the architectural drawing stage through final installation. If you are weighing a renovation of an existing property instead of new construction, our whole-home renovation cost guide covers that comparison directly. This post is about building from the ground up.

What the research shows about custom home building cost

The national and Arizona-specific data both point to the same conclusion: Scottsdale sits well above the national baseline, and custom work sits well above production building.

  • The National Association of Home Builders pegs the national average construction cost at roughly $162 per square foot for a home around 2,647 square feet, before land, site prep, or permits are added, according to NAHB-sourced data compiled by industry cost guides in 2026.
  • General new residential construction in Scottsdale typically runs $200 to $425 per square foot, with hillside and luxury estates regularly passing $500, per 2026 Scottsdale-specific construction cost data.
  • Custom homes specifically run closer to $350 to $700 per square foot in 2026, with luxury North Scottsdale estates often exceeding $900 per square foot once site conditions and finish level are factored in.
  • Soft costs, meaning design, engineering, and permitting, typically add another 12 to 18 percent on top of the base construction number, and that percentage runs higher on complex custom lots.
  • Architectural design fees alone typically run 2 to 15 percent of total build cost, a range wide enough that the number you get quoted depends heavily on how complex your lot and design actually are.
  • Scottsdale property values continue to justify this level of investment, with luxury submarkets among the strongest in Arizona, per Zillow.

Why the range is so wide

A $350 per square foot number and a $900 per square foot number can describe two houses that look similar in photos and are nothing alike to build. The gap comes down to a short list of real variables, not vague “custom home” marketing language.

Site conditions matter more than almost anything else. A flat, buildable North Scottsdale lot costs far less to prep than a hillside site in Silverleaf or Desert Mountain that needs retaining walls, extensive grading, and engineered foundations before framing even starts. Land, not finish level, is usually the actual cost driver on a true custom build, which surprises clients who assumed their biggest decision would be countertops.

Finish level is the second lever, and it is the one clients have the most control over. Stock cabinetry versus fully custom millwork, standard windows versus large-format glass walls, and production-grade fixtures versus imported stone all move the number significantly, and they do it independently of square footage.

Custom home cost by tier

Here is how we see the ranges break down on Scottsdale ground-up projects. These are the tiers we quote against, not marketing categories.

Tier Typical Scottsdale range What it covers
Production / semi-custom $175 to $320 per sq ft Standard floor plans with limited customization, production-grade finishes
Entry custom $350 to $500 per sq ft Fully custom floor plan, mid-to-high-end finishes, standard site conditions
High-end custom $500 to $700 per sq ft Custom architecture, premium materials, more complex site or design elements
Luxury North Scottsdale estate $700 to $900+ per sq ft Premier community lot, extensive site work, full custom millwork and stone, high-end mechanical systems

Most of our ground-up Scottsdale clients land in the entry-to-high-end custom range, between $350 and $700 per square foot. The jump to the luxury estate tier usually comes from a combination of a demanding site, such as a hillside lot in Desert Mountain, and a finish package that includes extensive stonework and custom cabinetry throughout the home.

Why building from the ground up is not the same math as renovating

We get this question constantly, and the honest answer is that new construction and whole-home renovation solve different problems and cost differently as a result. A renovation works within an existing structure’s bones, which caps some costs but can also surface expensive surprises once walls open up. A custom build starts with a blank site, which removes the surprise factor but adds the full cost of site work, foundation, and structure from day one.

If your existing Scottsdale home has a workable structure and layout, a whole-home renovation, which we cover in detail in our whole-home renovation cost guide, is very often the more cost-effective path to the same end result. Custom new construction makes the most sense when your lot, your desired layout, or your site simply cannot be achieved by renovating what already exists.

Where the money actually goes on a custom build

People assume finishes are the biggest line item on a custom home, and they are rarely even in the top two. Site work and foundation come first on a difficult lot. Structural framing and the building envelope come second. Only after those two categories are settled does finish level start meaningfully moving the number, and even then, it moves it less than most clients expect relative to what site conditions already did.

This is where our model earns its keep. Because Living with Lolo holds ROC #347577 and manages design and construction under one contract, we price site work and structural realities honestly from the architectural drawing stage, instead of discovering them once a foundation crew is already on-site. You can see how we sequence a ground-up project on our design and build process page, and browse completed custom work in our portfolio.

How to budget for a custom home build

My honest recommendation, and I give this same advice to every client considering ground-up construction: get your site evaluated by your actual design-build team before you fall in love with a floor plan. A beautiful plan designed for a flat lot can add six figures in unplanned cost the moment it meets a sloped or rocky site. Decide your finish tier early, since that lever moves the total meaningfully but predictably, unlike site conditions which can surprise you.

Hold back 15 to 20 percent of your all-in budget as a genuine contingency on any custom build, more than you would on a renovation, since new construction on a raw or partially improved lot carries more unknowns than remodeling an existing structure. And get a written scope tied to your actual site, not a generic per-square-foot number pulled from a different lot entirely.

The structural argument for design-build applies here even more than on a renovation. One contract, one accountable firm, from the architectural drawing stage through final installation, keeps the estimate and the finished cost close together in a way that hiring a separate architect, designer, and contractor rarely manages to do. If you already know you want an interior designer Scottsdale AZ homeowners trust to manage that entire process, that single-contract structure is the reason to start the conversation with a design-build firm first, not last.

Ready to Talk Through Your Custom Home?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Book a Discovery Call →

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to build a custom home in Scottsdale?
A custom home in Scottsdale costs about $350 to $700 per square foot in 2026, with luxury North Scottsdale estates often exceeding $900 per square foot. The range depends most on your lot’s site conditions and your finish level, not square footage alone. Living with Lolo provides a written scope and budget range tied to your actual site before any contract is signed.
What is the biggest factor that drives custom home cost in Scottsdale?
Site conditions, not finish level, are usually the real cost driver on a custom build. A flat, easily buildable lot costs far less to prepare than a hillside site requiring retaining walls, extensive grading, and engineered foundations. Land and site work commonly account for more of the cost swing between projects than the finish package does.
Is it cheaper to renovate an existing home than build a custom home from scratch?
It depends on your lot and your goals. If an existing home’s structure and layout are workable, a whole-home renovation is very often more cost-effective than ground-up construction, since it avoids full site work and foundation costs. Custom new construction makes more sense when your desired layout or site cannot realistically be achieved by renovating.
How much should I budget for soft costs on a custom home build?
Plan for soft costs, meaning design, engineering, and permitting, to add roughly 12 to 18 percent on top of your base construction cost, with complex custom lots often landing at the higher end. Architectural design fees alone typically run 2 to 15 percent of total build cost, depending on how complex your lot and design turn out to be.
Does hiring a design-build firm actually save money on a custom home?
It tends to keep the estimate and the final cost closer together, which is not quite the same as a lower sticker price but matters just as much to most clients. When the same firm handles design and construction under one contract, ROC #347577 in our case, site realities get priced honestly from the drawing stage instead of surfacing as change orders once construction starts.
How long does it take to build a custom home in Scottsdale?
Custom home timelines in Scottsdale vary significantly with site complexity and design scope, and generally run longer than a comparable whole-home renovation because they include full site work, foundation, and structural framing before finishes even begin. We provide a detailed project schedule tied to your specific lot and design before any contract is signed, since a generic timeline is not a useful number for a ground-up build.

Related Resources

Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Desert-Ready Building Materials for Luxury Scottsdale Homes (2026 Guide)

Desert-Ready Building Materials for Luxury Scottsdale Homes (2026 Guide)

by | Sep 7, 2026 | Uncategorized

The materials that look best on a Scottsdale luxury home are not always the ones that survive it. Light-toned stucco, honed local sandstone, copper and patinated steel accents, and hand-applied lime wash are the four materials doing the most work on our current projects, because each one earns its place through performance in 115-degree summers, not just how it photographs. Get the material selection wrong here and you are repainting or replacing finishes within a few years. Get it right and the house looks better in a decade than it does on move-in day. This guide covers what actually holds up, what we steer clients away from, and why.

I am Lauren Lerner, founder of Living with Lolo. We are a luxury interior design studio and a licensed Arizona general contractor, ROC #347577, and material selection is where those two roles overlap the most. A designer without construction experience can pick a beautiful stone that spalls in two summers. We do not have that luxury, because we are also the ones who get the callback.

What the research shows about desert-appropriate materials

The data backs up what we see on Scottsdale job sites every season.

  • A cool-colored stucco coating with a solar reflectance around 0.495 cuts annual cooling energy use by roughly 4 to 13 percent compared to a standard darker coating, according to research compiled by the Cool Roof Toolkit. That is a real, measurable number, not a marketing claim, and it is the single biggest reason we push clients toward lighter stucco tones on south- and west-facing walls.
  • Homes and Gardens named statement stone, sculptural lighting, and warm “edible brown” tones among the defining 2026 interior design trends, a shift toward materials with real texture and warmth instead of flat, cool finishes.
  • The 2026 U.S. Houzz and Home Study found that about 35 percent of renovating homeowners consciously chose higher-end materials this year, and half of U.S. homeowners planned a renovation in 2026 at all. Material choice is not an afterthought for this client anymore.
  • ASID’s 2026 Trends Outlook named climate as one of four megatrends reshaping the interior design profession this year, and reported that a growing share of high-end residential clients are asking where their stone comes from and how it was quarried before they will approve it.
  • Scottsdale property values continue to support this level of material investment, with luxury submarkets among the strongest in Arizona, per Zillow.

Stucco: still the default, but the color decision matters more than people think

Stucco remains the backbone of almost every Scottsdale exterior, and for good reason. Its thermal mass absorbs heat slowly during the day and releases it gradually, which is exactly the behavior you want in a climate that swings from a 115-degree afternoon to a 75-degree evening. The mistake we see most often is a client falling in love with a deep, moody exterior color from a shelter magazine shot in a cooler climate, without accounting for what that color does to a west-facing wall in July.

Lighter stucco tones, sand, limestone, and warm ivory, reflect more solar radiation and hold up better over the long run. That does not mean every wall has to be light. We regularly use a deeper accent tone on a covered entry or a north-facing elevation where solar exposure is lower, and reserve the reflective palette for the walls that take the brunt of the afternoon sun. That is a material decision as much as a design one, and it is the kind of call that gets made correctly only when the person making it understands both sides.

Natural stone: where honed and raw finishes actually belong

Local sandstone is having a real moment, and it deserves it. The material reads as unmistakably of this place in a way that imported marble never will, and the current trend of contrasting raw, split-face stone against finely honed sections gives a wall real depth instead of a single flat texture. We use this combination most often on a fireplace surround or an entry feature wall, where the contrast reads as intentional rather than busy.

The honest caveat here, and the one I give every client who wants a full stone exterior: raw, split-face stone in constant direct sun can hold heat and show wear faster than a honed finish, so we typically reserve the roughest textures for covered or partially shaded areas and use the smoother, denser finishes anywhere the material takes full sun exposure. That is not a limitation. It is a design decision that happens to also be the correct engineering one, which is my favorite kind.

Lime wash and Venetian plaster: the interior finish worth the extra step

Hand-applied lime wash and Venetian plaster have become our go-to interior wall finish for clients who want depth without the harsh glare a flat painted wall throws back under strong desert light. The technique takes real skill and more time than rolling on paint, which is exactly why it still looks handmade a decade later instead of flat and builder-grade. We use it most often in a primary bedroom, a powder room, or a great room wall that gets direct afternoon light, since that is where the material’s soft variation actually earns its keep.

This is not the right finish for every wall in a house. Applied everywhere, it starts to look like a stylistic tic instead of a considered choice. One or two rooms, chosen for the light they get, is the difference between a house that feels considered by someone who understood the material and one that feels like a showroom sample board.

Copper and patinated steel: the accent that ages instead of aging out

Copper and patinated steel are the metals we are specifying most for 2026 exterior accents, door surrounds, and light fixtures, because they do something almost no other material does in this climate: they improve with age. Arizona sun and heat shift these metals’ tone over years, moving them toward the same earthy palette as the desert around them, rather than fading or chalking the way a painted metal finish eventually does.

The tradeoff is patience. A brand-new copper accent looks bright and a little raw for the first year or two before it settles into the deeper tone that makes it worth choosing in the first place. We tell every client this upfront, because the alternative is a call eighteen months later asking why their copper “doesn’t look right yet,” when it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Landscaping materials: xeriscape done well versus xeriscape done cheap

Material selection does not stop at the building envelope. Drought-tolerant, water-wise landscaping using natural stone, cobble, flagstone, and crushed rock is now the default expectation on a Scottsdale property, not an upgrade. The difference between a xeriscape yard that reads as intentional and one that reads as an empty lot with gravel dumped on it comes down almost entirely to material variety and layout, not plant selection.

We typically combine at least three stone or gravel textures with defined dry streambed elements and a real hardscape plan, rather than a single uniform rock color spread flat across the yard. If you are planning a full outdoor renovation alongside interior work, our guide to whole-home renovation cost in Scottsdale covers how exterior and landscape scope factors into an overall project budget.

How we choose materials on every Living with Lolo project

Every material recommendation we make gets weighed against the same two questions: does it look right for this specific house, and will it still look right in ten years of actual Arizona weather. That second question is the one a purely decorative designer cannot always answer with confidence, and it is the reason Living with Lolo pairs design with a licensed Arizona general contractor credential, ROC #347577, under one roof.

If you are working through a full renovation and want to see how material choices fit into the bigger picture, our 2026 luxury home design trends guide covers the color, form, and layout shifts we are building into Scottsdale homes this year, alongside the materials covered here. Homeowners considering a full exterior and interior overhaul should also read our whole-home renovation cost guide before budgeting a project of this scope. If you already know your home needs a licensed interior designer Scottsdale AZ homeowners trust with both the design and the build, that is exactly the gap we fill.

Ready to Talk Through Your Scottsdale Project?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Book a Discovery Call →

Frequently asked questions

What building materials actually hold up in Scottsdale’s heat?
Light-toned stucco, honed natural stone, lime wash or Venetian plaster interior finishes, and copper or patinated steel accents perform best in Scottsdale’s climate. Each one either reflects heat, regulates temperature through thermal mass, or actually improves with sun exposure rather than degrading. Living with Lolo selects materials based on how they perform here, not just how they photograph.
Does stucco color really affect my cooling costs in Arizona?
Yes. A lighter, cool-toned stucco coating can cut annual cooling energy use by roughly 4 to 13 percent compared to a standard darker finish, based on solar reflectance research. On south- and west-facing walls especially, we steer clients toward lighter tones for exactly this reason, reserving deeper colors for covered or lower-exposure elevations.
Should I use raw or honed stone on a Scottsdale exterior?
It depends on sun exposure. Raw, split-face stone in constant direct sun can hold heat and show wear faster, so we typically reserve rougher textures for covered or shaded areas and use honed, denser finishes anywhere the material takes full afternoon sun. Combining both textures on the same wall also creates the kind of depth that is trending in 2026 design.
Is lime wash or Venetian plaster worth the extra cost over paint?
For the right room, yes. Lime wash and Venetian plaster create a soft, handmade depth that flat paint cannot match under strong desert light, and the finish holds up well over time in one or two rooms chosen for their light exposure. Used on every wall in a house, though, it stops feeling special, so we apply it selectively rather than throughout.
Why do you recommend copper and patinated steel accents?
Copper and patinated steel are unusual in that Arizona’s heat and sun improve them over time, shifting their tone to match the surrounding desert palette instead of fading like a painted finish would. The tradeoff is that a new installation looks brighter and less settled for the first year or two before reaching the tone that makes the material worth choosing.
Who should I hire to choose the right building materials for a Scottsdale renovation?
A firm that understands both design and construction performance, not just aesthetics. Living with Lolo pairs interior design with a licensed Arizona General Contractor credential, ROC #347577, so every material recommendation is weighed against how it will actually perform in this climate over time, not just how it looks in a rendering.

Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Lauren Lerner’s Open-Shelf Editing Rule, As Featured in Real Simple

Lauren Lerner’s Open-Shelf Editing Rule, As Featured in Real Simple

by | Aug 26, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Press & Awards, Residential Interior Design

8 min readAugust 2026
Group open shelves by tone, not by category, and a room reads calmer within minutes with nothing new to buy. That is the editing rule Lauren Lerner, founder and principal designer of Living with Lolo, shared with Real Simple: "Edit your open shelves by grouping similar tones and removing anything that feels visually loud. Even rearranging a few books into color families or giving objects more breathing room can instantly soften the entire space."
It is a small move with an outsized effect, and it costs nothing. Below is what that quote means in practice, how Lauren applies it on real Scottsdale projects, and what the wider research says about why decluttering and thoughtful styling actually change how a room feels and how it shows.

What "Grouping by Tone" Actually Means

Most people organize shelves by category out of habit. Books together, framed photos together, travel souvenirs together. It is logical, and it is also the reason a lot of open shelving looks busy no matter how expensive the objects on it are. Category grouping puts a bright orange book spine next to a black-and-white photo next to a turquoise vase, and the eye has to work to process all of it at once.
Tone grouping does the opposite. Instead of asking "what is this object," you ask "what color family does it belong to." A cluster of cream, tan, and warm wood objects on one shelf. A cluster of black, charcoal, and deep green on the next. The individual pieces do not have to match or even relate to each other in function. A ceramic bowl, a stack of linen-bound books, and a small piece of driftwood can sit together happily as long as they share a tone.

Why This Reads as Calmer, Not Just Neater

There is a real difference between a shelf that is organized and a shelf that is styled. An organized shelf just has fewer things out of place. A styled shelf has been edited on purpose, and editing is the part most people skip. Removing anything that feels visually loud, a busy pattern, a mismatched color, an object that does not earn its spot, is what actually lowers the visual noise in a room. Grouping by tone gives you a fast, repeatable way to decide what stays and what goes without agonizing over each individual item.
I will say the part that is easy to miss here: giving objects more breathing room matters as much as the grouping itself. A shelf packed edge to edge with color-sorted objects is still a busy shelf. Pull a third of what is currently on each shelf and set it aside. What remains almost always looks more intentional than the full version did, and you have not spent a dollar to get there.

What the Research Shows

This is not just a design opinion. The data on decluttering and staging backs up why a simple edit like this has real weight, both for how a home feels day to day and for how it performs if it ever goes on the market.
  • In the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Staging, 83 percent of buyers' agents said staging makes it easier for a buyer to picture a property as their own, and 29 percent of sellers' agents reported a 1 to 10 percent increase in dollar offers on staged homes. (Source: NAR, 2025)
  • The same NAR report found that 49 percent of sellers' agents saw a home spend less time on the market after staging, and living rooms were rated the single most important room to stage, ahead of the primary bedroom and kitchen. (Source: NAR, 2025)
  • The 2026 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study found that keeping clutter out of sight is a top motivation for homeowners adding open shelving and butler's pantry storage, cited by 30 percent of renovating homeowners. (Source: Houzz, 2026)
  • The same Houzz study found open shelving now appears in 52 percent of newly added or upgraded butler's pantries, nearly on par with fully enclosed cabinetry at 59 percent. (Source: Houzz, 2026)
Put together, the pattern is simple: buyers and agents both respond to a room that feels edited, and open shelving has become common enough that how it is styled, not just whether you have it, is what separates a room that photographs well from one that just photographs full.

How We Apply This on Scottsdale Projects

On a real project, this rule shows up before we ever touch paint or furniture. When Living with Lolo styles built-ins or open shelving in a Silverleaf or DC Ranch home, the first pass is almost always subtraction. We pull everything off the shelf, sort what is left into tone groups, and only put back about two-thirds of it. Clients are consistently surprised at how much better a shelf looks with less on it, arranged with intention, than it did fully stocked.
This matters more in Scottsdale than people expect, because the desert light here is unusually direct. A shelf full of competing colors and finishes catches every bit of that afternoon sun and looks even busier than it would in a dimmer climate. Tone-grouped shelving, by contrast, reads as calm and intentional even at 4 p.m. with the western light pouring in.
We use the same principle on kitchen open shelving, which has become one of the most requested features in the kitchen remodels we take on. A run of open shelving next to a range or sink only works long-term if the client is willing to edit what sits on it, which is exactly why we build the tone-grouping conversation into the design phase instead of leaving it for move-in day.

A Shelf Edit You Can Do This Weekend

You do not need a full renovation to test this. Pick one shelf, preferably one you look at daily, and try this:
  • Remove everything from the shelf and lay it out on a table or the floor.
  • Sort the pieces into two or three tone families: warm neutrals, cool neutrals, and anything with strong color or pattern.
  • Set the strong color and pattern pile aside for now. Do not put any of it back yet.
  • Return only the warm and cool neutral groups to the shelf, keeping each tone family together rather than alternating them.
  • Leave visible gaps between groupings. If it looks like there is too much empty space, there almost never is.
Live with that version for a week before deciding whether any of the set-aside pieces earn a spot back. Most people find they do not miss what they removed.

Why Design and Construction Under One Roof Matters Here

Shelf styling is a small example of a bigger pattern in how Living with Lolo works. As a licensed general contractor in Scottsdale under ROC #347577, in addition to being an interior design firm, Living with Lolo designs built-in shelving with the styling plan already in mind, not as an afterthought once construction is finished. A shelf's depth, spacing, and lighting all change depending on whether it is meant to hold color-grouped objects with breathing room or dense category storage. Deciding that early, during construction, produces a better result than styling around fixed shelving after the fact.
This is also why a design tip that sounds simple, group by tone and edit for breathing room, tends to hold up better when a firm has done it hundreds of times across real Scottsdale homes rather than as a one-off styling exercise. Living with Lolo has been named Phoenix Magazine's Best Interior Design Firm three consecutive years, 2024, 2025, and 2026, recognition that requires client references and completed-work review each cycle.

More Press for Living with Lolo

This is not the first time national press has turned to Lauren Lerner for design advice. Lerner was also quoted directly in a House Digest feature on high-end kitchen design rules, sharing specific guidance on material continuity and range hood design. Together, the two features show a consistent thread in how Lauren approaches a room: make fewer, more deliberate decisions rather than more decisions overall.
If you want to see this principle applied at full scale rather than on a single shelf, browse completed Living with Lolo projects or read about where Scottsdale design is headed in 2026. For a look at how far a full edit can go, our before-and-after piece on how to de-Tuscanize a Scottsdale home is one of the more dramatic examples of the same underlying idea: editing, not adding, is usually what changes a room the most.
Connect with an interior designer Scottsdale AZ homeowners have trusted with everything from a single styled shelf to a full design-build renovation.

Ready to Talk Through Your Space?

Living with Lolo is a full-service luxury interior design and design-build firm serving Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro. We hold an active Arizona ROC general contractor license and an interior design credential, which means we manage your entire project under one roof.If a single room needs an edit or your whole home needs a plan, book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call.Book Your Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions About This Real Simple Feature

How do I make open shelves look designer instead of cluttered?
Group items by tone instead of by category, and remove anything that feels visually loud. Living with Lolo's Lauren Lerner recommends sorting objects into warm or cool color families rather than mixing bright colors and patterns across a shelf. Leaving visible space between groupings, rather than filling every inch, is what separates a styled shelf from a merely organized one.
Should I organize open shelves by color or by category?
Color, or more precisely tone, almost always reads calmer than organizing strictly by category. Grouping books, ceramics, and decor by whether they are warm or cool toned creates visual rhythm, while grouping purely by object type often puts clashing colors right next to each other. The objects do not need to relate in function as long as they share a tone family.
What is the fastest way to make a room feel calmer without buying anything new?
Edit what you already have on display rather than adding anything. Pull everything off one shelf or surface, sort it by tone, and put back roughly two-thirds of it with visible breathing room between groupings. This single change, with zero new purchases, is often enough to make a room feel noticeably calmer within an afternoon.
What did Lauren Lerner tell Real Simple about shelf styling?
Lauren Lerner, founder of Living with Lolo, told Real Simple to edit open shelves by grouping similar tones and removing anything that feels visually loud, noting that rearranging books into color families or giving objects more breathing room can instantly soften a space. The full feature is linked above.
Does decluttering actually help when selling a home in Scottsdale?
Yes, according to national data. The National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Staging found that 83 percent of buyers' agents said staging helps buyers picture a home as their own, and 29 percent of sellers' agents saw offers increase 1 to 10 percent on staged homes. Decluttered, tone-grouped shelving is one of the lowest-cost ways to apply that same principle before a home ever hits the market.
How is styling open shelves different from just organizing them?
Organizing sorts items so you can find them. Styling makes deliberate choices about what stays visible at all. An organized shelf can still look busy if everything that was ever placed on it remains there. A styled shelf has been edited down by tone and volume on purpose, which is the distinction Lauren Lerner's Real Simple advice is built around.
Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, House Digest, and Real Simple. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.

Living with Lolo Named to the 2026 Inc. 5000: America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

Living with Lolo Named to the 2026 Inc. 5000: America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

by | Aug 18, 2026 | Modern Interior Design Ideas, Press & Awards

9 min read
August 2026

Living with Lolo Named to the 2026 Inc. 5000: America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies

Living with Lolo, the Scottsdale, Arizona design-build firm founded by Lauren Lerner, has been named to the 2026 Inc. 5000, the national ranking of America's fastest-growing private companies. The recognition lands just months after Living with Lolo also made the 2026 Inc. Regionals Southwest list, giving the firm two national growth honors in a single year. Both rankings measure verified revenue growth, not design taste or client reviews, which makes this a different kind of credential than the design awards Living with Lolo has collected over the past three years.
This post covers what the Inc. 5000 actually measures, what current industry data says about growth in residential design and construction heading into 2026, and what a firm's growth rate should and should not tell a homeowner deciding who to hire for a renovation in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, or the greater Phoenix metro area.

What the 2026 Inc. 5000 Actually Measures

The Inc. 5000 ranks private U.S. companies by three-year revenue growth, full stop. It does not survey clients, judge portfolios, or weigh design sensibility. A logistics company, a software startup, and a design-build firm can all land on the same list because the methodology cares about one number: how much revenue grew between year one and year three.
That distinction matters here. Living with Lolo also appeared on the Inc. Regionals Southwest list earlier in 2026, a related ranking that measures the same kind of growth but scoped to companies across Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Making both lists in one year means the firm's growth held up at a regional level and against the entire country.
I'll say the quiet part: most interior design firms never come close to a growth list like this, and it isn't because their design work is worse. Design-only firms are capped by hourly and flat design fees. Living with Lolo captures both design and construction revenue under one Arizona Registrar of Contractors license, ROC #347577, and that structural difference is the real reason the growth rate is even comparable to national names like SpaceX and Whatnot, which also made the 2026 list. (Source: Inc., 2026)

What the Data Shows

Growth on paper is one thing. Here's what the surrounding data says about why 2026 has been a strong year for firms built the way Living with Lolo is built:
  • The 2026 Inc. 5000 honorees generated more than $385 billion in combined 2025 revenue and created 627,208 jobs over the past three years. (Source: Inc., 2026)
  • Median three-year revenue growth across the full 2026 list reached 130 percent, and the top 500 companies posted a median of 1,338 percent. (Source: Inc., 2026)
  • The top 10 percent of U.S. renovation projects reached $150,000 or more in 2025, up 7 percent from $140,000 the year before, even as the nationwide median project budget eased to $15,000. (Source: Houzz & Home Study, 2026)
  • 93 percent of homeowners plan to work with a professional on a 2026 renovation, and general contractors are the single most commonly hired professional at 55 percent, ahead of interior designers at 20 percent. (Source: Houzz, 2026)
  • The NAHB Remodeling Market Index has held above the 50-point expansion threshold for 24 straight quarters, and the National Association of Home Builders expects luxury projects specifically to drive most of the remodeling industry's growth for the rest of 2026. (Source: NAHB, 2026)
Put those together and a pattern shows up. The national renovation median is shrinking while the luxury tier keeps climbing, and homeowners increasingly want one licensed professional managing the whole job instead of stitching together a designer and a separate contractor. That's the exact model Living with Lolo has run since Lauren Lerner earned ROC #347577, years before design-build became the trend it is now.

Two Inc. Honors in One Year, and Why That's Rare for a Design-Build Firm

Being named to Inc. Regionals Southwest and the national Inc. 5000 in the same year is unusual for a firm this size, and it's rarer still for one built around interior design. Most design firms plateau at a handful of employees and a design-fee ceiling. Living with Lolo scaled past that by pairing design with licensed general contracting in Scottsdale, which means every remodel or new build the firm designs also runs through its own construction arm instead of getting handed off to a subcontractor Living with Lolo doesn't control.
That structure shows up directly in the numbers. A design-only project in Silverleaf or DC Ranch might bill $40,000 to $80,000 in design fees alone. A full design-build renovation in the same neighborhood, with Living with Lolo managing both the design and the construction, routinely runs $400,000 to over $1 million. That gap is most of the reason the firm's revenue growth was large enough to register on a national list at all. Any interior designer telling clients that contractor licensing "doesn't matter" for a whole-home project either hasn't run the numbers or doesn't want you asking about them.

How a Design-Build Model Produces This Kind of Growth

Growth like this doesn't come from marketing spend. It comes from fewer dropped projects and shorter timelines, because Living with Lolo isn't waiting on a separate contractor's schedule or re-explaining design intent to a builder who wasn't in the original client meeting. One team designs the kitchen, pulls the permit, and frames the wall.
That matters most on the whole-home projects that make up the bulk of Living with Lolo's work in Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and North Scottsdale, where clients are often full-time residents living through a renovation, not investors flipping a spec home. Those projects typically run 12 to 24 months from first sketch to final walkthrough, and every month saved by not handing work between two separate companies is a month the client isn't living around plastic sheeting.
Living with Lolo, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the few luxury interior design firms in the Phoenix metro area that also holds an active Arizona Registrar of Contractors license under ROC #347577. Lauren Lerner built the company around that pairing on purpose, and the Inc. 5000 recognition is a fairly blunt confirmation that the bet worked at scale, not just on a handful of showcase projects.

What This Growth Means If You're Planning a Project in Scottsdale

A fast-growing company can mean two very different things for a prospective client: either the firm has scaled its systems to handle more work without losing quality, or it has taken on more than it can service well. I won't pretend there's no version of that second outcome. It's a fair question to ask any firm on a growth list, including this one.
Here's how I'd answer it if I were the client asking: Living with Lolo caps the number of new whole-home projects it takes on each year specifically so growth doesn't come at the cost of attention on an active job site. The firm has also been named Phoenix Magazine's Best Interior Design Firm three consecutive years, 2024, 2025, and 2026, which requires client references and completed-work review each cycle, not just a revenue number. Growth and quality aren't automatically at odds, but a firm that only shows you the growth number and not the client-side proof isn't giving you the full picture.
If you're weighing a renovation or new build in Scottsdale, ask directly about current project capacity and estimated start dates on your first call. You can see completed projects here or read more about how Living with Lolo's process works before that conversation.

Recognition Living with Lolo Has Earned in 2026

The Inc. 5000 adds to a list that's grown quickly over the past three years. Living with Lolo has been named Phoenix Magazine's Best Interior Design Firm for 2024, 2025, and 2026, and Lauren Lerner's work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. Most recently, Lerner was quoted directly in a House Digest feature on high-end kitchen design, sharing specific rules on material continuity and range hood design rather than generic advice.
None of that press moves revenue the way a completed construction project does, but it does something the Inc. 5000 number can't: it shows how Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team think about a room, not just how fast the company is growing. Both kinds of recognition matter if you're trying to figure out who to trust with a project that will take a year or more of your life. Read the Inc. Regionals Southwest announcement for the regional side of this story, and connect with an interior designer Scottsdale AZ homeowners have trusted with growth-scale projects for years.

Ready to Talk Through Your Project?

Living with Lolo is a full-service luxury interior design and design-build firm serving Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro. We hold an active Arizona ROC general contractor license and an interior design credential, which means we manage your entire project under one roof.If you are planning a remodel, new construction project, or full furnishing and want honest numbers before you commit to anything, book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call.Book Your Discovery Call


Frequently Asked Questions About the 2026 Inc. 5000 Recognition

What is the Inc. 5000 list?
The Inc. 5000 is Inc. Magazine's annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, based on three-year revenue growth. Living with Lolo was named to the 2026 list, which also includes national names like SpaceX and Whatnot. The ranking measures growth only, not design awards or client reviews, so a design-build firm outranking design-only competitors reflects revenue scale, not taste. Living with Lolo also made the related Inc. Regionals Southwest list earlier in 2026.
Has Living with Lolo won other awards besides the Inc. 5000?
Yes. Living with Lolo has been named Phoenix Magazine's Best Interior Design Firm three consecutive years, 2024, 2025, and 2026, and the firm's work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. Lauren Lerner, the firm's founder, was also quoted on kitchen design in a recent House Digest feature. The Inc. 5000 recognition is a growth award, separate from the design and press accolades above.
Is Living with Lolo a licensed general contractor?
Yes. Living with Lolo holds an active Arizona Registrar of Contractors license, ROC #347577, which lets the firm manage design and construction under one contract instead of splitting the work between a separate designer and builder. That structure is a big part of why the firm's revenue growth qualified for the Inc. 5000 in the first place, since design-only firms rarely generate construction-scale revenue. Homeowners considering a whole-home renovation in Scottsdale should always confirm a firm's ROC status before signing anything.
What areas does Living with Lolo serve?
Living with Lolo works with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area, with a concentration of projects in Silverleaf and DC Ranch. The firm's growth in 2026 has come from this same client base, not from expanding into new markets. If you live outside these core neighborhoods, it is worth asking directly whether the firm is still taking new projects in your area.
Does being named to a fast-growth list mean Living with Lolo is too busy to take new clients?
Not necessarily, but it is a fair question to ask directly. Growth driven by design-build under one ROC-licensed contract usually means a firm can absorb more project volume without losing quality, since one team manages the whole timeline instead of handing it between separate companies. Living with Lolo still limits the number of new full-home projects it takes on each year to protect the level of attention every client gets. Ask about current availability and estimated start dates during your first discovery call.
Why does a design-build firm's growth matter to someone hiring an interior designer in Scottsdale?
Growth on a ranking like the Inc. 5000 is one of the few outside, verifiable signals that a firm is financially stable enough to see a large renovation through from the first sketch to the final walkthrough. A design-only firm's growth is capped by design fees alone, while a design-build firm like Living with Lolo also captures construction revenue, which is a more demanding standard to hit. For a client, that translates into fewer handoffs, one point of accountability, and a lower risk of a project stalling midway because a contractor and designer stopped communicating.
Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.



Should You Buy a Fixer-Upper in Scottsdale? What to Know Before You Make an Offer

Should You Buy a Fixer-Upper in Scottsdale? What to Know Before You Make an Offer

by | Aug 17, 2026 | Interior Design Tips, Living Room Ideas, Modern Interior Design Ideas

10 min read August 2026
Before you make an offer on a fixer-upper in Scottsdale, get a real renovation cost estimate first, not a guess, because most buyers underestimate what an older home actually needs. A 20-minute conversation with a licensed designer and general contractor can tell you whether the numbers work before you are under contract, not after.
This matters because a fixer-upper in the right neighborhood can be one of the smartest purchases in Scottsdale, or one of the most expensive mistakes, depending entirely on whether the renovation math was done before or after closing. As a Scottsdale interior designer and licensed general contractor, Lauren Lerner fields this exact question on discovery calls on a regular basis, often from buyers who have not yet made an offer.

What Counts as a Fixer-Upper in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley

In Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, a fixer-upper rarely means a home in disrepair. More often, it means a well-built house from the 2000s or earlier with good bones and a dated finish package: heavy travertine, dark stained cabinetry, an arched niche nobody asks for anymore, and mechanical systems that are due for an update. These homes sit in some of the area's most established neighborhoods, including Silverleaf, DC Ranch, and older sections of Paradise Valley and Arcadia, precisely because the lots and locations were built out decades ago.
Because the location is often the best part of the deal, buyers can end up focused on the address and underestimate what it will take to bring the house itself current. Living with Lolo sees this pattern constantly: a homeowner falls in love with a lot in Silverleaf or a floor plan in Paradise Valley, then discovers mid-negotiation that the kitchen, bathrooms, and systems all need work at the same time.

Why Buyers Underestimate Renovation Costs

Renovation costs are consistently underestimated, and the data backs up what Living with Lolo sees on discovery calls. According to the 2026 Houzz & Home Study, nearly 2 in 5 homeowners, 37 percent, exceeded their planned renovation budget in 2025, while just 35 percent came in on target. (Source: 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study, Houzz)
That statistic reflects buyers who already own the home and are budgeting with full information. Someone evaluating a fixer-upper before closing has even less certainty, since a full scope has not been defined yet. This is exactly why a pre-purchase consult with a licensed general contractor in Scottsdale matters more before you buy than after: it replaces a guess with a number grounded in what the house actually needs.

What a Pre-Purchase Renovation Consult Actually Covers

A pre-purchase consult with Living with Lolo typically includes a walkthrough of the home, a conversation about your priorities, and a ballpark range for what the renovation will cost and how long it will take. Because Living with Lolo holds an active Arizona ROC general contractor license (#347577) in addition to interior design credentials, the same team that evaluates the home is the one that would eventually build the project, so the numbers come from real construction experience, not a rough guess.

What Lauren Lerner Looks For on a Walkthrough

On a typical walkthrough, Lauren Lerner looks at the kitchen and bathroom layouts, the condition of major systems, whether any walls are load-bearing, and whether the home's existing footprint supports what the buyer actually wants to do with the space. She also flags anything likely to require a permit, since permit timelines directly affect the overall renovation schedule.

What You Walk Away With

Buyers leave a pre-purchase consult with a realistic cost range, an honest read on timeline, and a clear sense of whether the home is a smart renovation candidate or a project that will cost more than it returns. Because this happens before an offer is finalized, it gives buyers real leverage in negotiations and removes the guesswork that leads to the 37 percent budget overrun figure cited above. If you are currently evaluating a fixer-upper, reach out through the contact page to set up a walkthrough before you submit an offer.

Real Renovation Cost Ranges to Understand Before You Offer

While every fixer-upper is different, having a general sense of scale helps before you make an offer. A luxury kitchen remodel in Scottsdale runs $75,000 to $250,000 or more, depending on layout changes, cabinetry, and finishes. Bathroom, whole-home, and structural work each carry their own ranges, which is exactly why a scope-specific walkthrough matters more than a general rule of thumb.
For whole-home and structural projects specifically, our remodeling contractor in Scottsdale page breaks down typical scope, timeline, and cost ranges in more detail.
Because Living with Lolo manages both the design and the construction under one contract, the estimate you receive on a pre-purchase consult reflects real subcontractor pricing and material costs in the Scottsdale market, not a national average that undershoots what a luxury renovation actually requires locally. The full range of design and construction services covers everything from a single room refresh to a full fixer-upper renovation, so the estimate scales to what your specific project actually needs.

What the Data Shows About Renovation and Resale Value

National research helps put a fixer-upper purchase in context. Americans spent an estimated $603 billion on home remodeling projects in 2024, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and kitchen upgrades ranked among the highest-satisfaction projects homeowners completed, per the National Association of Realtors and National Association of the Remodeling Industry's 2025 Remodeling Impact Report. (Source: 2025 Remodeling Impact Report, NAR/NARI)
That national data is a useful baseline, but it consistently understates what a Scottsdale luxury renovation actually costs. Custom cabinetry, imported stone, and specialty finishes common in Silverleaf, DC Ranch, and Paradise Valley homes push real project costs well above national medians, which is precisely why a fixer-upper evaluation needs to be scoped locally rather than estimated from a national average.

Should You Over-Improve for the Neighborhood

Not every renovation should be scaled to the same level, and this is one of the most important conversations to have before you buy. A fixer-upper in a neighborhood with a lower value ceiling may not support a full-custom renovation budget at resale, while a home in Silverleaf or DC Ranch can often absorb significantly more investment. Living with Lolo talks through this honestly with every fixer-upper client, before the purchase, not after the renovation is finished.

Why Hire a Design-Build Firm Before You Buy, Not Just Before You Renovate

Most homeowners think to call a designer or contractor after closing, once the renovation is already underway. However, involving a licensed design-build firm before you buy changes the entire equation, since it means the same team that gives you the estimate is the team that will be accountable for hitting it.
As an interior designer Scottsdale AZ buyers rely on before they sign anything, Living with Lolo starts every fixer-upper consult with real numbers instead of a guess, because Lauren Lerner has seen too many buyers get the address right and the renovation number wrong. Living with Lolo has been named Phoenix Magazine Best Interior Design three consecutive years, 2024, 2025, and 2026, in part because of this straightforward, numbers-first approach to a project before a single wall comes down.

What Happens After You Decide to Move Forward

Once you close on a fixer-upper, the process moves into full design and construction. Living with Lolo manages that entire process, from initial design through permitting and final walkthrough, as both your interior designer and your licensed general contractor. Understanding what to expect during a whole-home remodel in advance makes the transition from closing to construction far less stressful.
Clients across Paradise Valley, Silverleaf and DC Ranch, Arcadia, and greater Scottsdale work with Living with Lolo specifically because the same firm that evaluated the fixer-upper before purchase is the one accountable for the finished result. That continuity, from the first walkthrough to the final punch list, is the difference between an educated guess and a real plan. You can see examples of completed fixer-upper transformations in the portfolio.

Ready to Talk Through Your Fixer-Upper?

Lauren Lerner and the Living with Lolo team work with clients across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area. Book a Discovery Call

Frequently Asked Questions About Buying a Fixer-Upper in Scottsdale

Should I get a renovation estimate before buying a fixer-upper in Scottsdale?
Yes, getting a renovation estimate before you make an offer is one of the most valuable steps in buying a fixer-upper in Scottsdale. A 20-minute walkthrough with a licensed designer and general contractor can tell you whether the numbers work before you are under contract, which gives you real negotiating leverage and avoids surprises after closing. Living with Lolo offers this as part of a standard discovery call.
How much do homeowners typically underestimate renovation costs?
According to the 2026 U.S. Houzz and Home Study, 37 percent of homeowners exceeded their planned renovation budget in 2025, while only 35 percent came in on target. Buyers evaluating a fixer-upper before purchase face even more uncertainty, since a full renovation scope has not yet been defined, which is exactly why a pre-purchase consult with a licensed general contractor matters.
What should I ask a designer or contractor before making an offer on an older home?
Ask for a walkthrough that covers kitchen and bathroom condition, the state of major systems, whether any walls are load-bearing, and what will likely require a permit. A licensed design-build firm can give you a realistic cost range and timeline based on construction experience rather than a general estimate.
Does Living with Lolo work with clients before they buy a house?
Yes, Living with Lolo regularly meets with prospective buyers before they finalize an offer on a fixer-upper. Because Living with Lolo holds an active Arizona ROC general contractor license, the same team that evaluates the home during this consult is the team that would manage the eventual renovation.
Is Living with Lolo a licensed general contractor?
Yes. Living with Lolo holds Arizona ROC license #347577, which means Lauren Lerner and her team manage both the design and construction of a renovation under one contract. That single point of accountability is one of the biggest protections a fixer-upper buyer can have.
What areas does Living with Lolo serve?
Living with Lolo serves Scottsdale, including Silverleaf and DC Ranch, along with Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area. The firm also takes on select projects in Park City, Utah.
Lauren Lerner, principal interior designer at Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner

Principal Designer, Living with Lolo

Lauren Lerner is a luxury interior designer based in Scottsdale, AZ and the founder of Living with Lolo. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, The Wall Street Journal, and GQ. She specializes in high-end residential design across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the greater Phoenix metro area.