Budget Breakdown: It Took $1.6M and 100 Tons of Stone to Revive This ’60s Kit Home in Hawaii

For years, architect Brandon Jørgensen and his wife, Katy, had dreamed of moving from California to Hawaii with their children. Katy’s side of the family had vacationed on the islands for generations, and her parents spent their honeymoon on the Big Island.

It took time for the couple find the right house—they started searching, on and off, in 2016—and that was before the multiyear renovation began.

In 2020, a friend alerted them to a historic prefabricated Lindal cedar home for sale in Waimea on the Big Island. Completed in 1968, the post-and-beam house had vaulted ceilings and glass walls that filled the interior with natural light. Whether inside the living room or out on the lanai, its hillside perch offered panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and three volcanoes: Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai.

The house had not been updated since its 1968 completion, and it needed work. "It was painted baby-poop brown. It was all chopped up inside. It had no yard. I mean, it was horrible," Brandon recalls with a laugh. "And I was like, ‘This, is it!’ I immediately saw the potential."

Hearing this, Katy adds, "I did not have the same enthusiasm." But after they had searched for so long, she agreed to make a leap of faith. "We made an offer the very next morning," Katy says.

Before: Exterior