What is the most likely meaning of the word renovate?

The most likely meaning of renovate is to upgrade an existing home, repairing what has worn out and modernising the rest while the building stays standing. Not demolish. Not build new. Say 'we are renovating the house' today and everyone understands new wiring, plumbing, kitchen, bathroom, plaster and paint inside walls that stay exactly where they are.

That is how the word arrives at our end of the phone. Enquiries that open with 'we want to renovate' usually turn out to mean an ex-rental flat in Clapham that needs gutting, or an Edwardian semi in Beckenham untouched since the eighties. Nobody who rings us about renovating wants a rebuild. They want the house they bought, working properly and looking right.

The word does get borrowed outside building. A company renovates its brand, a club renovates its image, meaning a refresh rather than a restart. The metaphor holds because the sense stays the same: the thing already exists and you renew it instead of replacing it. Unless the context tells you otherwise, though, assume the speaker means a house.