Whole-home remodeling for Bay Area families.

Updating an older Bay Area house

Much of the Bay Area housing stock was built decades ago, with closed-off layouts, small kitchens and bathrooms, and electrical and plumbing systems sized for a different way of living. A whole-house remodel is often the moment those systems get updated: a larger electrical panel, new circuits for the kitchen, replacement of old galvanized pipes and better insulation.

Planning for it early keeps a home renovation on track. Walking every room before we quote lets us spot likely bearing walls, realistic plumbing routes and the upgrades your building department will ask for. We also recommend a contingency for whatever is hidden inside the walls.

Permits, engineering and California codes

Paint, new flooring and replacing fixtures in place usually do not need a permit. Removing a wall, moving plumbing, adding circuits, building an ADU or converting a garage almost always does, and a load-bearing wall or a new ADU usually needs structural engineering as well. Plan review, fees and inspection timing differ between the many cities and counties of the Bay Area.

California also has statewide rules that shape a remodel, from the Title 24 energy code for lighting, insulation and windows to state laws that allow ADUs on most single-family lots. We account for those rules while drawing the plans, not after an inspector points them out, and since we file the permits, their timing is built into the phase schedule.

Planning the order of a whole-home remodel

In a whole-house remodel the order of the work matters as much as the finishes. Structure and anything that changes the layout come first. Plumbing, electrical and HVAC follow while the walls are open, then insulation and drywall, and only then cabinets, tile, flooring, trim and paint. Installing new floors before the walls are finished, for example, usually means protecting or redoing them later.

If you remodel in phases, plan the phases in the same logic: do the work that opens walls and floors first and save the cosmetic updates for later. A written plan for the whole house, even if you build it over several years, keeps each phase from undoing the last one. Compare phases and a single project.

Adding space: ADUs and garage conversions

When the house is simply too small, there are two common ways to gain living space without moving. A backyard ADU builds a separate unit with its own kitchen and bathroom. A garage conversion turns existing space into a bedroom suite or a studio, usually for less than building new.

Each option has different rules for setbacks, height, parking and utilities, and they vary from city to city. The right one depends on your lot, your budget and whether the new space is for family, guests or rental income. You can see examples of both in our projects above.

Vetting a whole-home remodeling contractor

First confirm the license on the state CSLB lookup: an active license that matches the work, plus a bond and insurance, is the minimum for a whole-house job. Then ask how the contractor sequences the trades, who supervises the site day to day and whether every phase is priced in writing.

Keep California’s deposit cap in mind as well: for home improvement work the down payment may not exceed 10 percent of the contract or $1,000, whichever is smaller. Photos of complete homes the company has finished, like our projects, show more than ratings alone.

Whole-house remodels from Solano to Santa Clara

Starting from Brentwood, our whole-house projects reach Solano and Napa to the north, the Peninsula and San Francisco to the west and Santa Clara to the south. An older Oakland Craftsman, a Concord ranch house and a San Jose two-story each come with their own layouts, building departments and rules for ADUs.

The approach does not change with the address: a free walkthrough, a phased written estimate, permits handled and one crew throughout. Book your free home remodeling estimate and tell us which rooms you have in mind.