Home Remodeling and Additions in Orange County

The numbers at a glance

A whole-house remodel in Orange, room by room

This is a full interior renovation of ours in the city of Orange. Same footprint, same walls in most rooms — what changed is everything you touch and everything overhead. Popcorn ceilings came down, carpet came out, the kitchen was reconfigured around an island, a tub became a walk-in shower, and lighting was replaced throughout with recessed cans. The pairs below are the same rooms before and after.

Why we do not publish a remodel price per square foot

Our ADU pages carry published ranges because a new build starts from a known quantity: an empty piece of yard. A remodel does not. The number is decided by what is already in the house — whether the panel can carry new circuits, whether the drain lines are cast iron, whether a wall you want removed is carrying load, whether there is asbestos in the popcorn ceiling or the flooring adhesive, and how square the existing framing is. Two identical-looking 1,600 sq ft houses on the same street can differ by six figures once the walls are open. Publishing a per-square-foot remodel rate would give you a number that is wrong for your house, so we give you one after we have been inside it. The site visit is free.

Remodel, addition, or ADU — which one you actually want

These solve different problems and are worth separating before you spend design money. A remodel changes the quality of the space you already have without changing the footprint — right when the layout works but the finishes, systems or light do not. An addition extends the existing house, which means matching the roofline, tying into the existing foundation and structure, and living through construction inside your home. An ADU is a separate, self-contained dwelling with its own kitchen, bath and entrance — at our published rates $200K–$450K+ for a custom detached unit, or $90K–$150K for a garage conversion. The ADU is the only one of the three that produces rentable square footage and a second address; the addition is usually the right answer when you need the extra room connected to the main house. Our ADU construction page covers what that build involves, and the detached vs garage conversion comparison covers the two most common ADU paths.

Remodeling an existing ADU

We also renovate ADUs that someone else built, or that have simply aged — new flooring and finishes, a kitchen or bath rework, better insulation and windows, replacing wall units with a ductless mini-split, or correcting work that was never permitted. If the unit was built without permits, that has to be resolved before anything else, and it is a different conversation from a cosmetic refresh; we tell you which one you are in after seeing it.

Doing a remodel and an ADU at the same time

This is common and usually worth planning together rather than sequentially. The overlap is real: one design effort, one permit push, one mobilization, one trench if the sewer and electrical work can share it, and one period of disruption instead of two. The main-house remodel and the new unit are still separate permits and separate inspections, but the sequencing can be arranged so the trades move between them rather than demobilizing in between. If both are on your list, say so at the site visit — it changes how we would phase the work.