ClarityConstruction Design · Build · Remodel

Serving San Francisco · San Francisco County

Your remodeling contractor in San Francisco

Kitchen and bathroom remodeling, ADUs, unit legalization and rooftop decks across San Francisco, from Victorian flats to Sunset rowhouses.

Remodeling in San Francisco

San Francisco remodeling, from Victorian flats to rooftop decks.

Nearly half of San Francisco's housing was standing before 1940, and the city builds like nowhere else in the Bay: Victorians and Edwardians from the post-quake rebuild, Marina stucco over ground-floor garages, Doelger rowhouses marching through the Sunset wall to wall on their lots. Remodeling here means working a few feet from the neighbors, bracing what the decades loosened, and knowing the difference between a permit you pull over the counter and one that goes in-house.

Our San Francisco work runs from kitchens and bathrooms in the flats to whole building renovations and the rooftop decks in our portfolio, framed over the skyline. Different animals, one habit: the price and the paperwork are settled before the dust starts.

City hall, handled

Permits in San Francisco, handled for you.

The Department of Building Inspection issues the permits, and the first question is always which track your project rides. An in-kind kitchen or bath remodel can be approved over the counter, often the same day. Change the layout or take out walls and it is still over the counter, just with plans. Additions, vertical extensions and ADUs go to full in-house review, filed electronically, with Planning weighing in before Building does.

The San Francisco wrinkle is neighborhood notification: Section 311 gives neighbors thirty days of notice on vertical additions and rooftop structures, and any of them can ask the Planning Commission to take a look. We design around that reality from day one and keep the package clean, so there is nothing to object to.

The housing stock

What San Francisco buildings ask for.

The classics: a soft story over a garage that wants steel before it wants tile, a panel from another era that will not carry an induction range, and a hundred years of layered remodels to peel back before the good bones show. We open these buildings for a living, so the estimate you sign already expects what walls like these tend to hide, and anything we truly cannot see is flagged as a possible change order with a range before you ever sign.

And the opportunities: the city's ADU programs let many owners add a unit inside the existing envelope, buildings with five or more units can add more than one, and the legalization program can bring a long-unwarranted in-law unit into the light. Under state law an ADU application is reviewed ministerially on a sixty day clock, no hearing.

San Francisco questions

What San Francisco homeowners ask us.

How do permits work in San Francisco?

The Department of Building Inspection issues them from the Permit Center on South Van Ness. Like-for-like kitchen and bath remodels go over the counter; layout changes go over the counter with plans; additions, vertical extensions and ADUs are reviewed in-house with Planning involved. We prepare the drawings, file electronically, answer every round and meet the inspectors.

Will my neighbors be notified about my remodel?

For most interior remodels, no. Vertical additions, roof structures and some larger expansions trigger Section 311 notification, which gives neighbors thirty days to comment or request review. We design to the pattern that passes quietly and handle the process end to end.

Can I add an ADU to my building?

In most cases, yes. State-track ADUs are approved ministerially on a sixty day clock, and San Francisco's local program can waive rear yard, open space and parking rules for units built within the existing envelope. Buildings of four or fewer units can add one ADU; larger buildings can add more.

Do you build rooftop decks in the city?

Yes. Several of the rooftop decks in our portfolio look over the San Francisco skyline. Roof decks and penthouses ride the full review track with neighbor notice, so the drawings have to be right the first time. Ours are.

Free consultation

Planning a remodel in San Francisco?

Tell us what you are imagining. We will walk the space, explain what your city requires, and put a fixed price in writing.

We reply within one business day. No sales visit, no pressure. Prefer to talk now? Call (408) 443-2393.

Thank you. We have your details.

One of our project leads will call you within one business day. If you need us sooner, call (408) 443-2393.