ClarityConstruction Design · Build · Remodel

Serving San Jose · Santa Clara County

Your remodeling contractor in San Jose

Kitchen, bathroom and whole home remodeling, ADUs and additions across San Jose, from Willow Glen and Naglee Park to Almaden and Berryessa. We have built here, and we know the city's process.

Remodeling in San Jose

Remodeling San Jose homes, start to finish.

San Jose is the biggest housing stock in the Bay Area and the widest mix: Victorians and craftsman homes around the historic conservation areas, seven Eichler tracts from the fifties and sixties, and mile after mile of postwar ranches that are ready for a second act. We have remodeled homes in San Jose, and the way this city builds is familiar ground for our crews.

Every job runs the same way regardless of zip code: a free walkthrough, a fixed written price, then design, permits and build under one contract. The difference a city makes is in the permit room, and that is a place we spend a lot of time.

City hall, handled

Permits in San Jose, handled for you.

Residential permits in San Jose go through the Building Division of the Department of Planning, Building & Code Enforcement, with everything filed and tracked online at sjpermits.org. We prepare the drawings, file the application, answer every plan-check comment and meet every inspector, so you never stand in a counter line.

If you are thinking about an ADU, San Jose is one of the friendliest cities in California to build one. The city runs a preapproved ADU program with standardized plans it has already checked, and its own guidance says a complete site-specific package can have its permit issued the same day as the plan review meeting. We can build from a preapproved set or design a custom unit and walk it through the standard process.

One thing to know before you fall in love with a plan: parts of San Jose carry historic rules. The city has Historic Conservation Areas, including Naglee Park, Palm Haven and North Willow Glen, where a single family home's exterior work runs through a Single-Family House Permit reviewed against preservation standards, and designated landmarks carry their own Historic Preservation permits. The Fairglen Eichler neighborhood is on the National Register. None of that stops a remodel. It changes the drawings, and we prepare drawings for a living.

The housing stock

What San Jose homes ask for.

The fifties and sixties ranches that fill most of San Jose usually want the same three things: a kitchen wall opened up to the living room, a second bathroom carved out of wasted square footage, and insulation brought up to a standard the original builder never imagined. All three are bread and butter for us.

The city's Eichler tracts, Fairglen and its neighbors, reward a contractor who respects them: low rooflines, post and beam ceilings you do not bury, radiant slabs you work around rather than through. And the Victorians near downtown almost always carry surprises behind the plaster, which is exactly why we flag anything we cannot yet see as a potential change order, with an estimated range, before you ever sign.

San Jose questions

What San Jose homeowners ask us.

Do I need a permit to remodel in San Jose?

For anything structural, electrical, plumbing or an ADU, yes. San Jose files and tracks everything through its online permit system, and we handle the whole process, drawings, submittal, corrections and inspections, as part of every job.

How fast can an ADU get approved in San Jose?

Faster than almost anywhere, if you use the city's preapproved plans. San Jose has already plan-checked those designs, and the city itself says a complete site-specific package can have its permit issued the day of the review meeting. State law also requires every ADU application to be decided within 60 days. Tell us the address and we will say which route fits your lot.

My house is in a historic conservation area. Can I still remodel?

Yes. In areas like Naglee Park, Palm Haven and North Willow Glen, exterior changes to a single family home run through a Single-Family House Permit with historic review, and designated landmarks carry their own permit. It adds a step to the drawings, not a wall. We prepare the package and take it through.

Which parts of San Jose do you serve?

All of them. Willow Glen, Almaden, Cambrian, Berryessa, Evergreen, Rose Garden, downtown and everywhere between. The office is fifteen minutes up the road in Santa Clara.

Free consultation

Planning a remodel in San Jose?

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.