Home Remodeling & Renovation in Arvada, CO

Remodeling & general contracting in Arvada

Arvada wears its history well: Olde Town’s brick storefronts and water tower anchor a city that grew outward decade by decade, post-war ranches and split-levels through its east and central neighborhoods, 1970s to 90s two-stories farther out, and new construction still rising in Candelas, Leyden Rock and West Woods to the northwest. For remodeling, that spread is the whole story. Arvada has one of the metro’s deepest inventories of solid, well-located mid-century homes whose kitchens, baths and basements are ready for their second act.

As a licensed, insured general contractor based in nearby Greenwood Village, BH Builders manages every trade in-house or under one roof, so Arvada homeowners get a single point of contact, a fixed written scope, and one crew accountable from demolition to the final walkthrough. No juggling subcontractors, no finger-pointing.

Our services in Arvada

We handle the full range of residential remodeling and construction for Arvada homes:

• Kitchen remodeling: cabinets, counters, layouts and full renovations.
• Bathroom remodeling: walk-in showers, tile and full gut renovations.
• Basement finishing: bedrooms, baths, theaters and rental suites.
• Home additions: room additions, suites and second stories.
• Whole-home renovation: complete remodels, managed end to end.
• Decks & exterior work: custom decks, siding and outdoor living.
• Custom home building: ground-up homes to three stories plus basement, under our own Class C license.

Not sure where to start? See our remodeling pricing guide for honest cost ranges, or try any of the instant calculators linked above for a Arvada ballpark in about a minute.

Arvada homes we work on

East and central Arvada run heavily to 1950s to 70s brick ranches and split-levels, great framing, generous lots, compartmentalized floor plans that open up beautifully. Northwest Arvada adds 1990s-to-new two-stories with big unfinished basements. Our most common Arvada projects: opening mid-century kitchens to the living space, finishing basements into suites and theaters, and updating primary baths in homes that never left original condition. A large share of the older stock predates 1978, so lead-safe practices are a routine part of how we work here.

Arvada, neighborhood by neighborhood

Arvada grew outward from Olde Town one decade at a time, and you can read the year a neighborhood was built from the street. That matters because the right remodel for a 1955 brick ranch and a 2015 two-story are different projects:

• Olde Town and the east side: the 1940s to 60s core around Grandview, Ralston Road and the older grid near Wadsworth. Brick ranches and early split-levels with hardwood floors, plaster walls, small kitchens and full basements. These homes reward opening the kitchen to the living space, a modern primary bath in place of the original, and a basement finished with proper egress and headroom. Most predate 1978, so lead-safe practices are routine here.
• Central Arvada: Lake Arbor, Scenic Heights, Allendale and the 1960s to 80s neighborhoods between Wadsworth and Kipling. Split-levels, tri-levels and ranches with attached garages and compartmentalized plans; the classic candidates for a load-bearing wall coming out and a basement being finished.
• West and northwest Arvada: West Woods, Leyden Rock, Candelas and Five Parks, built from the 1990s to today. Two-stories with big unfinished basements, builder-grade kitchens and baths, HOA design review on the exterior, and decks facing the foothills that take a beating from sun and wind.
• Arvada addresses in unincorporated Jefferson County: pockets on the edges of the city carry an Arvada mailing address but permit through Jefferson County rather than the city; we confirm the jurisdiction at the parcel.

Permits in Arvada

Inside city limits, permits run through City of Arvada Building Services, which accepts applications online and issues building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits for residential remodeling. The projects that always need one in Arvada: anything structural (that kitchen wall), basement finishes, bathroom and kitchen remodels that move plumbing or add circuits, decks over thirty inches, and additions. Exterior changes in the west-side HOA communities get the association’s design review as well; we prepare that submittal from the same drawings. Arvada is one of the communities covered in the nearby-offices table of our Denver-metro permit guide.

One practical Arvada note: the older brick homes often have original 60-amp or 100-amp electrical service. A kitchen remodel that adds an induction range, a second oven and proper lighting can push that service past its limit, so we check the panel on the first visit and price the upgrade up front if it is needed, rather than discovering it mid-project.

Projects that fit Arvada homes

Kitchen remodeling in Arvada's 1950s to 70s ranches

Most Arvada kitchen calls start the same way: a closed kitchen in a brick ranch, a wall between it and the living room, and a question about whether that wall can come out. Usually it can, and usually it is doing some work, so the first thing I want is the roof framing direction and the location of any beam already in the ceiling. The second thing is the electrical service. Many of these houses still run on the original panel capacity, and an induction range plus a second oven can exceed it; we check the panel on the first visit and price any upgrade before the design is final rather than after the cabinets are ordered.

Where the house predates 1978, demolition follows the EPA lead-safe practices described on the kitchen page, and the exhaust route for the new hood is settled before the cabinet order, as the range hood guide explains. The Arvada permit itself runs through the city's Building Services division listed in our permit guide, unless the parcel sits in unincorporated Jefferson County.

1. Confirm the wall and the beam. Direction of the ceiling joists, any existing header, where the load lands.
2. Confirm the panel. Service size and spare capacity against the appliances you want.
3. Trace the hood route outdoors. Roof or wall termination, and what cabinet it passes through.
4. Price the layout, then the finishes. The kitchen cost section shows which line moves most.

Basements in Arvada homes: the three checks before framing

Arvada basements are worth finishing, and the ones built in the 1950s through 70s share three questions that decide the plan before a single stud goes up. First, the egress window: a bedroom below grade needs a code-compliant window and well, and the existing openings in these houses are usually too small; our egress window guide explains the sizes. Second, the floor: Front Range soils move, and perimeter walls in this area are often framed as floating walls for that reason; the floating walls guide explains why and what an inspector expects to see. Third, radon: the radon guide covers testing before and after the finish, which is cheaper than opening a finished ceiling later.

• Egress: window size, well depth and the ladder or steps the well needs.
• Structure and soils: floating walls, floor slab condition, any cracks that need an engineer's eye.
• Radon: a test before design, a mitigation rough-in if the number says so.
• Mechanical access: the furnace and water heater still need a service path after the walls go in.

What a finished Arvada basement costs depends mostly on the bathroom and the egress work; the basement cost section breaks it down, and the basement calculator gives a first range from your square footage.

Permits & building codes in Arvada

Most remodeling work in Arvada, anything touching structure, electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems, requires a permit and inspections. We handle the entire process so your project is code-compliant and on record, which protects both your safety and your home's resale value.

• Local permits. Arvada permits and inspections run through the City of Arvada Building Services (8101 Ralston Rd, Arvada, CO 80002). We file with them directly and schedule every inspection for you; typical review times for this office are on its card in the permit guide.
• The full Arvada permit picture. Fees, timelines, quirks and the documents you'll need are all covered in the Arvada section of our Denver-metro permit guide: including a free permit & fee estimator.
• How the fee compares. Our building permit fees by city table puts the metro's building departments side by side, each with its official fee schedule linked.
• Licensed trades. Colorado electricians and plumbers are state-licensed, you can verify any contractor's license through the Colorado DORA license lookup.
• Lead-safe work. Much of east and central Arvada predates 1978, so federal lead-safe renovation practices apply to a large share of projects here. See the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting program.

Nearby communities we also serve: Wheat Ridge, Westminster, Golden, Denver and Broomfield. Every city page links to that jurisdiction's own permit office, so you can see how the process differs a few miles down the road, or start from the complete service-area hub.

Why Arvada homeowners choose BH Builders

• Local & responsive: based minutes away in Greenwood Village, serving Arvada and the surrounding Denver metro.
• Licensed & insured, permitted and inspected on every job.
• One point of contact and a transparent, written price you approve before we start.
• Built to last: the motto we work by: Built on Dreams, Grounded in Craft.