Whole-home remodeling in Cleveland

The city's housing is much older than the suburbs' around it. In a house built before the Second World War, a whole-house job tends to grow once the plaster comes down: wiring spliced by several owners, supply pipe that has narrowed with scale, and framing cut for ducts decades ago.

Unless a lead-based paint inspection shows otherwise, the EPA says to treat paint in homes built before 1978 as if it contains lead.¹⁶ Beyond flooring, the EPA lists vermiculite attic and wall insulation, roofing and siding shingles, textured paint and patching compounds on walls and ceilings, and hot water and steam pipes wrapped in asbestos blanket or tape among the places asbestos may be found in a home.¹⁷ Ask whoever you hire how they will test and contain both before demolition starts.

Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that in 2023, average per-owner improvement spending on homes built before 1980 was 24 percent higher than on homes built since 2010.¹⁸ In Cuyahoga County, where 80%² of homes were built before 1980, that higher spending describes most of the houses on the market.

Cleveland has 29³ locally designated historic districts, Ohio City among them, plus individual landmark homes. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission reviews building and demolition permits for designated landmarks and properties in its historic districts, and it reviews only exterior changes, not changes inside the home.³

That means a kitchen, a bath or a new layout inside the house moves at the normal pace, while windows, porches, siding, roofing and additions get a design check first. Landmarks review in Cleveland starts with a Project Record from Building and Housing; work that doesn't clearly meet the standards, additions and demolition go to one of five Design Review Advisory Committees and possibly the full commission before a Certificate of Appropriateness is issued.¹⁴

Ask early whether your address is in a district, and build the review time into the schedule before ordering windows or exterior materials.

Two county-linked loan programs are aimed at renovating existing homes. Cuyahoga County's Housing Enhancement Loan Program offers home improvement loans at three percentage points below normal bank rates, for owner-occupied or investment properties in nearly every county community, with no income limit; single- and two-family homes must have a tax value under $250,000.¹⁹

The Heritage Home Loan Program, offered with the county, provides low-interest loans and free technical help for homes at least 50 years old in eligible communities, with no income limit and a market value under $750,000.¹⁹ HUD's Limited 203(k) mortgage lets homebuyers and homeowners finance up to $75,000 into their mortgage for repairs, improvements, minor remodeling and non-structural work.²⁰

Many Cleveland owners live through a renovation one floor at a time, especially in a double where the other unit can serve as a base. The EPA advises keeping occupants, especially children, away from the work area during a remodel and cleaning up the site before they return.¹⁶ A simple dust barrier, the EPA says, is 6-mil plastic sheeting taped over doors and other openings, with sheeting also taped over the room's heating, cooling or ventilation registers so dust doesn't spread or get into the ducts.¹⁶

If the other floor is rented, the tenants are living beside a job site too. EPA's lead renovation rule generally doesn't cover homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes, but it does apply if you rent out all or part of your home.²¹

A whole-house project is the cheapest moment to add a first-floor bathroom, wider doors and blocking for grab bars. More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.²²

Cleveland's Cost vs. Value page put a universal-design bath at $40,896¹. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²³

When you call the number on this page, the call is recorded and goes to one independent company that handles whole-home remodels in the Cleveland area. You talk through the house, the order of the work and the price with them directly.

That company pays us for the call. You pay us nothing, and we never call or text you. How we make money

Check the company yourself before you sign a contract this size. Ohio's Department of Commerce says residential contractors are not required to be licensed in Ohio, and advises homeowners to ask their local building department whether a contractor is licensed or registered to work in their city, county or township.²⁴ To build or rehabilitate homes in Cleveland, contractors must be bonded, insured and registered with the Department of Building and Housing, electricians and plumbers must also be licensed, and homeowners can call the department to confirm a contractor is registered.¹⁵ Check an Ohio license