Whole-home remodeling in Houston

Houston had very few ranch houses inside its city limits in the 1940s, but from 1950 to 1980 the ranch house dominated the city's residential architecture.¹⁷ 21%⁷ of homes in the city date from the two postwar decades, and a whole-house job in one of them usually means rewiring, new supply lines and a camera down the drains that run under the slab.

Expansive clay soils swell when they take on water and shrink as they dry, and those cycles can crack foundations and walls, jam doors and tilt floors.¹⁸ If doors stick or the floor tilts, find out before the new cabinets and tile go in. Houston treats repairing fractures in a slab or stabilizing a house that has moved as foundation repair, and for a slab-on-grade foundation the repair plans must come from a Texas-licensed engineer and show where the supports go.¹⁹

Unless a lead-based paint inspection shows otherwise, the EPA says to treat paint in homes built before 1978 as if it contains lead.²⁰ For homes built before 1978, the EPA advises hiring contractors who use only lead-safe certified renovators.²¹ 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.²² Testing costs least before demolition starts, not after a wall is already open.

In a Houston floodplain, a project's cost estimate must stay under half the structure's market value for the work to count as a non-substantial improvement.¹⁴ Houston adds up the whole project, so a kitchen, two baths, new windows and a new roof are judged together, not room by room.

Houston's floodplain ordinance, Chapter 19 of the city code, requires elevation to two feet above the 500-year floodplain, and homes that are substantially rehabilitated in the floodplain must have their lowest floor and utilities raised.²³ For a slab house, raising the lowest floor is a major project of its own, priced separately from the renovation that triggered it. Ask the company to price the scope both ways, and ask for the elevation certificate early.

In unincorporated Harris County, a home in the mapped flood hazard area needs a residential permit application and a floodplain development permit for any work, and owners planning substantial improvements may have to bring the house up to current standards.¹⁶

The City of Houston's Legal Department notes that some cities regulate land use through zoning laws, while Houston enforces the land use restrictions created by residents.²⁴ In Houston, deed restrictions can be enforced by a property owner in the subdivision, a homeowners association or civic club, or, for some restrictions, the City Attorney, and the written restrictions may be found in a plat, a deed, a separately filed instrument or amendments to them.²⁴

Under state law and Sections 10-551 through 10-555 of the city code, the City of Houston can sue to enforce certain deed restrictions in subdivisions inside the city: limits on how property may be used, building setbacks, the size of a lot or the size, type and number of structures on it, a structure's orientation, and certain fences that need a building permit.²⁵ A second story, a rear addition that pushes toward the property line or a change of use can all run into those restrictions, so read yours and check with the civic club before you pay for drawings.

In Houston, exterior alterations to a City-designated Landmark, Protected Landmark or a property in a City-designated Historic District need a Certificate of Appropriateness, generally issued after review by the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission; that covers restoration, rehabilitation, additions and exterior alterations.¹⁵ Certain minor alterations that don't affect a building's historic character can be approved administratively by Houston's Planning and Development Department within a few days, and ordinary maintenance and repair needs no Certificate of Appropriateness.¹⁵

Interior rooms are not what the commission reviews, but a whole-house renovation often reaches the outside: replacement windows, a rear addition, a rebuilt porch. Build the commission calendar into the schedule if the house is a landmark or sits in a district.

Texas limits how much a homestead's appraised value can rise in a year to 10 percent over the prior year's value, but the market value of new improvements is added on top of that limit; repairs and ordinary maintenance don't count as new improvements.²⁶ A renovation that adds rooms or square footage is the kind of new improvement that can be valued on top of that cap, while like-for-like repairs are not. Ask the Harris Central Appraisal District how it will treat your plan before you finalize it.

For very dusty work such as demolition, the EPA describes isolating the work area: sealing it off with no direct access to the occupied rooms, with workers using a separate entrance until cleanup is done.²⁰ The EPA advises keeping occupants, especially children, away from the work area during a remodel and cleaning up the site before they return.²⁰

Houston summers make this harder: with the ductwork open or the air handler being replaced, the house can be unlivable for days. Ask for a schedule that keeps one bathroom and the cooling working, or plan to move out for the demolition and mechanical weeks.

More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.²⁷ A whole-house job is the moment to add solid blocking for future grab bars, a wider bathroom door and a curbless shower recess in the slab, all of which cost far more to add once the floors are finished. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²⁸

The number on this page rings, on a recorded line, at one independent company that handles whole-home remodels in the Houston area. You discuss the rooms, the sequence and the price with that company.

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A job this size deserves paperwork. On a Texas residential construction job, the original contractor must give the owner a written disclosure statement before the owner signs the contract.²⁹ Before construction starts on a Texas home, the original contractor must give the owner a written list of the subcontractors and suppliers it plans to use, and an updated list within 15 days of any change, unless the owner waives the list in writing.²⁹ A Texas contract for improvements to a homestead must carry a bold-type notice warning the owner that failing to meet the contract's terms could cost them legal ownership rights in the home.³⁰ Check a Texas license