Home Additions in Chevy Chase, MD

What a home addition in Chevy Chase actually involves

• Feasibility and zoning before design. Pull the plat, establish the setbacks, calculate existing lot coverage, and confirm the height and bulk limits that apply. Roughly speaking, this determines the size and shape of what you can build before an architect draws a line.
• Excavation and foundation. Footings below the local frost depth, foundation walls or piers, waterproofing and drainage, and a slab or crawlspace detail that will not become the source of a moisture problem later.
• Systems extension. HVAC capacity evaluated for the added load rather than assumed, electrical circuits and panel capacity, and plumbing runs if the addition includes a kitchen or bath.
• Interior finish and the seam. Floor levels reconciled, drywall and trim matched, flooring run continuously where possible, and the transition detailed so the house reads as one house.

What we typically find on a Chevy Chase house of this era (1900 to 1950). In Chevy Chase we routinely open plaster onto balloon framing, knob-and-tube remnants that were abandoned in place rather than removed, and previous additions built to a standard nobody would accept now. Original single-glazed sash is common and it is a review question, not just a comfort one.

Lead paint: the rule that applies to most of Chevy Chase

If the house went up before 1978, the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to any work that disturbs painted surfaces: the firm doing it has to be certified, the work area has to be contained, and the cleanup has to be verified. Most of Chevy Chase's housing stock predates 1978, so assume this applies to your house unless someone has established otherwise. We hold that certification and we set up for it from day one instead of discovering it halfway through. It is a fair question to put to every contractor bidding your job, along with a request to see the certificate.

What drives the cost on a Chevy Chase home addition

There is no honest price on a web page for work like this, and a contractor who publishes one is either guessing or fishing. What is useful is knowing what actually drives the number, so that when three bids come back at three different prices you can tell which one understood the job.

• Foundation type and site conditions. Grade, soil, access for equipment and how far the excavator has to reach all move the number.
• How the roof ties in. A simple gable extension is straightforward; a tie-in into an existing hip or a low-slope intersection is engineering and flashing detail.
• Whether the addition includes plumbing. A bathroom or kitchen in the new space means supply, drain and vent to the addition.
• Generous but shallow lots with deep front setbacks, mature canopy and detached garages set well back. That is a Chevy Chase-specific factor and it belongs in the conversation early.

The mistakes we get called in to fix

• Assuming the existing HVAC will handle the new space. Adding conditioned area to an already marginal system means the whole house is uncomfortable instead of just the addition.
• Not verifying the septic system's capacity on a septic-served property before adding bedrooms.
• Choosing a builder who cannot show you a license, a certificate of insurance, and the permit history on their own jobs.

One licensed team, one contract, one point of contact

An addition touches excavation, foundations, framing, roofing, siding, windows, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and interior finish, and it has to marry a new structure to an old one so that the seam is invisible from both sides. There is no version of this that a homeowner can subcontract piecemeal and expect to go well. It is the definitional general contracting job.

We would rather over-disclose than be asked. Maryland: MHIC #111971, issued by the Home Improvement Commission and searchable in the state licensing database. General liability and workers' compensation in force, with certificates sent by our carrier on request and before signing, not after. The licensed trades on your project hold their own licenses and their own policies and pull their own trade permits, which is the legal requirement rather than a preference. Your contract is with us, and so is the responsibility.

Where we work in Chevy Chase

• 20815
• Chevy Chase Village
• Town of Chevy Chase
• Somerset
• Martin's Additions
• Section Five
• Rollingwood

How a Chevy Chase project runs

1. A free visit that produces a document, not a pitch. No presentation, no same-day discount, no financing conversation before anyone has looked at the house. We measure, we photograph, we ask what is not working, and we leave you with something written you can compare against every other bid.
2. Feasibility against Chevy Chase rules, before design. We establish what the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, plus your municipality will require for home addition at your address, and what your lot, your zoning and your existing house will allow. Where historic review applies, that submission is prepared and filed first, because the building permit is not useful until it clears.
3. Everything priced and agreed before a permit is filed. You see the scope broken into line items, the allowances stated as real numbers rather than vague placeholders, and the process for handling anything discovered mid-project. Only then does the permit package get assembled and submitted, with us answering the reviewer rather than forwarding comments to you.
4. One crew, one schedule, one closeout. MHIC #111971, Our own supervision on site, inspections met by us, and a documented punch walk with the permits closed out at the end.

Home Additions across Chevy Chase and Montgomery County

Chevy Chase Village, Town of Chevy Chase, Somerset, Martin's Additions, Section Five and Rollingwood are all inside our regular working area, along with 20815. What buyers and appraisers in this market respond to is period-correct exteriors with fully modern interiors, and kitchens that work without gutting the character out of the house — worth knowing whether you are renovating to stay or renovating to sell.

Homeowners here usually reach us for more than one thing at a time. Related work in Chevy Chase: whole-home renovation in Chevy Chase, kitchen remodeling in Chevy Chase, basement finishing in Chevy Chase, deck building in Chevy Chase.

We came to general contracting from the outside of the house in, which is the part most remodelers subcontract and hope for the best on. That means the same company handling your interior can also handle roof replacement, siding, aluminum siding, gutters, soffit and fascia and window replacement — under one contract, with one warranty conversation instead of three companies pointing at each other about where the water came from.

Chevy Chase home additions questions