Metro Detroit Home Remodeling | Custom Edge Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling in Rochester Hills
Half of Rochester Hills was built between 1970 and 1989, and the 1980s is the single biggest decade. That means original oak cabinets, a peninsula, and a wall between the kitchen and the family room. All three are fixable, and the city publishes more about how than anywhere else we work.
Request a walkthrough →What We Find Behind Rochester Hills Kitchen Walls
Rochester Hills' median house dates to 1985. Four kinds of kitchen cover most of the city.
1980s Colonials and Contemporaries
The largest group by a wide margin, close to three houses in ten. Honey oak raised panel cabinets, a peninsula with a bar overhang, and a wall between the kitchen and the family room. This is the signature Rochester Hills kitchen.
1970s Colonials and Ranches
Better than one house in five. Tighter footprints than the 1980s stock, eight foot ceilings, and soffits above the cabinets almost without exception.
1990s Subdivisions
Closer to the Novi pattern. The great room starts appearing, ceilings go to nine feet, and the kitchen is often already half open.
Walkout and Daylight Lots
Rochester Hills has real terrain, so an unusual number of houses sit on a slope. That changes the relationship between the kitchen and the room below it, and sometimes complicates an open plan conversion.
Six Things Rochester Hills Kitchens Have in Common
None of these are surprises. They are what decides the number on a Rochester Hills kitchen.
The Oak Is Original
In the 1980s stock it almost always is. Whether it is worth refinishing or replacing depends on the boxes, not the doors, and we look inside before we tell you which.
Interior Alteration Is a Permit Type Here
Rochester Hills lists Interior Alteration as its own category right on the residential building permit application. That is the box a kitchen goes in, and it is clearer than anything the neighboring cities publish.
Trade Permits Come Second, Not Together
Rochester Hills issues the building permit first. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing can only be obtained after that. It is a sequencing rule, and it moves the schedule if your contractor does not know about it.
Registration Expires May 31
Rochester Hills requires contractors to register with the city, thirty dollars, not prorated, expiring every year on May 31 regardless of when it was paid. A contractor whose registration has lapsed cannot apply for your permit.
The Inspection Sequence Is Published
Rough plumbing, rough mechanical, rough electrical, rough building, insulation, then the finals in the same order plus an open ceiling inspection. Ten stops. We schedule and meet all of them.
Soffits and Bulkheads
Common in the 1970s and early 1980s houses. Sometimes ductwork, sometimes filler framing. We open one and look, because it decides whether your cabinets can go taller.
We Pull the Permit, You Do Not
Rochester Hills' Building Department is on Rochester Hills Drive, and it is the best documented department in our service area. A kitchen files as an Interior Alteration. The application fee is a hundred dollars, plan review runs roughly a tenth of a percent of construction cost with a ninety dollar minimum, and that covers two reviews. We keep our city registration current, file the building permit first, then pull the trades.
- →Interior Alteration permit filed with the Building Department
- →City contractor registration current, renewed before May 31
- →Plan review fees paid, two reviews covered
- →Electrical, mechanical and plumbing pulled after the building permit issues
- →All ten published inspections scheduled and met by us
A Rochester Hills permit has to issue within six months of application or the application is cancelled. That is rarely an issue, but it is another reason not to file before the drawings are finished.
What a Kitchen Remodel Costs in Rochester Hills
Most of our kitchens run $50,000 to $70,000. Rochester Hills' median sale price is around $463,000, which puts a mid-range kitchen at roughly thirteen percent of the house. Rochester Hills jobs land squarely in the middle of our range. The 1980s footprint is generous, so you are not buying square footage. What moves the number is whether the wall between the kitchen and the family room is carrying load, and on a slope lot, whether the floor below it is already finished. We look at both on the walkthrough.
What We Build in a Rochester Hills Kitchen
A Bar or Kitchenette Downstairs
Walkout basements are common here, which makes a downstairs bar more useful than it is in a standard basement.
See the service →The Full Kitchen
Layout, cabinetry, counters, electrical, plumbing, ventilation, floors and trim. Eight to twelve weeks, four trades, one schedule.
See the service →The Powder Room Next Door
In an 1980s colonial the half bath is usually on the kitchen wall. Doing both at once shares the plumbing permit and the schedule.
See the service →Bumping Out for the Kitchen
Possible on most Rochester Hills lots. On a slope lot it becomes a different structural problem, and we price it honestly rather than optimistically.
See the service →Taking Out the Wall
The 1980s kitchen to family room wall is the main event here. Beam, posts, load path to the footing, permitted and inspected.
See the service →The Kitchen Inside a Bigger Renovation
The 1980s stock is hitting forty years old. When the kitchen, the baths and the mechanicals are all due, doing them together costs less than doing them in sequence.
See the service →Rochester Hills Homeowners Ask Us This
Anything not answered here, call Tim directly at 313.236.0985.
What permit does a kitchen need here?
An Interior Alteration permit, which is its own listed category on the city residential application. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing follow separately, and only after the building permit has issued.
Should I refinish the oak or replace it?
It depends on the boxes, not the doors. If the carcasses are solid and the layout works, refinishing and re-dooring is a real option and it costs materially less. If the layout is the problem, refinishing just makes a dated plan shinier.
Is my contractor registered with the city?
Ask them, and ask when it expires. Rochester Hills registration lapses every May 31 no matter when it was paid, and a lapsed contractor cannot apply for your permit. Ours is current.
How many inspections will there be?
Ten, and the city publishes the order. Rough plumbing, mechanical, electrical and building, then insulation, then the finals plus an open ceiling inspection. We schedule and meet all of them.
Can I open the wall to the family room?
Almost always. In an 1980s colonial that wall usually carries the floor above, so it is a beam and post job rather than a demolition job. The cost is predictable once we see the framing direction.
How long does a Rochester Hills kitchen take?
Eight to twelve weeks from permit to final. The city does not publish a review turnaround for interior alterations, so we do not quote one. Its forty-eight hour expedited review applies to basement finishes, not kitchens.
Full service area across Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw and Monroe counties.
We Are Already in the Neighborhood
Tim walks the kitchen, tells you what the wall and the cabinets will allow, and gives you a straight answer before anyone talks about price. Free, about an hour.