Kitchen remodeling
Bathroom remodeling
Home additions & ADU
Roofing
Windows & doors
Driveway & pavers
FenceFree written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Fast, Reliable General Contractor Across Santa Ana
Most Santa Ana homeowners call us when they’re standing in a kitchen that hasn’t been touched since the 1960s, or looking at a garage conversion that someone’s been sleeping in for twenty years without permits. We get it. General Contractor work in this city is rarely a blank slate. It’s tight lots, old bungalows, add-on rooms with questionable wiring, and annual Santa Ana wind events that find every weak roof-to-wall connection. San Mateo Construction handles the whole scope, from roofline to foundation, under one contract and one accountable team. If you’re planning a remodel, addition, ADU, or full renovation anywhere from downtown to the Lacy neighborhood, call Noel Carrington and our crew at (855) 901-7266 for a free estimate.
Why San Mateo Construction Is Santa Ana’s Preferred General Contractor Company
We’ve pulled permits in Santa Ana long enough to know what the inspectors here look for. Unpermitted garage conversions, undersized subpanels, load-bearing walls that got removed in the 1980s. The building department sees it all, and so do we. That history means we walk into a bid knowing which questions to ask before we open a single wall, which keeps your project from stalling mid-construction with a surprise stop-work order.
Homeowners across Santa Ana, from the tree-lined streets near Morrison Park to the older tracts south of Edinger, hire us because we don’t hand them off to a rotating cast of subcontractors. One licensed contractor, one schedule, one point of accountability. Noel Carrington reviews every estimate personally before it goes out.
We also carry the brand relationships that matter here. James Hardie siding specified for heat and wind exposure. GAF and CertainTeed roofing systems rated for the gusts that hit Santa Ana each fall. Cambria and Caesarstone countertops when you want a surface that’ll outlast the house. And for ADU work, our partnerships with Plant Prefab and Boxabl mean you’re not limited to stick-built only.
Styles & brands we work with
Construction Company in Santa Ana
A Construction Company in Santa Ana has to handle more than new framing. Most of what we do is reworking what’s already here, houses built between 1910 and 1970 that carry a century of additions, repairs, and shortcuts. When a homeowner calls us for structural work, we start with the existing conditions. Old knob-and-tube wiring buried in walls, sill plates compromised by decades of sprinkler overspray, roof framing that was never strapped to meet modern wind loads. That pre-bid inspection is the difference between an honest quote and a change-order nightmare.
For full home additions in Santa Ana, you’re looking at $45,000 to $130,000 depending on foundation work, structural upgrades, and how much of the existing house has to be brought up to current code alongside the new square footage. A garage conversion runs $30,000 to $80,000, and that range widens if we’re also correcting unpermitted prior work.
Room Additions on Tight Santa Ana Lots
Dense infill lots with mature trees and narrow side yards make Santa Ana additions a clearance problem before they’re a framing problem. Our team handles the setback checks, the title-24 calcs, and the foundation engineering. Then we build to the wind-load ratings the city requires, not what the original 1950s framing was designed for.
Garage Conversions and ADUs
Santa Ana has more converted garages serving as living space than nearly anywhere in Orange County. If yours predates a permit, we pull the record, open the walls, and bring it legal. For new ADUs, we work with Plant Prefab and Boxabl for factory-built options that shave months off the timeline and hold up to the same wind and fire requirements as site-built.
Remodeling Contractor in Santa Ana
A Remodeling Contractor in Santa Ana spends as much time on structural reality as on finishes. The bungalows downtown and in the Lacy area aren’t like newer Irvine tract homes. Walls aren’t always straight. The floor’s got a slope. The electrical panel’s maxed out. We plan for those discoveries so the tile work and cabinetry you’re paying for goes in over a solid, inspected, permitted substrate.
Kitchen remodels in Santa Ana typically run $14,000 to $45,000. Smaller galley kitchens can be done for $9,000 to $20,000 if the layout stays put and the plumbing doesn’t move. Bathrooms fall between $9,000 and $28,000 for a full gut, with a small bath refresh landing at $5,000 to $12,000. We quote line-item pricing with the exact allowance for every fixture and finish, so you know what a KraftMaid cabinet versus a Wellborn cabinet actually does to the number.
Whole-Home Interior Renovation
When we take a 1920s Santa Ana bungalow down to studs, the first move is upgrading the mechanicals. New rough-in plumbing and electrical sized for modern loads, because that 60-amp panel from the Eisenhower administration won’t run a tankless water heater and an induction range at the same time. Then we rebuild with current insulation, drywall, and the Schluter waterproofing system in every wet area.
Exterior-to-Interior Scope
The same crew that re-roofs your Santa Ana house with a GAF system rated for 130-mph gusts can also install the PGT impact windows, hang the Therma-Tru entry door, and then walk inside and build the kitchen. That’s the point of hiring us. One contract, one accountable general contractor, and a material list where every item is a brand you’ve actually heard of.
Trusted Brands We Service in Santa Ana
We stock and install James Hardie fiber cement siding specified for Santa Ana’s wind and ember exposure, plus GAF and Owens Corning roofing systems that carry the wind ratings our inspectors want to see on the permit. Inside, we build kitchens with KraftMaid and Wellborn cabinetry, and baths with Kohler, Toto, and Moen fixtures. For ADUs, our Plant Prefab and Boxabl partnerships mean factory-built modules arrive engineered to code and ready for our crew to set and finish. Santa Ana homeowners choose from a curated brand list, not whatever the supply house has left on the shelf. That selection process is free, and so is the conversation about which tier fits your budget.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon General Contractor Problems We See in Santa Ana Homes
- Unpermitted garage conversions used as bedrooms for decades. We open the walls and find a load-bearing header that was never installed, or wiring spliced with masking tape. We fix it, permit it, and document it so the next appraisal reflects legal square footage.
- Roof framing that fails wind-load verification. The Santa Ana winds each fall find every rafter that was toe-nailed in 1952. Modern strap-and-clip connections are cheap insurance against the tile blow-offs we see downtown every October.
- Undersized electrical panels blocking renovation scope. A 100-amp panel won’t carry a kitchen remodel with a double oven and EV charger. We include panel upgrades in the base quote when the existing service can’t support the specified fixtures.
- Add-on rooms built without permits. Santa Ana’s older housing stock is full of enclosed porches and lean-to additions with no record. We pull the as-built, verify the foundation, and bring the structure current before any finish work begins.
Pricing for General Contractor in Santa Ana, CA
Here’s what competitive, code-compliant work actually costs in Santa Ana right now. These ranges reflect the local labor market, the city’s permit fees, and the wind and fire-hardening requirements that a cheap quote ignores.
| Project Type | Santa Ana Price Range |
|---|---|
| Roof Replacement | $8,000 – $20,000 |
| Impact Window Installation | $8,000 – $25,000 |
| Garage Conversion | $30,000 – $80,000 |
| Home Addition | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| ADU Construction | $90,000 – $220,000 |
What moves the number on a Santa Ana job: whether the house has unpermitted prior work that needs correction, whether the roof-to-wall connections need strapping upgrades to meet current wind loads, and how much of the existing electrical and plumbing has to be replaced to pass inspection. A compliant quote from us includes those items as line items. The estimate is free. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll walk the site with you.
We Also Serve Cities Near Santa Ana
San Mateo Construction works throughout central Orange County. If you’re in Tustin, North Tustin, Fountain Valley, or Orange, the same team and the same brand portfolio apply. Most of our Santa Ana crews live within ten miles of the job site, which means we can get to a bid fast and keep the schedule on track. General Contractor in Santa Ana is where the bulk of our local work happens, but we cross city limits daily.
Serving Santa Ana, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Santa Ana area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About General Contractor in Santa Ana
Current Santa Ana code and the California Building Code require roof coverings and roof-to-wall connections to withstand the design wind speeds for Exposure B and C sites in the area, which typically means systems rated for 110 to 130 mph uplift. GAF, CertainTeed, and Owens Corning all manufacture asphalt shingle systems with the needed Miami-Dade or equivalent wind ratings, and our standard roof package includes the strap-and-clip upgrades the inspector will check. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll spec your roof to your property’s exact exposure.
You can check building records through the City of Santa Ana’s permit portal or have us pull the address history before you buy or list. If the conversion was never permitted, the city can flag the square footage as illegal, which blocks financing, insurance payouts, and resale. We pull the record, open the walls, correct whatever’s wrong, then permit and legalize the space. It’s an exact process we’ve done across the Lacy neighborhood and downtown dozens of times.
In many cases, yes. Insurers writing policies in Santa Ana’s wind and wildfire-exposure zones look for documented roof and window ratings, specifically a wind-rated roof system and impact-rated fenestration. We provide the final inspection sign-off, the material data sheets, and the permit record, which gives your broker something concrete to submit. The savings depend on your carrier, but the documentation is the only way to even ask the question. Call (855) 901-7266 for a free estimate that includes the compliance paperwork.
A compliant quote includes the wind-load strapping upgrade, roof covering rated for the exposure, impact-rated window or shutter options on the windward side, the electrical panel capacity check, and any correction of unpermitted prior work. Cheap quotes omit those line items and count on you not noticing until the inspector fails the job or the insurance adjuster denies the claim. We list every one of those items on the front page of the estimate. Estimates are free.
Usually, yes. Santa Ana’s building department generally limits required upgrades to the systems you’re touching and the circuits serving them. If you’re not moving walls or adding square footage, you can often scope a kitchen or bath remodel without a full panel replacement or complete rewire, though we may still recommend selective upgrades where the existing wiring is unsafe. We’ll tell you what the inspector will require and what’s optional, then price it from there. Call (855) 901-7266 to schedule the walkthrough.
Ready to see what your Santa Ana house can become with the right contractor? Call Noel Carrington and the San Mateo Construction team at (855) 901-7266 for a free, line-item estimate. No vague allowances. No unpermitted surprises left for the next owner. Just a real quote from a licensed general contractor who knows this city’s houses.
Written by Noel Carrington, Owner at San Mateo Construction, serving Santa Ana and central Orange County with licensed general contracting since day one.