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 Home Remodeling Across Millbrae
Home remodeling in Millbrae typically costs $14,000 to $45,000 for a kitchen, $9,000 to $28,000 for a bathroom, and $45,000 to $130,000 for a full home addition, with most projects taking 8 to 16 weeks depending on scope and Millbrae’s design review process. That’s the honest range before anyone walks your property. We’re San Mateo Construction, and we’ve spent years navigating the specific permit and zoning landscape that makes Millbrae different from San Bruno, Burlingame, or even San Mateo. Call (855) 901-7266 to schedule a free estimate, and we’ll give you line-item pricing in writing before anything gets ordered.
Why San Mateo Construction Is Millbrae’s Preferred Home Remodeling Company
Millbrae homeowners keep calling us back because we understand the city’s design review process better than most contractors working the Peninsula. The Hillside Area rules, the FAA height restrictions for crane work under the SFO flight path, the way a 1950s rancher’s foundation responds to a second story addition – these aren’t surprises to us. We plan for them from day one.
Noel Carrington leads our team, and he’s walked enough Millbrae project sites to know exactly which questions the planning department will ask before they ask them. That means fewer stalled permits and fewer mid-project change orders. Our clients in the Millbrae Hills, around Taylor Middle School, and in the flats near Broadway consistently tell us the same thing: the schedule held because the planning was done right. When you work with us, you get one accountable contractor from first drawing to final inspection.
Styles & brands we work with
Luxury Home Remodeling in Millbrae
Luxury Home Remodeling in Millbrae means custom millwork, architectural glass, specialty finishes, and the kind of cabinetry that gets ordered months before a hammer ever swings. The homes here – particularly the larger lots in the Millbrae Hills and the rebuilds happening along the 94030 corridor – are increasingly getting high-end treatments that rival anything in Hillsborough. What separates a luxury remodel from a standard one isn’t just material cost. It’s the lead time on those materials, and the coordination required to install them correctly the first time.
Custom Cabinetry and Architectural Glass
When a Millbrae client chooses custom KraftMaid cabinetry and a 10-foot architectural glass slider, we’re ordering those items before demolition starts. The cabinetry alone runs 8 to 12 weeks from order to delivery. The glass slider needs a crane, and in Millbrae, that crane often needs FAA notification. We handle that filing. Most homeowners don’t realize it’s required until a project stalls – but we already have it on the calendar.
Designer and Architect Coordination
Luxury remodels in Millbrae almost always involve a designer or architect. We’re comfortable working inside that relationship, translating their drawings into buildable, permit-ready plans. We’ve coordinated with designers across the Peninsula, and we know what Millbrae’s planning department will push back on – which saves our clients real money in revision fees.
Full Home Remodel in Millbrae
A Full Home Remodel in Millbrae means we’re touching every system – structural, exterior, mechanical, and interior finishes – under one contract. That’s the offer most traditional remodelers in Millbrae can’t match. Instead of hiring one company for the roof, another for the kitchen, and a third for the windows, you get one GC accountable for the whole thing. On a 1940s rancher off Millbrae Avenue, that scope might mean foundation repairs, a complete rewire, new plumbing, a redesigned kitchen, two remodeled baths, and new James Hardie siding – all coordinated by one team.
Structural and Exterior Scope
Millbrae’s older housing stock frequently needs structural attention before finish work even starts. When we open up walls on a post-WWII split-level, we regularly find electrical panels that are long past their useful life and plumbing that’s been patched for decades. We bring in licensed structural and MEP subs who know Millbrae’s permit requirements, and we schedule their work around the finish trades so nobody stacks delays.
Interior Finishes and Material Selection
For the interior scope, we help you choose from a curated set of brands rather than whatever’s on a shelf. Cambria and Caesarstone for countertops. Kohler and Grohe for plumbing. KraftMaid and Wellborn for cabinetry. We’ll spec premium and value tiers within the same categories so you’re deciding based on what matters to you, not what one showroom happens to carry.
Trusted Brands We Service in Millbrae
We hold direct supplier relationships with more than 50 manufacturers, and that matters in Millbrae when a project depends on a specific product or requires ViewLux repair in Millbrae. Need PGT impact windows because your home sits directly under the SFO approach and you want both noise reduction and impact resistance? We order them directly. Looking at Tamko or Boral for a roofing component on a Millbrae Hills home with strict design review? We know which products clear that process faster. Because we’re not going through third-party distributors for everything, we can usually get Millbrae customers answers on lead times and availability within a day or two. That speed of information is part of what keeps our projects on schedule.
Our Home Remodeling team carries broad expertise across these brands, and our Home Remodeling in Millbrae work has given us a working knowledge of what the planning department will accept. If a product won’t pass review, we tell you before we order it – not after the permit gets bounced back.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Home Remodeling Problems We See in Millbrae Homes
- Long-lead items ordered too early or too late. Custom cabinetry and architectural glass can’t be ordered before design review sign-off in Millbrae, especially in the Hillside Area, because the plan revisions from zoning often change dimensions. We’ve seen and helped resolve too many cases where a client was stuck with a $20,000 cabinet order that didn’t fit the revised plan.
- Permit timelines underestimated. A contractor who assumes a 4-week permit cycle in Millbrae is going to miss the mark. Hillside Area review and historic character considerations can push planning approvals out 8 to 12 weeks, and if you didn’t account for it, the whole project stalls.
- FAA crane notification overlooked. Millbrae sits directly under the SFO flight path, and any crane or high-reach equipment needs FAA notification. Out-of-town builders don’t always know this. We file it as a matter of routine, and it’s baked into our schedule from the first estimate.
- Specialty finish costs not fixed in writing. When a client upgrades from a standard tile backsplash to handmade zellige mid-project, the allowance schedule has to handle that cleanly. Without it, you get disputes. We write the allowance schedule before work starts, so there’s a number on paper for every decision you make later.
Pricing for Home Remodeling in Millbrae, CA
Here’s what we’re seeing in Millbrae right now, and these numbers hold whether you’re in the flats near Broadway or up in the Hillside Area:
| Project | Typical Range in Millbrae |
|---|---|
| Kitchen Remodel | $14,000 – $45,000 |
| Bathroom Remodel | $9,000 – $28,000 |
| Home Addition | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| Cabinet Installation | $4,000 – $13,000 |
What moves the number isn’t just square footage. It’s the design review timeline, whether your lot sits in the Hillside Area, and what level of finish you’re after. A builder-grade kitchen in a flat-lot 1950s rancher is different from a custom kitchen with Cambria countertops and a glass slider that needs a crane. We give you a written fixed price before ordering anything, so the number doesn’t drift while you’re waiting on Millbrae’s planning department. Call (855) 901-7266 for an exact quote – estimates are free, and you’ll get the numbers in writing.
We Also Serve Cities Near Millbrae
While Millbrae is home to a lot of our work, we also serve Millbrae‘s neighbors including San Bruno, Burlingame, Hillsborough, and South San Francisco. If your project is in one of those cities, the same team and the same written-price commitment apply. Call us and we’ll let you know if we’re a fit for your street.
Serving Millbrae, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Millbrae 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 Home Remodeling in Millbrae
Millbrae’s Hillside Area design rules can add six to twelve weeks to a high-end remodel timeline, depending on the scope and how responsive your architect is to revision requests. The review process looks at height, lot coverage, and visual impact, which means your plans may come back with changes that affect window sizes, rooflines, or even the placement of architectural glass. We’ve seen this add two full months to a project. The way to manage it is to submit early, respond to comments within days rather than weeks, and never order long-lead items like custom cabinetry until the design review is signed off. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll walk you through what your specific lot is likely to trigger.
Custom cabinetry, architectural glass, and specialty countertops have 8 to 16 week manufacturing lead times, which is longer than nearly any labor phase in a Millbrae remodel. The labor to install a kitchen takes two to three weeks. The cabinets themselves take three months to arrive. When you add Millbrae’s design review on top of that, the calendar starts looking like this: six weeks for permit review, ten weeks for cabinet manufacturing, two weeks for installation. That’s why the schedule is driven by what gets ordered and when it gets ordered – not by how many carpenters are on site. We build the entire schedule backward from material lead times, and we give you that calendar before we start. Call (855) 901-7266 to see what your timeline would look like.
Yes, if your Millbrae remodel requires a crane or any high-reach equipment, you will likely need FAA notification because the city sits directly under the SFO flight path. This includes setting architectural glass sliders, lifting roof trusses, or placing heavy beams. We file the FAA notification as part of our standard site logistics planning. It’s not optional. Contractors who skip this can face fines and job-site shutdowns, and we’ve watched out-of-town builders learn that the hard way. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll tell you whether your specific project triggers the requirement.
We prevent change orders on luxury Millbrae remodels by writing a fixed price and a detailed allowance schedule before any materials are ordered. The fixed price covers the agreed scope of work. The allowance schedule says exactly what your custom cabinetry, countertops, fixtures, and specialty finishes cost at each tier. If you upgrade from a standard Caesarstone to a premium Cambria mid-project, that’s not a change order – it’s a documented allowance adjustment you already approved in writing. The only thing that typically shifts on our Millbrae jobs is the schedule, and that’s usually the design review, not us. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll show you the exact paperwork we use.
A full home remodel in Millbrae typically runs $45,000 to $130,000, with the spread driven by square footage, structural scope, and finish level. That’s for the complete interior and exterior scope – kitchen, baths, flooring, windows, siding, roofing, and the mechanical systems that need bringing up to code. A 1,100-square-foot rancher in the flats near Broadway might land at the lower end. A 2,400-square-foot two-story in the Millbrae Hills with custom everything will push toward the top. Call (855) 901-7266 for a written quote – it’s free, and it won’t include a sales pitch.
Written by Noel Carrington, Owner at San Mateo Construction, serving Millbrae and the surrounding Peninsula since day one.