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 Burlingame
Home remodeling in Burlingame means working on 1940s and 1950s ranchers on clay soil, under design-review rules that most contractors never mention until the permit stalls. We’ve worked those streets, from Easton Addition to Burlingame Park, and we know what the planning department wants before you spend a dollar on drawings. A kitchen remodel here typically runs $14,000 – $45,000, a bathroom $9,000 – $28,000, and a full second-story addition starts around $45,000. If you’re planning work on a pre-1940s home, the window ratings and exterior finishes you choose have to pass both structural and aesthetic review, which is where our Home Remodeling team spends the extra hour up front. Call (855) 901-7266 and tell us what street you’re on. We’ll tell you what’s going to come up in plan check before you commit.
Why San Mateo Construction Is Burlingame’s Preferred Home Remodeling Company
We’re not the cheapest bid you’ll get in Burlingame, and we won’t pretend otherwise. What we deliver is a single contract that covers every trade, from the roofline to the foundation, with one crew foreman who actually picks up the phone. Noel Carrington runs our Burlingame projects personally, and he’s the one who walks the site with the building inspector, not a rotating project manager you’ve never met.
Burlingame homeowners call us because we’ve already handled the problems their houses throw at us. We know that Easton Addition homes hide bootleg conversions behind lath-and-plaster. We know that Burlingame Park’s heritage-oak ordinance can dictate where your addition sits, not where you wanted it to sit. We know that the clay soil near Mills Creek moves more than the soil up toward Hillsborough, and we spec foundations accordingly. That local knowledge shows up in the quote as specific line items, not vague allowances.
When a Burlingame customer calls, we schedule a site visit within a few business days, not weeks. We pull permits, we sit through design review, we document every change order with photos for your insurance file. That’s the job.
Styles & brands we work with
Full Home Remodel in Burlingame
A Full Home Remodel in Burlingame usually means taking a 1950s rancher down to studs in phases, or rebuilding the interior while keeping the street-facing facade intact to satisfy design review. The scope typically includes a new kitchen, at least one full bath, new flooring throughout, updated electrical from knob-and-tube to modern code, and window replacement where the original frames have rotted from fog-season moisture. Budgets in the 94010 and 94011 zip codes run $45,000 for a focused interior remodel up to $130,000 or more when you’re adding square footage, moving load-bearing walls, or reconfiguring the foundation for an open-plan layout.
We structure these jobs in phases so you can stay in the house during most of the work. Kitchen and hall bath first, then bedrooms and flooring, then exterior. Each phase gets its own permit and its own inspection, which keeps the city’s building department happy and keeps you from paying for rework if code changes mid-project.
Pre-Permit Documentation and Shear Wall Review
Before we submit anything to the city, we photograph and map the existing framing. On pre-1940s homes, Burlingame’s design review process often requires a structural narrative explaining how the remodel meets current wind-load standards without altering the protected streetscape. A cheap bid skips this step. Then the permit stalls, and you’re three months in with no work started. We include the documentation in the quote.
Phased Construction for Occupied Homes
Most Burlingame homeowners stay put during a full remodel. We coordinate phase transitions around your life, not ours. Dust control, sealed-off work zones, and a fixed schedule that accounts for winter rain delays on exterior phases. You’ll know which week the kitchen goes dark and which week the water gets shut off.
Home Remodeling Contractor in Burlingame
Hiring a Home Remodeling Contractor in Burlingame means hiring someone who can manage the building department, the design-review board, and the tree ordinance all at once, while still getting cabinets delivered on time. That’s the actual job. A general contractor here does more than swing hammers. We coordinate structural engineering, electrical and plumbing permits, window and door sizing against Title 24 energy requirements, and material lead times for name-brand fixtures.
Our pricing reflects that scope. Cabinet installation in Burlingame runs $4,000 – $13,000 depending on whether you choose KraftMaid stock boxes or Wellborn semi-custom. Countertops run $2,000 – $6,500 for Cambria or Silestone. A tub-to-shower conversion is $3,500 – $10,000. If you’re doing a partial remodel, we can often save you money by sequencing trades so the plumber and electrician are on site the same week instead of two separate mobilization charges.
Trade Sequencing and Material Procurement
We order your windows and doors the week the permit is submitted, not the week the permit is approved. Burlingame’s design-review process can add 6 – 10 weeks before you get your green light, and if you wait until then to order PGT impact windows or Therma-Tru doors, you’re adding another two months of lead time on top. We eat the scheduling risk so you don’t.
Existing Foundation Verification
On 1940s – 1960s homes near Burlingame Lagoon, we core-drill or trench a small test pit before finalizing structural drawings. If the original foundation has settled on Bay clay, we spec stronger piers or a thickened edge beam before the walls go up, not after. That line item costs more up front and saves you a cracked slab later.
Trusted Brands We Service in Burlingame
We carry direct relationships with the brands Burlingame design-review boards are used to seeing. GAF repair in Burlingame and CertainTeed roofing, PGT impact-rated windows, James Hardie siding, KraftMaid and Wellborn cabinetry, Schluter waterproofing for wet areas. When a plan reviewer asks for a wind-load rating on replacement windows in a pre-1940s home, we can pull the PGT spec sheet in an afternoon, not three weeks. For homeowners who want more budget-friendly options without sacrificing performance, we also work with solid mid-tier lines, and we’ll tell you honestly where the money matters and where it doesn’t. Call (855) 901-7266 for material samples and a line-item breakdown.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Home Remodeling Problems We See in Burlingame Homes
- Unpermitted past conversions with no shear detailing. In Easton Addition, we opened a 1940s rancher to rough in a new kitchen and found the original lath-and-plaster hiding a bootleg conversion with no shear wall or hold-downs. Our crew added hold-downs and sheathing to meet current wind-load requirements before inspection sign-off, and we documented every change order with photos for the homeowner’s insurance file.
- Galvanized supply lines and early Romex wiring. Homes in Mills Estates and Burlingame Park frequently still run original galvanized pipe and cloth-wrapped wiring. We budget for full replacement in any wall we open, because the city requires it once the wall is down.
- Heritage oak setbacks that dictate foundation placement. Burlingame’s tree-preservation ordinance protects mature oaks and redwoods on private lots. We’ve had to shift an entire addition footprint 12 feet because the original plan put the foundation edge inside the critical root zone. Cheaper bids ignore the ordinance until the city flags it.
- Wind-driven rain intrusion behind standard building paper. Burlingame’s wet winters are mild but persistent. Standard 15-pound felt behind new siding fails here faster than you’d think. We spec a water-resistive barrier rated for wind-driven rain on every exterior wall we touch.
Pricing for Home Remodeling in Burlingame, CA
Burlingame’s construction costs run higher than the national average because of design-review fees, permit costs, and the labor market on the Peninsula. Here’s what we see across our recent Burlingame projects:
| Project | Typical Range in Burlingame |
|---|---|
| Kitchen Remodel | $14,000 – $45,000 |
| Bathroom Remodel | $9,000 – $28,000 |
| Home Addition | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| Impact Window Installation | $8,000 – $25,000 |
What moves the number most is structural scope. If we’re adding shear wall, replacing foundation segments, or re-framing for a second story in the flatlands of 94010, you’re paying for engineering and hold-down hardware, not just finishes. We quote fixed prices with written allowances for materials you select. Estimates are free, and we’ll walk you through what each line item means before you sign. Call (855) 901-7266.
We Also Serve Cities Near Burlingame
Our service area covers the full mid-Peninsula. We work regularly in Home Remodeling in Burlingame as well as Hillsborough, Millbrae, San Mateo, and Highlands-Baywood Park. If you’re just over the city line and your house has the same 1950s rancher bones, we’ll bring the same local code knowledge with us.
Serving Burlingame, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Burlingame 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 Burlingame
Replacement windows on pre-1940s homes in Burlingame typically need to meet a design pressure rating of at least DP 50 for most exposures, and higher on west-facing walls that catch afternoon gusts off the Pacific. PGT impact windows exceed that rating, and we can pull the spec sheet for plan check same week. Call (855) 901-7266 and we’ll check your street’s exposure before you order.
If you have a heritage oak or redwood within roughly 20 feet of your proposed addition, the city requires a root-zone assessment before foundation permits are issued. We schedule the arborist report as part of our pre-permit package, and we design the foundation edge to stay outside the protected root zone. That documentation is what gets your permit through plan check without a redesign stop.
Yes, almost always. Any vertical addition in Mills Estates that alters the roofline or street-facing elevation goes before Burlingame’s design-review board. The review looks at window proportions, eave depth, and material choices against the neighborhood’s original Craftsman character. We prepare the design package to those standards from day one, so review adds weeks, not months. Call (855) 901-7266 for a free estimate on your addition.
A storm-ready quote includes rated windows with documented wind-load specs, shear-wall anchoring at all new openings, a water-resistive barrier behind siding, and a roof flashing detail that meets Burlingame’s wet-winter conditions. Cheap bids omit the engineering, skip the documentation, and you find out when you file an insurance claim and the adjuster asks for permit records. We itemize all of it.
When we hit an original 1920s – 40s clay lateral during a bathroom remodel, we scope the line with a camera, document the condition, and quote replacement back to the city main if the pipe has fractured. Burlingame requires lateral replacement when it’s been disturbed and found defective. We handle the sewer permit, the trench work, and the street patch in one line item.
Written by Noel Carrington, Owner at San Mateo Construction, serving Burlingame and the mid-Peninsula.