Design build remodeling in Denver.
Kitchens, bathrooms, main level remodels, historic restorations, and additions, run by one team from feasibility study to final walkthrough.
We are a boutique design build firm in Denver, Colorado. The people who draw your plans are the same people who specify your tile, answer questions on site, and walk the finished house with you. There is no handoff to a builder who has never seen the design, and no designer who disappears the week demolition starts.
Most of our work happens in Denver's older neighborhoods, where a 1920s bungalow in Baker and a brick Tudor in Berkeley each ask for a different approach than new construction does. We plan for that at the front of the project, in a feasibility study, before anyone commits to a scope or a number.
Kitchen remodeling
The kitchen is where most of our projects start, and it is usually the room that sets the budget and the schedule for everything around it. A kitchen remodel can mean new cabinetry and countertops inside the existing footprint, or it can mean taking down a wall, relocating the range, and reworking how the entire main level connects.
We design in three dimensions from the beginning. You see renderings of your kitchen before a single cabinet is ordered, which means decisions about aisle widths, appliance panels, hood scale, and where daylight lands get made on paper instead of on site. Our designers specify every finish down to the cabinet hardware, and that specification reaches the field as a bound book, not a text message.
Denver's older housing stock brings its own list. Knob and tube wiring behind the plaster, a bearing wall between the kitchen and the dining room, a gas line that has to move, ceiling height that changes the moment the soffits come out. We look for those during the feasibility study so they show up in your estimate rather than in a change order.
Best forHomeowners who want the kitchen to work for how they actually cook and gather, and who would rather resolve the hard questions in design than during construction.
- Layout studies and 3D renderings before cabinetry is ordered
- Custom and semi custom cabinetry, specified down to door style, finish, and interior fittings
- Structural work for wall removals, beams, and posts
- Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC rough in, including hood venting
- Countertops, backsplash, flooring, lighting, and hardware selected as one package
- Permits and inspections through your local jurisdiction
Bathroom and primary suite renovations
A bathroom is the smallest room we work in and the most demanding one to detail. Waterproofing, slope, niche placement, tile layout, glass, and ventilation all have to be resolved before the first tile goes on the wall, because none of it is easy to revisit later.
We renovate hall baths, powder rooms, basement baths, and full primary suites. On suite projects the scope usually reaches past the bathroom door into a closet, a dressing area, or the bedroom itself, and we design those together so that flooring, trim, and lighting read as one continuous space rather than three separate remodels.
Older Denver homes often have a single bathroom for the whole house, or a primary bedroom with no bath at all. Adding one means finding the plumbing, the structure, and the square footage, which is exactly the kind of question a feasibility study is built to answer before you spend money on design.
Best forA house with one tired bathroom, a primary bedroom that deserves a suite, or a shower that has been quietly leaking into the framing.
- Tile layout drawings, including niches, curbs, and benches
- Full waterproofing systems, correctly sloped pans, and proper ventilation
- Custom or specified vanities with counters, sinks, and fixtures
- Freestanding tubs, curbless and walk in showers, steam, and heated floors
- Closet and dressing area design on primary suite projects
- Lighting design, including vanity lighting that works for how you use the room
Full main level remodels
When the kitchen, dining room, living room, entry, and powder room all need to change, we treat them as one project instead of five. That is usually the better financial call as well. Structural work, mechanical rerouting, flooring, and paint cost less done once, together, than they do in three phases spread across five years.
A main level remodel is where design build earns its keep. Removing a wall changes the beam, the beam changes the ceiling, the ceiling changes the lighting plan, and the lighting plan changes the electrical. When the designer and the general contractor work in the same office, those questions get settled in a Tuesday meeting instead of in a week of email between two companies.
Projects at this scale get a full set of construction documents and a specification binder covering every product on the job. Our field team builds from those documents. That is how a remodel this size holds its schedule.
Best forA house with good bones and a floor plan built for 1925, where opening one wall makes every other room worth rethinking.
- Existing, demolition, and proposed floor plans
- Structural engineering and beam design for wall removals
- Kitchen, dining, living, entry, mudroom, and powder room designed as one package
- Continuous flooring, trim, and paint across the level
- Whole level lighting and electrical plans
- Complete construction documentation and a specification binder for the field
Historic home restoration
Denver has an unusual amount of housing worth keeping. The bungalows, foursquares, Denver squares, Tudors, and midcentury ranches in Baker, Berkeley, Washington Park, Park Hill, and Applewood were built with material and detail that is difficult to buy new at any price.
Our approach is to keep what is good and be honest about what is not. Original fir floors, plaster, leaded glass, built ins, and trim profiles are worth the labor it takes to save them. Failing knob and tube wiring, uninsulated walls, a furnace from 1978, and a kitchen carved out of three small rooms are not. We restore the first list and rebuild the second.
Restoration work also means working with the rules. Some of our projects sit in designated historic districts where exterior changes go through review. We handle that process and plan the schedule around it, rather than discovering it halfway through design.
Best forOwners of an older Denver home who want it to function like a house built this year and still look like the house they fell for.
- Assessment of original millwork, floors, windows, plaster, and hardware
- Matching or milling trim profiles to the original
- Systems upgrades across electrical, plumbing, HVAC, insulation, and water management
- Kitchen and bath design that suits the age of the house without pretending to be original
- Historic district review and landmark submittals where they are required
- Structural repair, including foundations, framing, and settled floors
Home additions
Sometimes the house is right and there is simply not enough of it. An addition is the most involved thing we do, and the one that rewards a careful feasibility study most, because the answer to what is possible comes from your lot, your zoning district, and your foundation rather than from a wish list.
We design pop tops, rear additions, primary suite additions, kitchen and family room bump outs, and garage conversions. Before we design anything we look at setbacks, lot coverage, building form standards, and the floor area your zone allows, then we test two or three massing options against those limits so you can see the real envelope early.
An addition also has to look like it belongs. The new roofline, the window proportions, and the exterior materials are design decisions as much as construction ones, and we make them at the same time we are planning the inside.
Best forFamilies who love their block and their school and would rather add square footage than start over somewhere else.
- Zoning and lot analysis covering setbacks, lot coverage, and building form
- Massing and layout options tested against what your zone allows
- Foundation, framing, and structural engineering
- Roof, siding, and window design that ties the addition to the original house
- Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for the new square footage
- Permitting and inspections from application through final approval
Three phases, in the same order, every time.
A well defined and executed process is the foundation for success. Ours exists so the decisions and the dollars line up, and so you are never asked to commit to a construction number before anyone has looked behind your walls.
Feasibility study
We are on a fact finding mission in this phase. We work with you to establish project goals and priorities, we look at what the house can support, and we develop layout options you can react to.
- Existing plan
- Demolition plan
- Proposed plan
- Scope of work list
- Estimate
- Rendering
Design and pre construction
This is where we get into the details. We finalize layouts, design everything from the key elements to the small ones, and pull together the finishes. By the end of this phase the project is fully drawn, fully specified, and fully priced.
- Renderings
- Material boards
- Updated project costs
- Construction documentation
- Specification binder
Build
Everyone's hard work begins to pay off as the planning comes to fruition. Construction runs under our own general contractor license, with a superintendent managing the field and a lead carpenter running the crew in your house.
- Permitting and inspections
- On site field management
- Regular schedule updates
- Punch list
- Final walkthrough
One team instead of two.
In the conventional arrangement you hire a designer, then bid the drawings to builders who were not in the room when the decisions were made. The gap between those two contracts is where budgets slip and blame gets traded. We hold both sides.
One point of accountability
The same firm that designed the detail is responsible for building it. When something needs a decision on site, you are not the one relaying it between two companies.
Real numbers earlier
Because a builder is pricing the work while it is still being drawn, cost is a design input rather than a surprise waiting at the end of the drawing set.
Fewer surprises in the field
Constructability gets checked during design. Our field team reviews the drawings before they are issued, which is a cheaper place to catch a conflict than framing.
What people ask before they call.
What areas of Denver do you serve?
We work throughout the Denver metro area, including Cherry Creek, Washington Park, Berkeley, Baker, Central Park, Lakewood, Aurora, Golden, and the surrounding neighborhoods. If you are just outside that range, ask us anyway.
Why does every project start with a feasibility study?
Because the honest answer to what your remodel will cost depends on what your house can support, and nobody knows that on the first visit. The feasibility study produces existing, demolition, and proposed plans, a scope of work, an estimate, and a rendering, so the decision to move forward is made with real information rather than a rough guess.
How long does a remodel take?
Design work runs 6 to 10 weeks for the feasibility study and 3 to 6 months for design and pre construction. Construction length depends on scope, and we give you a schedule before you sign a construction agreement rather than after.
Do I also need to hire an architect?
For most remodels, no. We produce the construction documents in house and bring in a structural engineer when the work requires one. For projects that call for an architect of record, we tell you that early and coordinate the relationship.
Can we live in the house during construction?
Sometimes. A single bathroom or a bedroom addition is usually livable. A full main level remodel with the kitchen out of service for months usually is not. We talk through it during design so you can plan, because moving out is a cost and a decision like any other.
Do you handle permits and inspections?
Yes. We are licensed and insured, we pull the permits, and we manage inspections through your jurisdiction. On homes in designated historic districts we also handle the design review submittals.
What does a project cost?
We do not publish a price per square foot, because the number would be wrong for almost everyone who read it. Cost follows scope, the condition of the house, and the level of finish. What we can promise is that you will see an estimate at the end of the feasibility study and updated costs before construction documents are complete.
Will the same people be there start to finish?
Yes. The designer who develops your plans stays on the project through construction, and our superintendent and lead carpenter are in the house every week. Continuity is the reason the design build model works.
Let's build something beautiful.
Tell us about your house and what is not working in it. We will tell you honestly whether a feasibility study is the right next move, and what it would look like.
Prefer email? Write to hello@lindydesignbuild.com.