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 Orange
Home remodeling in Orange, CA costs between $9,000 and $45,000 for most kitchens and bathrooms, with whole-home work and additions running $45,000 to $220,000 depending on scope. Those are the numbers we quote from, and they’re calibrated to what Orange’s housing stock actually requires. If you’re planning work on a 1920s Craftsman in Old Towne or a 1960s rancher east of the 55, call us at (866) 253-8554. We know the difference between the two before we walk the property, and that saves you money from day one.
Orange is not Anaheim and it’s not Santa Ana. The permit path is different. The houses are different. The historic review process is different. We scope jobs here with those realities baked in, not discovered halfway through.
Why Elmwood Contractors Is Orange’s Preferred Home Remodeling Company
Orange homeowners call us because we name the brands going into the home before the contract is signed. Not after the demo crew shows up. Not when the change order arrives. Before. KraftMaid or Wellborn cabinets. Cambria or Silestone countertops. James Hardie siding if the exterior envelope is part of the project. You’ll see the product list in writing, and you’ll know why each one was chosen for your house in Orange specifically, not for a generic Southern California house.
Nolan Shepherd runs our projects with one standard: every trade answers to one plan. When a 1920s pier-and-beam foundation needs leveling before cabinet install, we schedule that before the cabinet delivery date. When a mid-century addition has a flat roof that pools water every winter, we address drainage during the remodel, not after the first leak. Orange’s housing mix demands that level of sequencing. We’ve built our process around it.
Our Orange customers tend to be people who’ve already gotten one or two bids and felt the scope drifting. They call us because our quotes account for what’s actually in the walls here: knob-and-tube wiring in pre-1930 homes, lot-line setbacks on east-side tracts, and historic preservation overlays in Old Towne. That’s local knowledge that shows up in the number and in the schedule.
Styles & brands we work with
Home Remodeling Contractor in Orange
A home remodeling contractor in Orange has to handle two very different building types within the same city limits, and that’s where most bids fall apart. The pre-1940 Craftsman and Spanish Colonial homes in Old Towne Orange sit under California’s largest historic district overlay, which means the city’s cultural resource review can require period-correct window profiles and facade materials on any visible alteration. Three miles east, a 1960s tract home has none of those constraints but brings its own problems: undersized electrical panels, original galvanized plumbing, and flat or low-slope roof sections that collect winter rain. We price both accurately because we’ve worked both for years.
Months of planning, not weeks
A full home remodel in Orange typically runs $45,000 to $130,000 when it touches kitchens, baths, or structural work. That’s not a number we pull from a national average. It reflects Orange’s permit timeline, which includes historic review when applicable, and the labor rates for crews who can actually work on century-old framing without creating new problems. We sequence the permit path before we order a single material. That’s the difference between a clean pass and a stop-work order.
Sequenced for how Orange is actually built
If your Orange home was built before 1930, there’s a real chance the subfloor isn’t level and the wiring isn’t modern. We don’t surprise you with that as a change order. We look for it on the first walkthrough, put it in the quote, and schedule the foundation jack-and-level and electrical rough-in before cabinets and countertops go in. It costs more upfront and costs far less than discovering it mid-project.
Home Remodeling Companies in Orange
Most home remodeling companies in Orange fall into one of two camps: they’re specialty subs who only do kitchens, or they’re generalists who’ve never had to satisfy Old Towne’s historic review board. We’re neither. Home Remodeling is our core trade, but we run the full scope: interior spaces, exterior envelope work, and prefab or ADU construction. One contractor, every trade, interior to exterior. That matters in Orange because so many projects here touch both. A kitchen remodel on a 1920s Craftsman isn’t just cabinets and counters. It’s leveling the floor, replacing the electrical, and sometimes rebuilding an exterior wall where the stucco has failed.
The full scope, priced honestly
A bathroom remodel in Orange lands between $9,000 and $28,000. A kitchen runs $14,000 to $45,000. A garage conversion, which is one of the most common ADU-adjacent projects in Orange’s east-side neighborhoods, runs $30,000 to $80,000. We don’t bid low to win the job and then file change orders. Our quotes are built on the actual conditions we observe in your home, and we’ll walk you through every line item before you sign.
What we bring to an Orange project
We carry direct relationships with the brands that hold up in Orange’s climate and its historic districts: James Hardie siding for durability, KraftMaid cabinets for period-appropriate profiles when needed, and Cambria surfaces for homes where the owners want modern durability without sacrificing the look. We recommend products because they perform in this city’s conditions, not because they’re convenient for us.
Trusted Brands We Service in Orange
We stock and install James Hardie fiber-cement siding, which handles Orange’s wet winters and hot, dry summers without the expansion and cracking you see in vinyl. KraftMaid cabinetry is our go-to for kitchens where the homeowner wants strong, American-made boxes at a mid-range price point, and we can adjust door profiles to satisfy Old Towne’s historic review when the project requires it. For countertops, we lean on Cambria quartz for durability and clean lines. We also work with Plant Prefab and Tuff Shed for clients adding an ADU or backyard structure, which is a growing share of Orange’s remodeling work as lot sizes in older neighborhoods support it. When you call us, you’ll hear brand names tied to line items. That’s the point.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Home Remodeling Problems We See in Orange Homes
- Historic preservation overlay surprises. In Old Towne Orange, the city’s cultural resource review can reject your window or facade plan if the profiles don’t match the original build. We schedule that review before ordering materials, so you’re not paying for the wrong windows twice.
- Flat and low-slope roof drainage on mid-century additions. Orange gets 14+ inches of rain between November and March, and a flat roof that wasn’t re-pitched or properly drained will leak exactly when you can’t get a roofer out fast. We inspect the drainage path on every remodel that touches an addition.
- Knob-and-tube wiring and pier-and-beam foundations. Hundreds of pre-1930 homes in Orange still carry original electrical and sit on posts over dirt. Any kitchen or bath remodel that doesn’t budget for rewiring and floor leveling is underpriced from the start.
- Lot-line setbacks on east-side tract homes. The 1950s through 1970s tract stock in Orange’s eastern neighborhoods was built tight to the property line. Adding a second story or an attached addition often triggers setback reviews that standard tract production never deals with. We check the survey before we quote.
Pricing for Home Remodeling in Orange, CA
Here’s what Orange homeowners actually pay, based on the work we’ve scoped and completed here:
| Project | Typical Range in Orange |
|---|---|
| Kitchen Remodel | $14,000 – $45,000 |
| Bathroom Remodel | $9,000 – $28,000 |
| Home Addition | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| ADU Construction | $90,000 – $220,000 |
| Garage Conversion | $30,000 – $80,000 |
What moves the number? For kitchens, it’s the cabinet line, the countertop material, and whether you’re opening walls. For additions and ADUs, it’s foundation work, utility runs, and whether the property sits in a historic overlay that restricts rooflines or facade materials. Longer material hauls for builds on Orange’s peripheral acreage add 3 to 8 percent over a comparable build in a denser infill lot. We’ll give you a written, line-item estimate. Call (866) 253-8554 and you’ll get one, free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Orange
Our crews work throughout Orange and the surrounding communities: Villa Park, North Tustin, Tustin, and Anaheim. If you’re just across the 55 or up against the 22, we’re already familiar with your neighborhood’s permit office and stock. That means shorter scoping calls and faster, more accurate quotes.
Serving Orange, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Orange 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 Orange
Any visible alteration to a structure within Old Towne Orange’s historic district can trigger a cultural resource review that requires period-correct window profiles, facade materials, and sometimes roofline preservation. This can add 4 to 8 weeks to the permit timeline and 10 to 20 percent to the facade or window line item. We schedule the review before ordering materials, which is why our Old Towne projects tend to pass inspection on the first submission. Call (866) 253-8554 to have us check whether your address falls inside the overlay.
A full kitchen remodel in Orange runs $14,000 to $45,000, with most mid-range projects landing around $25,000 to $35,000 when you’re replacing cabinets, countertops, and flooring while keeping the existing footprint. Older Orange homes with knob-and-tube wiring or non-level subfloors will land toward the upper end because the electrical rough-in and floor leveling happen before cabinet install. We quote the whole scope on the first visit.
Yes. Any attached or detached ADU in Orange requires a building permit, and depending on the property’s location, the plans may also require design review. ADU construction in Orange typically runs $90,000 to $220,000 for a detached unit, with prefab systems from Plant Prefab or Tuff Shed landing toward the lower end when the site is level and utility runs are short. We pull all permits and handle the inspections as part of the contract.
We include full or partial rewiring in the quote whenever we find knob-and-tube anywhere in the project’s scope of work. In pre-1930 Orange homes, that’s common, and trying to work around it usually fails rough-in inspection. The cost is part of the line-item estimate before you sign, not a change order after demo.
A bathroom remodel in Orange runs $9,000 to $28,000, with smaller baths or guest baths landing around $9,000 to $15,000 and primary baths with walk-in showers and full tile work reaching the upper end. The spread reflects waterproofing systems, fixture lines like Kohler or Toto, and whether we’re moving plumbing. We’ll give you a exact number after a walkthrough. Call (866) 253-8554 to schedule one.
Planning a remodel in Orange means understanding your home, your lot, and your city’s rules before you spend a dollar. We bring that understanding to every quote. Call (866) 253-8554 to schedule your free estimate, and you’ll get a written, line-item scope with the brands named and the permit path mapped before you commit to anything.
Written by Nolan Shepherd, Owner at Elmwood Contractors, serving Orange since our first project in Old Towne.