Seattle · First Hill & Capitol Hill
Renovating on First Hill.
On First Hill you are usually renovating inside a building, not just inside a home.
There is a freight elevator with a booking sheet, a building manager who needs the insurance certificate, quiet hours, and a stack you are not moving. None of that makes the work harder. It makes the planning matter more, and it is the part most quotes forget to price.
The First Hill kitchen: same footprint, different room.
The layout stayed. Everything else changed. White cabinetry with marble carried up behind the range, an integrated hood, warm wood shelving, and an opening to the dining room that turned two rooms into one place to be. Keeping the plumbing where it was is what paid for the marble.
What working in a building actually involves
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01
The building's paperwork
Certificate of insurance, an alteration agreement, sometimes board approval. We handle it, and we start it before the drawings are finished because it is usually the long pole.
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02
Hours and the elevator
Most buildings allow work on weekdays only, and the freight elevator gets booked. It changes the schedule, so it goes in the schedule.
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03
The stack stays where it is
In an apartment the waste stack is not negotiable. Everything sensible you can do with the layout is decided by how far the fixtures can move from it.
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04
Neighbours below
Waterproofing in an apartment is not about your floor. Full-height membrane and a real pan is the cheapest insurance in the whole job.
Keeping the layout is the single biggest lever on the number.
Moving a sink twelve feet is a plumbing decision, and in a building it is often not a decision at all. Sometimes it is worth every dollar. More often the room just needed better cabinetry, more light and stone that goes all the way up.