Craftsman and bungalow restoration, rear-yard additions, and ground-up custom design for Durham. Drawn with respect for the block and the way these houses were originally built.
Usually within one business dayA reply to every request
Historic reviewWhen the block is in a district
Designed for Durham
Keep the street. Put the work in the rear yard.
Durham is a craftsman town. Trinity Park, Watts-Hillandale, Old North Durham, Forest Hills. The best work in these neighborhoods respects the block. Keep the front porch, keep the primary facade, let the addition happen in the rear yard where it does not fight the streetscape.
Our core work for Durham clients is rear additions, kitchen and primary-suite reworks, carriage houses and detached studios, and craftsman restoration. On larger lots off Hope Valley and Duke Forest, we also design new custom homes. On the tighter historic lots, we draw carefully against setbacks and lot coverage limits.
Every Durham engagement is fixed scope and fixed fee. The construction-phase drawing set is detailed enough that your builder bids it apples-to-apples against another builder without guessing at scope.
Scope
Additions, restoration, homes
Permit office
Durham City-County Planning
Fee
Fixed before we start
Reply
One business day
Recent work nearby
Harrington Modern Farmhouse. Custom home, Wake Forest, NC.
Great room design, The Meridian Residence.
Neighborhoods we know
Durham neighborhoods we serve
Trinity Park
Forest Hills
Hope Valley
Watts-Hillandale
Duke Forest
Old North Durham
Morehead Hill
Cleveland-Holloway
Woodcroft
Parkwood
Treyburn
Colony Park
The permit path in Durham
We work inside the city path, not around it.
Drawings are formatted for the City of Durham Planning Department.
Inside a local historic district, Durham Historic Preservation Commission review is part of the path.
We format submittal packets for that review process.
Comments are resolved with Commission staff before the hearing.
The same reading of the code we publish for builders. The NC Code and Permit Guide covers the chapters a residential permit set answers to, written in plain language.
Durham's best old housing stock is early 20th-century craftsman. We detail trim, columns, windows, and porches the way they were originally drawn.
Rear-addition strategy.
Most historic Durham work is a rear-yard addition. We draw the massing so the primary facade stays untouched and the addition reads as a secondary structure.
Modern meets old.
Hope Valley and Duke Forest reward a contemporary intervention inside a traditional shell. We are comfortable with both vocabularies and how they meet.
Permit path fluency.
We format drawings for the City of Durham Planning Department and the Durham Historic Preservation Commission when the block is in a local historic district.
Outdoor living for old lots.
Screened porches, detached studios, and carriage houses drawn to sit comfortably on narrow historic lots. Setbacks and lot coverage checked first.
Photoreal renderings.
You see the finished addition or new facade from the street before the builder bids it. Fewer surprises, cleaner bids, better buy-in.
The next step
Planning a Durham project?
Book a 30-minute consult. Historic rear addition, kitchen rework, detached studio, or a full custom on a larger lot. We will tell you what we would do and what it costs to get there.
