Portland Heights Home Remodeling & Additions

Portland Heights is one of the city’s established neighborhoods, with a mix of historic homes and contemporary residences with sweeping views. Masters Construction specializes in home renovations that respect original architectural details.

We add modern amenities, improved layouts, and energy-efficient systems that improve comfort and value. Every project starts with architectural drafting and visualization, so you can walk the design before construction begins.

Expand your Portland Heights home with custom home additions designed to complement the existing architecture. These range from second-story expansions to garden-level suites.

We handle structural engineering, permitting, and construction with careful attention to detail. Every addition should feel like it was always part of the original design.

Portland Heights permits are issued by Portland Permitting & Development, formerly BDS. Hillside addresses bring extra review layers. Interior kitchen and bath remodels inside the existing footprint typically clear review in three to six weeks.

• Additions, structural work and second stories commonly run ten to sixteen weeks, because they require engineered drawings and a full planning review. Expect a geotechnical report and a grading or landslide-hazard review whenever foundations, retaining walls or excavation are involved. Tree regulations can also affect where an addition sits.
• Homes within a historic or conservation overlay need design review before the building permit. This adds time and shapes what can change on street-facing elevations.
• Masters Construction manages every piece: measured existing-conditions drawings, construction documents, and structural and geotechnical engineering coordination. We also handle historic design review where it applies, the city submittal, written responses to plan-review comments, and all inspections from footing through final. We price the project only after design, engineering and review requirements are settled.
• That keeps the permit set and the contract describing the same building, which keeps a hillside project on schedule.

Portland Heights holds early-century Portland homes: Colonial Revival, Tudor, Craftsman and English cottage styles built largely between the 1900s and the 1930s. Most sit on steep lots with views over the city.

The finish carpentry, plaster, leaded glass and millwork in these houses are worth preserving. Our work is to make the building perform like new construction without losing that character.

Behind the walls the list is predictable: knob-and-tube wiring that must be replaced rather than spliced around, and galvanized supply piping corroded to a fraction of its bore. It also includes unreinforced or rubble foundations with unbolted mudsills, balloon framing without fire blocking, and minimal insulation. Lead paint and asbestos require licensed abatement.

On the exterior, slope means drainage, retaining and foundation underpinning are real budget lines. On the interior, we match existing trim profiles by milling them and keep window proportions consistent across old and new openings. We also detail new beams flush so ceilings read continuous, and done properly, a visitor cannot tell where the original stops.