Home Remodeling Services in Inver Grove Heights, MN

Only once the scope changes a wall or ceiling surface — cabinets, counters, and appliances alone don't require one. We handle the CityView Portal submission either way, so there's no added step on your end.

Often, and it's a common request in the Salem Hills area, where 1970s and 80s ranch and rambler homes were built with more closed-off floor plans than buyers expect today. We confirm the wall's load path before any demo starts.

If the project adds or opens a soffit or dropped ceiling, yes — the city requires fireblocking every 10 feet horizontally, with any duct, pipe, or wire penetration sealed at the wall-to-ceiling transition. It's a detail worth planning for rather than discovering at inspection.

It varies by neighborhood. Rich Valley, the city's original farming area, has the oldest and most structurally involved kitchens. Salem Hills is mostly 1970s–80s tract construction in need of a layout update. Argenta Hills, the newer end of the city, tends to need finish and cabinetry work rather than structural changes.

Yes, once fixtures move — the city's submittal requires a floor plan showing the location and dimensions of every tub, shower, and vanity, reviewed up front rather than at rough-in. We prepare that plan as part of the project.

It's a frequent request in Rich Valley and Salem Hills, the city's older sections, where a single full bath was standard when those homes were built. A basement or under-stair location is the usual candidate, and either one comes with its own gypsum protection requirement.

Foam board insulation installed behind a tub or shower surround must be covered with ½-inch gypsum board or another approved thermal barrier — a detail the city's own handout calls out specifically, and one we build into the tile and surround plan from the start.

Mainly for lower-level plumbing rather than the bathroom itself. Homes near Simley Island Park sit close enough to the bluffs that bedrock runs shallower and more irregular there than on the flatter ground to the west, which is worth checking before finalizing a below-grade fixture layout.

7 feet in habitable rooms, dropping to 6 feet 4 inches under beams, girders, ducts, and soffits — the standard the city's own handout states explicitly, and the same minimum most metro cities work to.

At least 5.7 square feet of net clear opening, with a minimum 24-inch height, a minimum 20-inch width, and a finished sill no higher than 44 inches off the floor — figures worth confirming before a layout is drawn, since hitting both minimums at once doesn't automatically add up to the required area.

If the home is on a septic system rather than city sewer — common in the older Rich Valley area — yes. The city requires a compliance inspection from an MPCA-licensed septic inspector to confirm the system can handle the added bedroom before the permit is finalized.

Timing, mostly. The city's biggest wave of construction ran through the 1970s and 80s in neighborhoods like Salem Hills, and builders of that era commonly left the lower level unfinished to hold down the sale price — the same pattern seen across the south metro's suburban boom years.

A building permit through the CityView Portal, plus a scaled floor plan naming every room and the location and dimensions of any new beams, headers, and posts — the plan reviewer can require a structural engineer to sign off on those. We prepare the full submittal package as part of the project.

Usually. The city runs 28 square miles from the Mississippi River bluffs on the east to former farmland on the west, so where a lot sits changes what an addition's footings are dealing with — foundations go a minimum of 42 inches for frost either way, Dakota County being in the state's Zone II.

Electrical rough-in first, done by the State inspector rather than the city, then a combined framing, insulation, mechanical, and plumbing rough-in, then electrical final, then building, mechanical, and plumbing finals. Knowing that order in advance is what keeps a multi-trade schedule from stalling.

Only if the scope adds a bedroom and the home runs on a septic system rather than city sewer — still common in the older Rich Valley area. That triggers a compliance inspection from an MPCA-licensed septic inspector before the permit closes out, which we build into the project timeline up front.