Home additions in Centennial, CO
Our shop, our crews, and most of our projects are all in town.
The additions we build in Centennial
Because the lots are generous and the houses sound, Centennial additions are mostly about building out rather than up — and that’s the cheaper path per square foot. The projects we’re asked for most here are primary-suite additions on split-levels that never had a proper one, family-room and kitchen bump-outs, main-floor offices, and above-garage builds. The structure and systems are usually modern enough that we’re adding space rather than repairing the house first, which makes budget and timeline more predictable than older-home work.
For a lot of Centennial homes, though, the honest answer is that an addition isn’t the best value. If you have a large unfinished basement — common here, often with a bathroom rough-in already in the slab — finishing it adds living space at a fraction of an addition’s cost per foot. We’ll tell you when that’s the better move.
What Centennial zoning allows — and the PUD question
Centennial’s addition constraints usually aren’t about space. The 1970s-through-2000s neighborhoods here — Willow Creek, Foxridge, Walnut Hills, Cherry Knolls, Piney Creek — sit on generous lots with real room to build out, which is the opposite of the problem Denver homeowners face. Setbacks, lot coverage, and height still come from your property’s zone district, and they have to be checked parcel by parcel rather than assumed from a citywide number.
The wrinkle here is how much of Centennial was platted as planned developments. Where that’s the case, the governing standards can come from the recorded development plan for your subdivision rather than the base zoning — and HOA covenants often add design requirements the city doesn’t. Centennial also only incorporated in 2001 out of unincorporated Arapahoe County, so its boundary is newer than its neighborhoods and some adjacent addresses fall outside the city entirely. We settle jurisdiction and the governing standards before design.
Additions are decided before design: by your foundation, your zoning, and your permit path. We run that due diligence first, so you’re not paying to discover a dealbreaker.
Engineering and permitting your Centennial addition
Permits run through the City of Centennial’s Building Division, part of Community Development, via the city’s online permitting portal, under the International Residential Code as adopted by Centennial. Fees follow the city’s published schedule and scale with project valuation and scope.
The structural work is where an addition is won or lost. A second-story addition puts the load of a new floor, walls, and roof onto a foundation and framing built for one story, so before design we have a structural engineer evaluate whether yours can carry it and what reinforcement it needs — with plans stamped by a Colorado-licensed engineer. Centennial’s newer construction generally gives us more to work with here than an older Denver bungalow does, but it’s never assumed. Any excavation also requires utility locates through Colorado 811.
We build additions throughout Centennial. Considering other options for space? We also build ADUs in Centennial and handle basement finishing in Centennial, and everything we do locally is on our Centennial remodeling page.
Home addition FAQs — Centennial
In Centennial, often the basement. Many homes here have large unfinished basements with a bathroom rough-in already in the slab, which adds living space at a fraction of an addition’s cost per square foot. We’ll give you the honest comparison for your home.
Frequently, but never assumed. We have a structural engineer evaluate your foundation and framing before design, with plans stamped by a Colorado-licensed engineer. Centennial’s newer construction usually gives us more to work with than an older home would.
Often, yes. Much of Centennial was platted as planned developments, so the governing standards may come from your recorded development plan rather than base zoning, and HOA covenants can add design requirements the city doesn’t. We check both at feasibility.
Let’s build something right here in Centennial.
Send a note about your project, your timeline, and your budget — we’ll set up a free in-home walkthrough, usually within a few days. You’re a neighbor, not a lead.