Houston roofs and remodels, inside the Loop and beyond it
Houston covers 640.4 square miles of flat, marshy ground held together by an extensive drainage system, and 2.3 million people live on it. Since 2001 it has taken Allison’s 40 inches of rain, Harvey’s 50-plus and a derecho on May 16, 2024, so roofs here earn their keep.
Working in Houston
Land investors founded Houston on August 30, 1836, where Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou meet, and the city incorporated on June 5, 1837. It is the county seat of Harris County and reaches into Fort Bend and Montgomery Counties as well. Interstate 10, I-45, I-69, the 610 Loop, Beltway 8, State Highway 99, US 290, SH 288 and SH 225 carry it in every direction, and the Houston Independent School District serves much of it. A city that size holds every kind of roof and every age of house.
Houston is also the largest city in the United States without formal zoning, which surprises people from elsewhere. Building codes still apply to every permit, and some neighborhoods have deed restrictions of their own, so we read those before we design. Flooding has shaped the rules that do exist: in 2018 the City Council passed a rule requiring new homes to be raised two feet above the 500-year floodplain. The rule is written for new homes, so if a project grows from a remodel into a rebuild, we check the floodplain question with the city before any plans are drawn.
The storms are the other half of the Houston story. Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001, Hurricane Harvey in late August 2017 and the derecho of May 16, 2024 each left a mark, the first two mostly through water and the last through wind that tore at roofs across the metro. Inside city limits, the City of Houston issues building permits, including for addresses on the Fort Bend and Montgomery County sides. The Memorial Villages, Bellaire and West University Place look like Houston neighborhoods on a map, but each is its own city with its own permits, and we sort that out before we file.
The ground itself is the root of Houston’s drainage story: a flat, marshy area where an extensive drainage system has been built. On flat ground, water leaves slowly. A roof that dumps its water at the foundation through a short downspout adds to the problem the city spent decades building drainage to solve. On every Houston job we look at where the gutters empty, whether the grade around the slab falls away from the house, and whether a driveway or patio sends water back toward the walls. Those are small fixes next to a wet slab or a flooded den.
The jobs that come up here
Wind damage roof replacement is the job the 2024 derecho left behind, after straight-line winds lifted and tore shingles across large parts of the city. If your roof was patched rather than replaced after that storm, it is worth a second look, because a wind-weakened roof often lets go at the next blow. Roof replacement on an older roof is the everyday version: tear-off to the deck, new flashing and a ventilation fix while everything is open. Hail damage roof replacement comes up in spring, when a single storm can bruise roofs across a dozen neighborhoods in an afternoon, and we document each hit for your carrier. For homeowners inside, bathroom remodeling covers layout changes in a bath that no longer works for the household.
Houston’s size also brings commercial work. Office remodeling and medical office remodeling cover tenants reworking a suite for a new use, and multifamily remodeling handles occupied apartment buildings, where units have to stay livable and the work is phased building by building. Commercial roof repair belongs on the list too, since a flat roof over a business is where a small leak becomes a closed door. We price residential and commercial jobs the same way, line by line and in writing. The first visit is the same for all of them: we look, we photograph, and we tell you what we would do if it were our building.
- Bathroom remodeling A remodel changes the bathroom’s layout: the corner garden tub comes out for a walk-in shower, the toilet moves to its own room, a wall shifts to borrow space from a closet.
- Hail damage roof replacement Hail damage on a shingle is a bruise in the mat, soft when you press it, usually with the granules knocked off in a rough circle.
- Medical office remodeling A medical office works when a patient can get from the parking lot to the exam table without help and the staff can see the next room from the hallway.
Plenty of roofs we look at need a repair or nothing at all. If that is yours, you will hear it from us first.
Does Houston really have no zoning rules for my remodel?
Houston has no formal zoning, but it has building codes and permits, and some neighborhoods have deed restrictions that can be just as strict. We check the restrictions on your lot before designing anything, and the City of Houston still issues the permit.
Our Houston roof was patched after the May 2024 derecho. Should we replace it?
Not automatically. If the patch matched the existing shingles and the rest of the roof is sealed down and flat, it may have years left. If tabs lift easily by hand or we find creased shingles across several slopes, the wind already broke the seal strips and replacement is the honest answer.
My Houston address is in Fort Bend County. Who issues the permit?
If the house is inside Houston city limits, the City of Houston issues the permit regardless of the county. Outside city limits, the permitting authority depends on where the parcel actually sits, and we check that before applying.
Does the 2018 floodplain rule affect a Houston remodel?
The rule as passed covers new homes, requiring them to be built two feet above the 500-year floodplain. If your project grows into a rebuild, or your house sits in a mapped floodplain, talk to the city before you design. We raise the question at the first meeting so it does not surface after plans are paid for.
Do you take on multifamily or medical office projects in Houston?
Yes, under Multifamily Remodeling and Medical Office Remodeling. Those jobs need phasing plans, tenant notices and, for medical space, careful coordination of plumbing and accessibility in every exam room. We scope them with the owner and the property manager together.
Close by
We also work in West University Place, Southside Place, Bellaire, Hilshire Village, Jacinto City. The whole list is on the Harris County page.
We are based in Cypress and work across twelve counties around Houston. Leland Cannon retired from the Army as a First Sergeant; Geoff Schardien served in the Air Force. The scope you get is in writing, and the person who wrote it answers the phone.