West University Place, on 5,000-square-foot lots near Rice
Ben Hooper, a former governor of Tennessee, developed West University Place in 1917 and named it for its closeness to Rice Institute. In the fifteen years ending in 2002, about half of the houses were torn down and replaced, so a street here can hold an original cottage and a much larger new house side by side.
Working in West University Place
The typical lot is 5,000 square feet, and that shapes everything we do here. There is rarely room for a dumpster in back and not much in front, so staging, deliveries and cleanup are planned before the job starts. Many streets carry the names of authors, and Kirby Drive, Bissonnet Street and Buffalo Speedway run through a city of just 2.0 square miles, about six miles from downtown Houston. Bellaire Boulevard and those three streets are how our trucks come and go, and we time them so a delivery is not blocking a side street at school pickup.
The city incorporated on January 2, 1924, when the County Judge of Harris County declared it, and it had 14,955 residents at the 2020 census. The original housing was mid-20th century bungalows and cottages, and the rebuild wave replaced about half of them with larger houses. That leaves two very different kinds of work here: older houses that need careful renovation, and newer houses whose first roof and first bathrooms are coming due. On a big new house close to its neighbors, the roof is also tall and steep, which means more safety setup and more care keeping debris off the house next door.
Drainage has a long history in West U. The Poor Farm Ditch drains to Brays Bayou and was dredged in 1928 after significant flooding. On a small lot with a big house, there is little yard left to soak up rain, so gutters, downspouts and grading carry more of the load. The City of West University Place is the authority for permits inside its limits, and schools are part of Houston ISD. Southside Place, Bellaire and Houston are the neighbors, and a lot on the edge of town is worth checking against the city line before the scope is written.
The jobs that come up here
On the older cottages, home renovation and bathroom renovation keep the character and replace what has worn out, and luxury home renovation suits owners who want to go further with finishes. On the larger rebuilds from the 1990s and early 2000s, roof replacement and architectural shingle replacement are often due now, and luxury bathroom remodeling and luxury kitchen remodeling bring a twenty-five-year-old house up to the standard of the street. A two-story house with a complicated roof has more valleys and wall flashings than a cottage has shingles, and those are what we price carefully, because that is where a tall roof leaks.
A barndominium is the wrong answer on a 5,000 square foot lot, and so is a big deck that eats the last of the yard. What does fit: a well-flashed patio cover off the back door, bedroom remodeling to finish attic space, and veteran ADA remodeling for an owner in a two-story house who wants a bedroom and full bath on the first floor. Family room remodeling fits a cottage whose back room was added on decades ago and never matched the rest. On a lot this tight, every project is planned around the neighbors as much as the house, from where the materials sit to when the saw starts.
- Architectural shingle replacement Plenty of older Houston subdivisions were built with three-tab shingles, and many of those roofs are at the end of their run.
- Bathroom renovation If the tub, toilet and vanity are already in the right places, nothing has to move.
- Luxury bathroom remodeling Higher-end bathrooms fail in the same places builder-grade ones do: water behind the tile and steam inside the walls.
Plenty of roofs we look at need a repair or nothing at all. If that is yours, you will hear it from us first.
Is the roof on a newer West U house really due already?
If the house went up during the rebuild years, its original roof is now twenty to thirty-five years old, which is the end of the line for most shingles. We check it before saying so. If it has a few years left, we tell you that.
Can you renovate an original cottage without tearing it down?
Yes. We keep the frame, the original details worth keeping and the scale of the house, and update the systems and rooms inside. The scope lists what stays, what gets repaired and what gets replaced.
How do you stage a job on a 5,000 square foot lot?
Deliveries are timed and sized so the street stays open, the dumpster or trailer goes on the driveway, and debris leaves the same day it comes off. Shrubs and beds get covered before work starts. Your neighbors will still be able to park.
Where does the rain go on a small lot with a big house?
Into the gutters, then wherever the downspouts send it, which is often the problem. We size gutters to the roof area, carry downspouts away from the foundation and check that the ground falls away from the house. On a tight lot, that may mean underground lines to the street.
Can you turn attic space into a bedroom?
If the framing and headroom allow, yes. A stick-framed attic with enough height can be finished with insulation, a proper stair and a window. An attic built with engineered trusses usually cannot be opened up, and one look from the hatch tells us which kind you have.
Close by
We also work in Southside Place, Bellaire, Houston, Hunters Creek Village. The whole list is on the Harris County page.
Two owners, both veterans, one phone number. We inspect, photograph and tell you what the job really needs, including when it needs nothing yet. Military families and first responders take 10% off.