Historic renovation in New Orleans,
from the Vieux Carré to Uptown.

Find out which commission reviews your house

Many neighborhoods, including the Lower Garden District, Esplanade Ridge, the Faubourg Marigny and Tremé, are local historic districts reviewed by the Historic District Landmarks Commission. The French Quarter is reviewed by the Vieux Carré Commission. Other areas have a different level of review, or none. We check the address before the design is drawn.

Foundation work and shoring

Old New Orleans houses sit on brick piers that settle and shift over a century. We shore the house, rebuild or replace the piers and foundation, and re-level the structure before the renovation begins, so every finish that follows goes onto a house that is square and solid.

Permits and review run on their own calendar

Commission review and the building permit from the Department of Safety and Permits are separate steps. We build both into the schedule before the contract is signed, so the crew is never waiting on an approval we could have planned for.

Know the 50 percent rule

In a flood zone, when the cost of improvements reaches half of a building’s market value, the work is treated as a substantial improvement and the house may have to meet current flood elevation rules. We check that threshold before we price a large renovation.

On an old house, demolition is the real estimate

Plaster hides the number. Sill plates, joist ends, knob-and-tube, cast iron, a roof framed three times over a century. We price selective demolition and inspection first so the renovation number is built on what is actually there, not on what the listing photos show.

We also handle historic renovation in the Vieux Carré, work as a general contractor in New Orleans, take on home renovation and new construction, build custom homes and install FORTIFIED™ roofing.

All exterior work needs a VCC permit — not just what shows from the street

Restoration, alteration, demolition, new construction, painting, paving, fencing, roofing, weatherboard replacement. If it is on the outside of the building, it is reviewed. Interior work is reviewed too when it touches structure or affects the exterior.

There are three levels of review, and they move at different speeds

Ordinary maintenance and repair that conforms to the design guidelines can be approved by staff, typically in two to seven working days. Anything outside staff authority goes to the Architectural Committee, which meets twice a month. Work the Committee cannot settle goes to the full Commission at its monthly public hearing. Each step is a real calendar, and it is not yours.

Do not buy materials before the permit is in your hand

This is the VCC’s own advice, and it is the most expensive lesson on a historic job. Millwork, lighting, roofing, signage — if it is purchased before the signed permit exists and the approval comes back different, that money is gone. We order behind approvals, not ahead of them.

VCC approval is not a building permit

They are two separate things. Work that also needs a building permit does not start until that permit is issued as well, even with the VCC approval already signed.

Process summarized from the Vieux Carré Commission’s published application guidance. Requirements change — confirm current rules with the VCC for your property.

We did not start this one

We came in by referral, mid-construction, after the owner changed contractors. That meant inheriting work already in place on a protected 19th-century building and assessing all of it before anything new could go on top. Two of the smaller units were listed as complete. They were not — both needed substantial work before they could be delivered, and we finished them.

Nine to ten months

Some of that was delay outside our control, which is what a historic building with a project already in motion tends to produce. What did not move was the scope we committed to or the contract we signed.

Why this one is worth reading

If you are choosing a contractor for a protected building, the useful question is not whether someone can build when everything goes right. It is what happens when the job is already behind, the previous work is in question, and the commission calendar does not care. That is the job we took, and the building was delivered.

Scope: structural assessment and repair · full plumbing and electrical · central HVAC throughout · finishes · completion of units left unfinished by others.

Historic work is one part of what we do. We also handle residential construction and full renovations, commercial build-outs, and FORTIFIED™ roofing across Greater New Orleans.

Inside the finished building

Photos from the building’s sale listing, used with permission.