Sunroom contractor in Riverside, CA - rooms planned around the patio you have

A lot of the Riverside backyards we walk into already have something to build on, like a poured patio, a wood deck or a patio cover someone added years after the house went up. That's a head start only if it's sound, because a slab poured for a barbecue can be thin at the edges or slope toward the house, and a cover can be fastened in a way that won't take the weight of walls. I check what's there and tell you what can stay and what has to be redone before we price anything.

The other spot we watch on every house here, older or newer, is the joint where the new room meets the existing wall and floor. That's where most leaks start, so we plan the flashing and the seal at the base of the walls before we pick the glass.

Building permits here come from the City of Riverside, which requires one for most construction, including building or altering a structure and any electrical or gas work, so plan on a permit for a sunroom. Most applications need a sign-off from the city's planning side before the building staff review the plans, and that review is what sets the early part of your schedule. Before you hire anyone, you can check that they hold a valid City Business License, which any business doing work in the city needs, and the Business License Division answers questions about it.

We're fully licensed and insured, and when your room needs a permit we find out which office covers your address, prepare and file the paperwork, and meet the inspector on site, telling you along the way what's settled and what's still up to the city. Price and schedule mostly turn on what the room sits on, since new footings add cost and time, and on what the permit review asks for. We do the same work in San Bernardino and Moreno Valley, and because the permit office changes once you cross a city line, I check it for every address.

Riverside is our home base, and it's a big city with a wide spread of houses. Closer to downtown we see older homes with additions and patio covers added over the decades, and farther out we see newer tract houses with a standard slab outside the back slider, plus some lots that slope enough to bring retaining walls and drainage into the conversation. I came to this trade later than most people do, after years as a maintenance supervisor, and the habit of looking under things first came with me. We also get plenty of calls from Jurupa Valley and Corona, where the work is much the same.

What that means for your job is that no two Riverside backyards start in the same place, so the first visit is mostly about what's under the room: the slab, the deck framing, the grade and the wall it ties into.