Home Remodeling in Gardiner, ME
Kenneth Cox Construction has done home remodeling in Gardiner, ME, since 1988. A kitchen remodel gets the same care as a full-home remodel here, and so do the bathroom, basement and exterior jobs in between.
- 38 years in business, since 1988
- Over 250 projects completed
- Affordable work, two-year written warranty
Remodeling in Gardiner usually starts at the back of the house. These older river-city homes trail off into a small kitchen, a pantry, a back stair and a shed, each behind its own door, and pulling that chain into one room is often the biggest gain available.
That kind of work costs less than an addition because the floor, roof and walls are already standing. Downtown lots near the Common are tight and old, so plans there may go through historic district review, while houses out toward West Gardiner have more room to work with.
Ken Cox has been building under his own name since 1988, and he writes the estimate and runs the job himself. Every remodel carries a written 2-year workmanship warranty.
Why Gardiner Residents Hire Us for Their Home Remodel
Kenneth Cox Construction has traded under the same name since 1988, and Ken writes the estimate, runs the job and answers the phone himself.
We are BBB accredited, listed publicly with the Better Business Bureau, and every remodel carries a written 2-year workmanship warranty.
Get a remodeling estimate for your Gardiner home
Fill out this quiz form in 60 seconds to get your estimate request sent.
What other contractor services do we offer in Gardiner?
Which towns around Gardiner do we serve?
Where is our shop?
Directions from Gardiner, ME to our shop in Searsmont
128 New England RoadSearsmont, ME 04973
What Remodeling Services Do We Offer in Gardiner?
- kitchen remodeling
- bathroom remodeling
- whole-home remodeling
What is our Gardiner home remodeling process?
Get your free quote
Ken maps the walls, the chases and the plumbing runs at the back of the house before proposing a layout.
We bring your project to life
Review, permits, structure, mechanicals and finish are all handled from one office.
Enjoy your new space
Delivered on the agreed schedule with two years of warranty in writing.
Custom Home Remodeling in Gardiner
We do affordable home remodeling in Gardiner, ME by reclaiming the rooms at the back that nobody uses. That back-of-house sequence made sense when a pantry was a cold store and the rear stair was for somebody else's use.
Today it means a family lives in a kitchen the size of a hallway while thirty or forty square feet of genuinely useful floor sits behind a door doing nothing.
Collapsing that chain is usually the highest-value remodel available in a Gardiner house, and it is often cheaper than an addition because the house already has its floor, roof and walls.
Gardiner houses tend to trail off toward the rear. A kitchen, then a pantry, then a back stair, then a shed, each one small, each one dark, and each one separated by a door.
Ken works out how much of that chain can become one room, and every remodel we finish carries a 2-year workmanship warranty from a BBB accredited company.
We remodel in Gardiner mostly for downtown owners of older houses who want more usable room without changing the building's face on the street.
Out toward West Gardiner and Litchfield, the houses have more space around them and the projects lean toward additions and reconfigured ground floors.
We run the entire remodel, including drawings and the permit through Gardiner Code Enforcement, structure, mechanicals, inspections and finish.
Combining rooms means checking what each dividing wall carries and where the plumbing and chimney chases run, since those two things decide the plan more often than taste does.
We work the Common and the older streets around it, the neighborhoods above the river, and the open properties out toward Pittston and West Gardiner.
The City of Gardiner reviews exterior changes across much of the downtown core, which matters as soon as a remodel touches a rear window or door.
You should book a Gardiner remodel for the winter, since this is interior work and runs comfortably through it. Those are the months we can usually offer at short notice.
If the project involves bringing an unheated rear shed into the house, that part wants warmer weather, so we normally phase it across two seasons.
Home remodeling in Gardiner is different because of the chimney. Older Gardiner houses often have a central or rear chase serving fireplaces and heating, and it frequently sits precisely where you want the new room to be open.
The second is what the rear shed actually is. Bringing it inside means giving it a proper foundation, insulation and heat, because it was built as an unheated space and never expected otherwise.
The third is review. Downtown, any change to a rear door or window is an exterior alteration, so the calendar has to allow for that rather than assuming interior work is invisible.
Each of those is manageable on its own. All three together are why these projects need designing rather than simply starting.
Ask what happens to the chimney chase, because that answer usually tells you how open the finished room can honestly be.
Ask for the warranty in writing, and check the company through a source it does not control.
A Gardiner remodel costs roughly double when the rear shed comes into the heated envelope, which is why we do not publish numbers. That one decision changes the scope of an otherwise similar project.
Ken establishes that early, prices the version you actually want, and the figure then holds through the work.
What should you ask before hiring in Gardiner?
Can the pantry wall come out?
The pantry wall can usually come out, and it is often the single change that makes a kitchen feel twice the size. The chimney chase is the thing to check first.
Can the back shed become part of the house?
The back shed can frequently become part of the house. It needs a real foundation, insulation and heat, so it is a bigger job than it looks and a very good one.
Do I need permission to change a rear window?
You may need permission to change a rear window downtown. We confirm with the city rather than assuming the back of the house is exempt.
Will removing the back stair hurt the house?
Removing the back stair will not hurt the house if the framing is handled properly, and it frees up a surprising amount of floor on two levels.
Improve the Layout and Function of Your Gardiner Home
The best Gardiner remodels keep usable original material and remove the bottlenecks around it. We favor a targeted wall or doorway change over stripping a sound house to the studs, provided the wiring and plumbing behind the finishes, and the structure itself, are still serviceable.
How do you get a price for your Gardiner project?
You get a price for your Gardiner project after Ken has opened the doors at the back. Most owners are surprised by how much floor is sitting unused behind them.
Have Ken measure it and tell you what it could become. He is on 207-386-9235.