Remodeling Contractor in Mokena, IL. Where the Next Square Foot Can Go.
Mokena shares a border with New Lenox, and downtown Mokena is about ten miles and twenty minutes from our base. The village is mostly built, and the Village caps the floor area each lot can carry, counting the garage but usually not a basement below the curb. As a family-owned remodeling contractor, EZ Custom Homes works out that limit before anything is drawn.
Mokena Is Mostly Built. The Space Has to Come From the House.
Mokena added more homes in the 1990s than in any other decade. Then new building slowed way down, with new-home permits falling from a couple of hundred a year in the early 2000s to about two dozen a year between 2021 and 2025.
For a family that wants more room without leaving Mokena, the floor-area limit below decides whether a second story or an addition still fits, or whether the basement is the place to find it.
Every Square Foot Counts. Except Below the Curb.
Mokena caps the total floor area of the buildings on a lot at a share of the lot's size, 0.3 or 0.5 in its single-family districts. On a 12,000-square-foot lot at 0.3, that's 3,600 square feet, and the garage, any enclosed porch and any attic space with 7 feet 10 inches or more of headroom all come out of it.
A second story, a sunroom or an enclosed porch all use up that allowance. A basement usually doesn't. It counts only when more than half of its height sits above the curb, so on a smaller lot the finished basement is often the one place you can add living space without using any of it.
What matters is the curb in front of the house, not the yard behind it. So a walkout, or a house set well above the street, gets measured before anyone counts on that space.
Mokena also treats any covered or enclosed porch as a building addition that has to meet the house's own setbacks. We work out how much allowance your lot has left, and the design starts from that number.
These are Village of Mokena rules, as are the building code rules further down this page. They apply only inside the village limits, which not every Mokena mailing address is.
Additions Go Down to Full Depth.
Shallow, frost-protected foundations aren't an option in Mokena, so an attached addition, sunroom included, goes below the 42-inch frost line.
Larger additions and two-story additions need plans stamped by an Illinois architect or structural engineer, and the permit application takes a plat of survey. When an addition moves a sump line or a downspout, the new discharge points toward the front or rear of the lot, at least 5 feet from the property line, never at the neighbor beside you.
If your home is in an HOA, the permit application includes a form certifying that the work doesn't conflict with its covenants, so the HOA's approval comes first.
A Mokena Basement Needs a Way Out and 7 Feet of Headroom.
Any basement you finish inside the village needs an emergency escape opening, bedroom or not. Plan on an egress window and well, or an exterior door where the grade allows one.
Then the ceiling. The Village's basement guide won't allow a basement under 7 feet to be converted, though beams and ducts can drop to 6 feet 4 inches, so we check the height on our first visit.
What Mokena's Building Code Puts Behind the Walls.
Mokena's plumbing code doesn't allow plastic supply pipe such as PEX for water lines. The Village's remodel guides call for copper, and the same guides say all wiring runs in metal conduit, since the electrical code rules out Romex and other cable wiring.
New faucets, showerheads and toilets have to carry the WaterSense label when there's a labeled version, so your fixture picks come from the WaterSense-labeled models.
When the house is inside the village, our first number for a kitchen or bath already has the copper in it. The Village lists kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels and wall removal among the interior jobs that need a Mokena building permit.
Projects Worth the Planning.
We take on kitchens built around custom kitchen cabinets, bathroom remodels, basement finishing, home additions and whole-home remodels. Most of our remodeling projects start in the $40,000 to $50,000 range, because smaller jobs rarely justify the planning. Our high-end home remodeling page covers how we handle each one.
EZ Custom Homes doesn't build decks, patio covers or screened porches. For those, our sister company EZ Deck Co. has its own deck builder in Mokena page.
A New House Here Has a Minimum Size and a Maximum.
Inside the village, a new custom home is most likely an infill build, so when you're choosing a custom home builder in Mokena, start from the lot you own or buy. The zoning district sets how small the house can be, and the floor-area limit sets how big.
Most residential districts also require an attached garage, which counts toward that limit. The Village wants the house built on site, apart from open wall panels and roof trusses.
Mokena's code puts a sprinkler head in the mechanical room, fed from the house water line. The passive radon pipe Illinois requires in every new home is inspected with the underground plumbing. And nothing goes up past the foundation until the Village approves a survey of it, so that hold goes into the schedule from the start.
From the Measuring Tape to the Plan.
Walkthrough and Measurements
Floor area, ceiling heights, the sump and the lot, all checked on the first visit.
The Allowance Math
The floor area already on the lot, garage and any enclosed porch included, comes off your allowance, and what's left sets the size of the plan.
Drawn to Fit
Our architect draws to that number during preconstruction, and the plat of survey goes in with the plans.
Before You Plan a Mokena Project.
How Much Floor Area Does Your Lot Have Left?
Tell us what you want more room for, and have your plat of survey handy if you can find it. On the first visit we'll add up the floor area already on your lot and show you where the space can come from. If it isn't there, we'll tell you up front.
Let's Talk About Your Project.
Reach out and we'll talk through your project, give honest feedback, and help you understand what makes sense. You decide how to move forward.
Phone
+1 708-888-1608Your project manager keeps you in the loop from first call to final walkthrough.
Working Hours
- Monday – Friday9:00am – 5:00pm
- Saturday9:00am – 12:00pm
- SundayClosed