Kitchen Remodeling
We start with the layout: where the walls are and whether the kitchen should open to the family room. The custom kitchen cabinets from our trusted manufacturer, the counters, the lighting and the flooring follow from that.
Remodeling Contractor · New Lenox, IL
A Remodeling Contractor in New Lenox That Starts Below the Finishes.
EZ Custom Homes is a family-owned remodeling contractor led by Colin Ettema and based here in New Lenox, about ten minutes from Village Hall. We remodel kitchens and baths, finish basements, and build additions and custom homes. Many homes here were built in the 1990s and 2000s on slow-draining ground, so we look at the layout, the basement and the lot before we talk about finishes.
~10 min
From Our Base to Village Hall
1:1
Project Manager On Every Job
$40k+
Typical Min Project
Permits
Handled End-to-End
New Lenox Homes
Half the Village's Homes Went Up in the Same Twenty Years.
About half of the homes in the village were built between 1990 and 2009, most of them single-family houses. In a house that age, the original kitchen, the bathrooms, the flooring and the mechanicals tend to come due around the same time, so it often pays to plan them as one project.
Many are big houses to begin with. About four in ten homes across the village have four or more bedrooms. So the work is often about reworking space the house already has. That can mean a kitchen that opens to the family room, a primary bath built around your routine, or a basement that finally counts as living space.
Interior Remodeling
What We Remodel in New Lenox.
Bathroom Remodels in New Lenox
Primary suites and hall baths in houses from the 1990s and 2000s, where the original tile, tub and vanity tend to wear out together.
Whole-Home Remodels
If most of the house is still original, one project keeps every room matching, on one plan and one budget.
Whichever room it is, inside the Village a remodel like this takes a permit. Once there's a permit, the whole house needs smoke detectors everywhere a new home would have them, plus carbon monoxide detectors near the bedrooms. We account for that on the first walkthrough.
For more on how we approach each one, see our high-end home remodeling page.
We don't build decks. For a deck, patio cover or screened porch, our sister company EZ Deck Co. is the deck builder in New Lenox we send homeowners to.
Basement Finishing
In New Lenox, a Basement Finish Starts With Water.
Slow-draining soils cover much of the village, and from midwinter through late spring the water table in them can rise to within a foot or two of the surface. Your basement may be dry. We still check the sump, the drain tile, the walls and any history of water before we build, then choose materials suited to a room below grade.
The Village calls for an egress window in basements, one big enough to climb out of, set in a window well that drains into the foundation drain tile.
If yours doesn't have one, we find out early whether your finish needs one, because cutting one in means digging, a new window well and a tie-in to the tile. The window also can't sit under a deck or porch without the Village's approval.
Home Additions
What Limits an Addition in New Lenox.
On a typical New Lenox subdivision lot, the rear setback limits how far back an addition can go, and the exact distance depends on your zoning district and your subdivision's plat, the recorded map of the lots. We check the plat before anyone draws a plan.
Below grade, the Village has its own rules. Any addition other than an attached garage has to sit over a basement or a crawl space at least 34 inches high, so a bare slab won't do, and the footings go at least 42 inches below grade.
The new basement or crawl space also gets a passive radon pipe vented through the roof, plus a soil-gas barrier. We settle that foundation at the design stage, because it shapes both the schedule and the budget.
On the energy side, Illinois applies the energy code only to the part of the house you're adding or changing. The addition gets insulation and windows that meet the code, and the rest of the house doesn't have to be brought up to it.
Building New
New Homes on Village Land and County Land.
We're also a custom home builder in New Lenox, and new home construction here starts with one question: is the lot inside the Village, in unincorporated Will County, or in a neighboring town? That decides whose zoning and building rules apply. On unincorporated land, the house may also need its own well and septic system, which changes both the plan and the budget.
In Village subdivisions whose final plat was approved after the Village's 2002 cutoff, the first floor of a new house has to be faced in full brick or stone, and thin stone glued to the wall doesn't count. Every new home in Illinois also needs a passive radon pipe running from under the foundation up through the roof. We design both in at the start.
Thinking about a barndominium or a post-frame home? The parcel question matters even more there, along with well and septic, so we look at the land with you before you commit to it.
Our Process
New Lenox Permits and Inspections, Step by Step.
01
First Conversation and Site Visit
We talk through scope and budget, then walk the house and the lot with you in person.
02
Parcel, Zoning and Flood Map
Village, County or a neighboring town, the zoning district, setbacks, and the flood map for lots along Hickory Creek, Jackson Branch, Spring Creek, Jackson Creek or Marley Creek. Most of the village is outside the mapped floodplain, but we look closely at creek-side lots.
03
Design and a Written Estimate
Layout, selections and an itemized estimate in writing, with the trade-offs laid out while the plan is still cheap to change. That's our preconstruction phase.
04
Trades and Paperwork
The trades and the paperwork get lined up first, and demolition waits for the approved permit.
05
Foundation and Rough-In Inspections
On an addition, the Village inspects the footings, the foundation walls, and the drain tile and damp-proofing before backfill. Framing, electrical, plumbing and HVAC get inspected before anything is covered up.
06
Insulation, Finishes and Final Inspection
Insulation is inspected before drywall. Then come the finish work and the final inspections.
07
Walkthrough and Close-Out
We go through the finished work with you room by room, clear the punch list, and close the job out.
New Lenox Questions, Answered.
Yes, inside the Village. The Village of New Lenox requires a permit for basement remodeling, other interior remodeling and room additions, and that work brings the whole house's smoke and carbon monoxide detectors up to the Village's requirements. On unincorporated land, Will County's rules apply instead. We handle the permit and the inspections, and we price the detector work in from the start.
It depends on the parcel. A New Lenox mailing address doesn't settle it, because a large share of the land with a 60451 address sits outside village limits, most of it in unincorporated Will County. We check first, because the answer decides whose rules, permits and utilities apply.
Sometimes. New Lenox puts concrete work under cold-weather rules from the first cold spell of late fall into early spring. Footings can only be poured on frost-free ground at 25 degrees and rising, then kept under insulation blankets. We'd rather pour before the cold arrives, and when that's not possible, the cold-weather protection goes into the estimate. Winter suits design, permits and interior work.
For a new house, you want a builder who designs it with you and then runs the job like a general contractor. That means the trades, the schedule, the inspections and the budget. We work the same way on remodels and additions.
Our projects typically start at $40,000 and go up from there. Where yours lands depends on how much of the layout changes, the selections you make, and what the permit brings with it, such as detector upgrades or an egress window if the basement needs one. We walk the house first, then put an itemized estimate in writing before you commit to the build.
First, a Walk Through the House.
Send a note about the room, or the whole house, you have in mind. If it's a fit, we'll walk it with you, look at the basement and the lot while we're there, and put real numbers behind what makes sense.
Get In Touch
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