Once a job involves three trades, a permit, and a schedule, you need someone whose actual profession is keeping all of that from colliding. Additions, basement conversions, ADUs, whole-floor remodels — describe the project and we'll bring you licensed Portland general contractors who build at that scale.
Sequencing, subcontractors, permits, inspections, and the phone call when the framing crew and the plumber both want the same wall on Thursday. A GC also carries the contract and the insurance for the whole job. If a project is one trade and one week, you don't need one. If it's four trades and four months, trying to be your own GC usually costs more than hiring one.
Basement conversions with proper egress and moisture control. Attic build-outs where the old rafters need sistering. Rear additions squeezed onto narrow lots. Detached ADUs in back yards, which this city permits more readily than most. Whole-house renovations of houses that have been rented for thirty years. All of it hits the same constraints: lot coverage, setbacks, and what the existing foundation can carry.
A serious bid has a defined scope, a payment schedule tied to milestones rather than the calendar, named allowances, a change-order process in writing, and a lien-release procedure for subs. Oregon requires licensed contractors to give you specific consumer disclosures at signing. If someone hands you a one-page quote and asks for a third up front, you have learned something useful about them.
Every general contractor we match holds an active Oregon CCB licence, a bond, and liability insurance, checked before your request is shared. You can also look them up yourself on the CCB site — a habit worth building for any six-figure decision.
Describe the project once and we match it with vetted local pros who actually do this work — you choose who to hire, or nobody at all.
Structural work in Portland goes through plan review at Portland Permitting & Development, and that queue — not the framing — is what usually determines your start date. Experienced local GCs design to what reviewers actually approve and submit complete packages, because an incomplete submittal restarts a wait you can't buy your way out of.
Many pre-1940 Portland houses sit on unreinforced concrete or, occasionally, brick. Adding a second storey, an addition, or a heavy roof frequently means foundation work and seismic retrofit first. It is unglamorous money, but a GC who raises it in the first walkthrough is being honest, not pessimistic.
The urban growth boundary keeps lots scarce and close-in parcels narrow, so additions run into setbacks, lot coverage limits, and tree protection requirements sooner than owners expect. Mature street trees in particular have real protections here. A GC who knows the zoning code will often find the extra room you wanted somewhere other than where you assumed.
Managed remodels in this market commonly run somewhere between $250 and $450 per square foot depending on finish level and how much of the existing structure survives. Detached ADUs frequently land in the $250,000–$400,000 range once site work, utilities, and permitting are included. GC overhead and profit is typically 15–25% of job cost and should be visible in the bid, not hidden. When one bid is dramatically below the others, the difference is almost always scope, allowances, or a contingency somebody left out — compare line by line before you compare totals.
Our addition needed foundation work nobody else had mentioned. The GC priced it up front and the project finished within a week of what he first told us.
We built an ADU in the back yard. He handled the whole permit package and kept a schedule I could actually read every Friday.
We turned the basement into a living space. The contract spelled out allowances and how change orders would be priced, so the two changes we made never turned into an argument.
Three is the sensible number. Fewer and you have no reference; more and you're managing a procurement process instead of a house. Give each one the same written scope, otherwise you're comparing different projects and calling it a price comparison.
For structural changes, additions, and ADUs, yes or something close — many Portland projects use a designer plus a structural engineer rather than a full-service architect. Some design-build GCs handle it in-house. For a like-for-like remodel with no structural change, usually not.
It varies with workload and complexity, and it is rarely fast for anything needing structural plan review. Build the review period into your expectations rather than your contractor's promises, and ask each bidder how many similar permits they've pulled in the last year.
A modest deposit, then progress payments tied to completed milestones — permit issued, framing inspected, drywall complete — with a meaningful retainage held until punch list is finished. Front-loaded schedules put you in a weak position exactly when you need leverage.
We confirm active CCB licence, bond, and insurance before any request is shared, and we look at complaint and review history. Matching is free to homeowners, and you're under no obligation to hire anyone you meet.
Describe the scope, the rough budget, and when you'd like to start. We'll match you with licensed Portland general contractors and the bids come free.
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