Davidson · 1890s–1930s in the old town, heavy 1990s–2000s planned infill

A historic college town with its own planning ordinance, and a large stock of 1990s houses that are now old enough to need real work.

Kitchens opened up in Village-era houses, primary bathrooms rebuilt to a current standard, and careful work in the old town where the exterior is reviewed.

The thing to know first

Davidson permits through its own planning department, not Charlotte's

Davidson has its own planning ordinance and its own review, and the historic district downtown has its own design standards separate from Charlotte's. The timeline is different, the drawings required are different, and a builder who works mostly inside the city limits will discover this the week they submit. We build the Davidson path into the schedule from the start because it's a different path, not a slower version of the same one.

A room stripped back during renovation, with metal studs, armored cable looped down to an open junction box, spray foam insulation around a window, stacked drywall, and contractor notes written on the old plaster. — The notes on the wall are the electrician talking to the framer. Nothing about this stage photographs well and all of it decides whether the room works.

What is behind the walls in Davidson

In the old town: pier-and-beam foundations, later underpinned in ways that vary from careful to alarming
In the 1990s Village neighborhoods: builder-grade cabinetry at end of life, and layouts that were compartmented when open plan hadn't arrived yet
Polybutylene supply lines in some of the late-80s and early-90s stock, worth locating before you tile over anything
Sound framing throughout the newer stock, which keeps these projects at the predictable end

Davidson is a local historic district. Exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Charlotte Historic District Commission before Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement (LUESA) will issue a permit.

What it costs around here

Same ranges as everywhere else. Where you land in them is what Davidson decides.

Kitchen: $58k — $135k
Bathroom: $28k — $72k
Whole-home renovation: $180k — $650k

The age of the housing stock here is one of the biggest single levers on those numbers. Finding out which way it moves yours is what the design agreement does — $3,500 for a room, credited in full against construction.

Request the design agreement

Licensed: DEMO-GC-78412; North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors
Insured and bonded: General liability, $2,000,000 aggregate; Certificates come to you from the carrier, not from us
Building since: 2014; 12 years in Charlotte