Condo Renovation in Spokane, WA
In a condo you own the paint inwards. What you are allowed to change is set by your declaration, not by the building code — so that is the first document we read.
Renovation inside buildings
The trades are the same as any renovation. The difference is everything around them — approvals, acoustics, access and neighbours who are home while you work.
We work inside other people's buildings
Ardenwell has renovated condos and apartments in Spokane since 2009. Downtown, Kendall Yards, the South Hill and across the state line into Coeur d'Alene — mid-rise buildings, mostly, where the neighbours are home and the freight elevator is booked.
We do not do houses. It sounds like an odd thing to turn down, but a condo renovation is a genuinely different discipline: the paperwork is heavier, the logistics dominate the schedule, and the person most affected by how you work is not your client but the person in the unit below. Doing only this is how you end up with building managers who are pleased to see you.
- ✓Condos and apartments only — no houses
- ✓Declaration and HOA submission handled in-house
- ✓WA Contractor #ARDENWR812QK
- ✓Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake and Coeur d'Alene
Five things a house renovation quote will not mention
What you actually own
Most declarations define your unit as the finished surfaces inwards — paint, flooring, cabinetry, fixtures. The studs, the slab, the windows and often the pipes inside the walls belong to the association. It sets the boundary of what any renovation can touch.
Two approvals, not one
The city permit and the HOA architectural review are separate processes with separate timelines, and the association's can be the slower of the two. Starting one without the other is how projects stall with a demolished kitchen.
The impact rating on your floor
Most declarations set a minimum impact insulation rating for hard flooring over occupied space. People buy the flooring first, discover the rule second, and either eat the cost or start a dispute with the unit below.
How material gets in and out
There is no dumpster on the driveway. Everything arrives and leaves through a service elevator on booked slots, through protected corridors, within the building's working hours. It is real money and it belongs in the quote.
Who is underneath you
Wet rooms over occupied units change how waterproofing is detailed and inspected, and moving a fixture may need building sign-off rather than just a plumber. We work this out at the design stage.
Your declaration outranks your preferences
Every condo has a declaration and a set of rules, and between them they define something most owners have never had to think about: where your property ends. In most buildings it is the finished surface — you own the paint inwards. The framing, the slab, the exterior and frequently the plumbing inside the walls belong to the association.
That single fact decides what a renovation can be. It is why moving a toilet may require the building's permission rather than just a permit, why some buildings prohibit hard flooring above the second storey outright, and why replacing a window is often not your project at all.
So it is the first document we ask for. Reading it takes us an afternoon and it changes the design, the price and occasionally the answer. We would much rather tell you in week one that the layout you have fallen for cannot be approved than discover it at the review board in week nine.
- ✓Declaration and rules read before we quote
- ✓Layouts checked against what is actually approvable
- ✓Submission written by us, not handed to you as homework
How a condo project actually gets permission
Read the declaration and rules
What you own, what needs approval, what is prohibited outright, and any acoustic or work-hour requirements. This is where surprises are cheapest.
Design to what is approvable
The layout is drawn against the constraints rather than adjusted after a rejection. If a fixture move needs building consent, we identify it now.
Submit to the association
Drawings, scope, schedule, and certificates of insurance naming the association as additional insured — which is the item that most often sends a submission back.
Permit in parallel
The city application runs alongside the HOA review rather than after it, because the two processes do not wait for one another.
Book the building
Elevator slots, corridor protection, work hours and a notice to neighbouring units. Agreed with the manager before the first delivery arrives.
Units around Spokane
Read, approve, build
Visit and document review
We look at the unit and read your declaration and rules. You get a straight answer on what is approvable before any design work is paid for.
Design and submissions
Drawings for the city and the association, insurance certificates issued, and both applications lodged in parallel.
Build inside the building's rules
Corridor protection up, elevator slots booked, work within permitted hours, and the common areas left clean at the end of every day.
Inspection and handover
City inspection, association sign-off where required, and the paperwork handed to you as one file for when you sell or re-let.
There is no dumpster in the driveway
A kitchen in a house has a skip outside the door, a van on the drive and a crew that starts when it likes. The same kitchen on the fifth floor of a mid-rise has none of those things.
Every sheet of plasterboard comes up a service elevator in a booked slot. Every bag of demolition goes down the same way. Corridors and lift interiors are protected before anything moves, work starts when the building says it can, and somebody is always living directly beneath the room being demolished. Materials get staged in the unit because there is nowhere else to put them, which changes the sequence of the whole job.
None of that is padding. It is the honest cost of working inside an occupied building, and a quote that does not carry it is a quote that will change later. We would rather show you the line than discover it together in month two.
- ✓Elevator slots, corridor protection and hours priced in from the start
- ✓Neighbouring units notified before noisy phases
- ✓Common areas cleaned at the end of every working day
Already bought the flooring?
Send us the product and a photo of the page in your declaration that mentions floor coverings. We will tell you for nothing whether what you have is rated for your building.
Condo renovation, answered
What am I actually allowed to change in my condo?
Usually everything from the finished surfaces inwards — paint, flooring, cabinets, fixtures, non-structural partitions — and very little beyond that. The structure, the exterior, the windows in many buildings, and often the plumbing inside the walls are common property belonging to the association. Your declaration says exactly where the line sits, and it differs between buildings even on the same street. It is the first thing we read.
Do I need HOA approval as well as a permit?
Almost always, and they are two separate processes with different timelines. The city cares about code; the association cares about the building, its insurance and its other owners. The association's review is frequently the slower one, and the most common reason a submission comes back is a missing certificate of insurance naming the association as additional insured. We run both applications in parallel.
Can I put hard flooring in?
Often yes, but subject to an acoustic requirement. Most declarations for buildings with units below set a minimum impact insulation rating — IIC 50 or higher is common — which in practice means a specific rated underlayment rather than whatever comes with the flooring. Check before you buy. This is the single most common condo renovation dispute and it is completely avoidable with one phone call.
Can I move the kitchen sink or the toilet?
Sometimes. It depends on where the building's stacks are, whether the drain can get the fall it needs within your floor build-up, and whether the declaration allows work that touches common plumbing at all. In some buildings it is straightforward; in others the answer is a firm no. We establish which before drawing a layout around it.
Why is a condo renovation more expensive than the same work in a house?
Access and time, mostly. Materials come up a service elevator in booked slots and waste goes down the same way. Corridors and lifts need protecting. Work is restricted to the building's permitted hours, so a crew cannot simply start early to make up a day. And there is usually somebody living immediately below. None of it is padding, and a quote that leaves it out is one that will grow later.
How long will my neighbours be affected?
The genuinely disruptive part is demolition and any concrete work, which is normally a few days rather than weeks, and we schedule it early and tell the units around you when it is happening. The rest of a renovation is comparatively quiet. Building managers care about this more than almost anything else, which is why we are still welcome in buildings we finished years ago.
Do you work on rental units between tenants?
Yes, and it is a good share of what we do for owners with several units in one building. Turnovers are scheduled tightly, worked within building hours, and planned so that common areas stay presentable — because in an occupied building the manager's goodwill is worth as much to you as the finished unit.
How long does the approval stage take?
Typically three to eight weeks for the association review depending on how often the board or architectural committee meets, running alongside the city permit. A well-prepared submission with complete drawings, scope, schedule and insurance certificates is the difference between one review cycle and three.
Tell us about the unit
Which building, which floor, and what you are hoping to change. If you can quote the part of your declaration that covers alterations or floor coverings, we can often tell you what is approvable before we visit.