Home Renovation in Laurens, SC
Laurens is a county seat with real history to it, and the homes here reflect that more than the newer Greenville suburbs do. The town is built around one of the best-preserved courthouse squares in South Carolina, with a stock of older homes near the center that were built long before the subdivisions went up out on the edges. Prices run below the Greenville market too. Home values in Laurens are up about 98% over the last ten years, according to NeighborhoodScout, and still sit below the national average, which makes a good older house here worth renovating rather than selling. If you’re thinking about a renovation, addition, or whole-home project in Laurens, we work down here regularly. Our office and showroom are at 119 Woodruff Industrial Lane, Greenville, SC 29607, about 40 minutes north. Call (864) 729-4141 or email [email protected].
Renovation Services in Laurens
We’re a design-build remodeling contractor, licensed in South Carolina and fully insured, and Laurens is one of the areas we cover regularly. The work here leans older than the suburb jobs. A lot of these homes have plaster walls, dated wiring, and layouts from another era, which means the surprises tend to be behind the walls rather than out in the open.
The call we get most is kitchens. In the older homes near the square, the kitchen is usually small because that’s how they built them, closed off in the back of the house. Opening it up means taking out a wall, and once the plaster comes off you find out what the wiring and plumbing really look like. We plan for that instead of getting surprised by it.
Home additions come up when a family loves the location and the character but needs more room. A primary suite, a bigger kitchen, a real family space off the back. On the older Laurens lots the things to watch are setbacks and how the addition ties into a house that wasn’t built square to begin with. We check that before we design anything, not after.
Bathroom remodels in the older homes usually mean the one original bathroom, with cast-iron pipes and the layout it came with. Newer homes out toward the county have the builder vanity and cultured-marble shower the humidity has been working on. Either way we use plywood cabinet boxes and good setting materials, because the cheap stuff doesn’t survive Upstate summers.
Garages are a bigger part of what we do lately. An attached garage ties into the house structure and has to be done right, or you’ll feel the draft inside. A detached one gives you more freedom on placement but needs its own utilities and site prep, which the older in-town lots don’t always leave room for.
Whole-home renovations are common here because the bones are worth saving. Someone buys a solid old home near the center of Laurens and wants it brought up to date without stripping away what made them buy it.
A typical job for us is an older home near the square that a family bought for the character. They want it opened up and modernized but want to keep the trim, the porch, and the details worth keeping. So we rework the layout, plan around the old wiring and cast-iron drains, and go room by room before tearing into anything.
Renovating a Historic Home Near the Square
If your home is in the Laurens Historic District, there’s a step the suburb projects don’t have. The city runs a Historic Preservation Commission, and exterior changes inside the overlay district need a Certificate of Appropriateness before the building permit, through the City of Laurens Planning and Development office. That covers things like windows, siding, porches, and additions you can see from the street.
It isn’t a reason to avoid renovating an old home. It just means the design has to respect what’s already there, and the approval has to happen in the right order. We’ve done enough of this to design for it up front instead of getting stopped halfway.
Permits themselves split by location. Inside city limits they go through the City of Laurens, and out in the unincorporated county they go through Laurens County Building Codes. We confirm which applies and file with the right office.
How We Work
We’re a design-build firm. That just means one team does the design and the construction, so you’re not hiring an architect, waiting on drawings, and then trying to find someone to build them. One team, one contract, one phone number, from the first talk to the final walkthrough. Our designer handles the blueprints, structural drawings, and 3D models, so you can see the space before we pick up a tool. For deep color work or a really specific look, we’ll point you to specialists we trust.
Every proposal has an allowance for each category: tile, fixtures, sinks, faucets, and hardware. Pick from our partners or find your own, and if you buy somewhere else we pick it up, store it in our warehouse, and install it when that part of the job comes up. You get a project portal from day one for the schedule, selection deadlines, open items, and payments by ACH. And we build past code on every project, not just to it.
Visit the Showroom
Don’t commit to a finish you’ve only seen in a photo, especially in an older home where the new work has to sit next to the old. Come see the real thing. Our showroom is about 40 minutes from Laurens, at our Greenville office. Most of it is cabinets: door styles, box thickness, drawer glides, how it’s all built. Plywood versus particleboard matters more here than people expect, with the humidity. We keep tile, countertops, fixtures, and hardware out too.
119 Woodruff Industrial Lane, Greenville, SC 29607
(864) 729-4141 | [email protected]
Questions Laurens Homeowners Ask
Do I need a permit to renovate my home in Laurens, SC?
Yes, for anything structural or anything that touches electrical, plumbing, or mechanical work. Simple like-for-like swaps like paint or flooring usually don’t. Inside city limits the permit goes through the City of Laurens, and in the unincorporated county it goes through Laurens County Building Codes. We confirm which one applies and handle the filing.
Do I need approval to renovate a historic home in downtown Laurens?
If your home is in the historic overlay district, exterior changes need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission before the building permit. That applies to things visible from the street, like windows, siding, porches, and additions. We prepare that submittal as part of the design so it doesn’t hold up the job.
Is it worth renovating an older home in Laurens?
Often, yes. The older homes near the square tend to have solid bones and details that would cost a fortune to reproduce, and prices here leave room to put money into the house. The honest part is that older homes hold surprises behind the walls, so the smart move is scoping the full project before work starts, not in the middle of it.
Can I stay in my house during a renovation in Laurens?
For a kitchen or a single bathroom, most people stay. If it’s your only bathroom we’re working on, you’ll want other plans for that stretch. Whole-home is different, especially in an older house. Most people would rather be out, but we can work room by room if you’d rather stay.
What’s the difference between design-build and a general contractor?
A general contractor builds from plans someone else drew, so you line up the designer and the builder separately. A design-build firm like BuildMasters does both under one contract: design, structural drawings, and construction. One team, one point of contact, nobody pointing fingers when a choice changes the build.
Let’s Talk About Your Project
If you’re thinking about a renovation, addition, or whole-home project in Laurens, reach out. We’ll come look at the house, walk through what you want, and tell you straight what it’ll take.
119 Woodruff Industrial Lane, Greenville, SC 29607
(864) 729-4141 | [email protected]
We’ve been building and renovating around Upstate South Carolina for over a decade. The first conversation is free, and we’re not hard to talk to.