Commercial Contractor in Kittanning, PA

Building Contractors United is a commercial contractor serving Kittanning, PA, and Armstrong County with commercial renovation, tenant build-outs and the site work that supports them. Kittanning is about an hour from our Zelienople office by way of Butler and Route 422, which puts it at the eastern edge of our service area, and we take on projects here when the scope and schedule make the drive worthwhile. We are woman-owned, founded in 2024, fully insured, and led in the field by JT Minarik, our Construction Manager, who has been building since 2009. Every job carries our 2-year workmanship warranty.

Construction in Kittanning

Kittanning is the Armstrong County seat, a river town built on the east bank of the Allegheny River where Route 422 crosses on the Kittanning Citizens Bridge. The courthouse, county offices, law firms, banks and the businesses that serve them line Market Street and the downtown grid, and the riverfront has been redeveloped with a park and trail that give the borough a front porch on the water. Route 28 runs along the west side of the river through West Kittanning and East Franklin Township, connecting the area south toward Pittsburgh, and Route 422 runs east and west through Butler and on to Indiana. For a commercial renovation contractor in Kittanning, downtown and the Route 422 corridor are where most of the work is.

Much of the borough's building stock is late 1800s and early 1900s brick: two- and three-story commercial buildings with storefronts below and apartments or offices above. Many have been through several uses and several rounds of patching. Renovating them well means understanding the structure, fire separation, accessibility and mechanical capacity before anyone draws a floor plan. The newer commercial development sits outside the borough along Route 422 in East Franklin and Manor Townships, where plazas, car dealers, restaurants and medical offices serve the county. ACMH Hospital in East Franklin Township anchors the local medical community and the physician offices around it.

The ground is Allegheny River valley terrain: flat floodplain along the river, steep wooded hillsides climbing away from it, and clay and shale soils with a long history of coal mining in the surrounding townships. Flood zones along the river are a real constraint for ground-floor commercial space and for any new foundation near the water, and hillside sites need careful grading and drainage.

Services we offer in Kittanning

Commercial renovation is our focus in Kittanning, backed by the rest of our general contracting services when a project warrants the trip.

• Commercial renovation and tenant build-outs for downtown brick buildings, Route 422 plazas, offices and medical suites.
• Commercial construction for pads, small plazas and pre-engineered metal buildings along the corridor.
• Excavation and site work, including grading, foundation excavation, utility trenching and stormwater.
• Design-build for owners who want one team and one price from design through construction.
• Custom homes and new construction on acreage in the surrounding townships.
• Home additions and remodels for larger whole-home and addition projects.

Permits and local requirements

Kittanning Borough handles zoning and building permits through the borough office, with Uniform Construction Code plan review and inspections through a third-party code agency. Commercial work along Route 422 outside the borough falls under East Franklin Township, Manor Township or West Kittanning Borough, each with its own zoning ordinance and permit process, so confirming the municipality is the first step on any project. Change-of-use projects, which are common when an old storefront becomes an office or a restaurant, trigger a full review of occupancy, egress, accessibility and fire separation. Properties in the floodplain along the Allegheny River must meet floodplain management requirements, which can affect finished floor elevations, utilities and the use of ground-floor space.

At the county level, the Armstrong Conservation District reviews erosion and sediment control plans for larger disturbances, and any project disturbing one acre or more requires a PA DEP NPDES permit. New driveways on state routes such as Route 422 and Route 28 require a PennDOT highway occupancy permit. We handle these submittals as part of our scope and build the review time into the schedule.

Why BCU in Kittanning

We will be honest about the distance. Kittanning is about an hour from Zelienople, and it is at the far eastern edge of where we work. Our strongest areas are Butler County, including Butler itself along Route 422, and the North Hills. We come to Armstrong County for commercial renovation projects of a size that justifies a crew on the road, and we are selective so that every project gets full attention. What we bring is commercial renovation at the core of the business, a Construction Manager in the field since 2009, and a plain, honest way of pricing and running a job.

If you own a downtown building that needs new life, a plaza bay that needs a tenant fit-out, or a medical suite along Route 422, tell us about it. Request a free estimate or call (724) 900-4123. We price it honestly, up front, and we stand behind the work for two years.