General Contractor in Sewickley, PA
Building Contractors United is a general contractor serving Sewickley, Sewickley Heights and Edgeworth with custom homes, large additions, historic home renovations and excavation.
Building Contractors United is a general contractor in Sewickley, PA, serving Sewickley Borough, Sewickley Heights and Edgeworth with custom homes, large additions, historic home renovation and the boutique commercial work that keeps the Village thriving. Sewickley is about 35 minutes from our Zelienople office by way of I-79 and Route 65, and it is one of the places where craftsmanship matters most. BCU is a woman-owned general contractor, founded in 2024, fully insured, and led in the field by JT Minarik, who has been building since 2009. Every project carries a 2-year workmanship warranty.
Construction in Sewickley
Sewickley is the most established high-end residential market in the Pittsburgh region. The Borough itself is a compact river town of about 4,000 people, laid out on a grid between Ohio River Boulevard and the Ohio River, with a walkable business district along Beaver Street and Broad Street. Its homes are Victorian, Colonial Revival, Tudor and Craftsman, many over a century old, many inside a designated historic district. Historic home renovation in Sewickley means working with plaster, old-growth framing, slate roofs and original millwork while quietly adding modern mechanical systems, insulation, kitchens and baths. It rewards patience and a crew that respects what is already there.
Up the hill, Sewickley Heights and Edgeworth are a different kind of project. A Sewickley Heights contractor works on estate lots, often several acres, with long driveways, mature woods, steep grades and large homes that call for additions scaled to match: pool houses, guest wings, attached garages with living space above, and full-scale custom homes designed for the site. Edgeworth sits between the two, with gracious older homes on larger village lots and a strong market for whole-home remodels and additions. All three boroughs share the Quaker Valley School District, and the Sewickley Bridge connects the area to Moon Township and the airport corridor.
The terrain shapes everything. The flats near the river are old alluvial soils with a high water table in places, while the Heights are steep clay-and-shale hillsides where drainage, retaining walls and slope stability drive the site plan. Older in-town lots also hide surprises: stone foundations, abandoned cisterns, clay drain tile and utilities that were never mapped. We investigate before we price so your estimate holds up.
Services we offer in Sewickley
Custom homes and new construction
As a custom home builder in Sewickley and the Heights, we build on your lot with site work, foundation and finish carpentry handled by one team.
Home additions and remodels
Our additions and remodels team is the right call for a home addition contractor in Sewickley, PA: guest wings, kitchen expansions, primary suites, carriage house conversions and whole-home historic renovations.
Excavation and site work
Our excavation and site work crews handle hillside grading, retaining walls, driveways, foundation excavation and drainage on estate lots and village parcels alike.
Design-build
For projects where the design needs to respond to a historic house or a demanding site, our design-build process keeps architecture, budget and construction in one conversation.
Commercial renovation and build-outs
Beaver Street's shops, restaurants, galleries and professional offices turn over and refresh regularly. Our commercial renovation and build-out team handles that work with the care the Village expects.
Commercial construction
For the occasional new commercial or institutional building in the area, see our commercial construction services.
Permits and local requirements
Sewickley Borough's Building Department and its Zoning and Building Code Officer review permit applications, and the Borough Manager's office provides zoning and historic district maps. Exterior work on a property inside the designated Historic District requires a Certificate of Appropriateness from Borough Council before a building permit is issued, so historic projects need that approval built into the schedule. Plans for anything other than one- and two-family dwellings go to a certified UCC plans examiner, and plumbing inspections are handled by the Allegheny County Health Department. Sewickley Heights and Edgeworth each run their own zoning and permitting through their borough offices, with their own setback, lot coverage and steep-slope rules, so check with the specific borough early.
Earth disturbance in Allegheny County needs an erosion and sediment control plan, with the Allegheny County Conservation District reviewing larger disturbances, and any project disturbing one acre or more requires a PA DEP NPDES permit. Lots near the Ohio River may also fall in a mapped floodplain. We coordinate all of these approvals as part of our scope.
Nearby areas we serve
If you are planning a custom home, an addition or a careful renovation in Sewickley, Sewickley Heights or Edgeworth, we would like to see the property. Request a free estimate or call (724) 900-4123. We build it to last for decades, and we stand behind it for two years.
Common questions
Permits and soils vary by township. We will walk your site and give you a written, itemized estimate.
(724) 900-4123Get a Free EstimateHome addition cost in Pittsburgh depends on the room type, the foundation your lot requires, whether you build up or out, your municipality's permit fees and your finish level. Sunrooms and single bedrooms sit at the low end; kitchens, primary suites and second stories at the high end.
Western Pennsylvania adds three regional factors: clay and shale soil that affects footings and excavation, hillside lots that need more foundation and retaining work, and older homes that often need electrical or plumbing upgrades to tie in. Because cost depends on the site and the scope, BCU gives a free, itemized estimate after seeing the project.
How long a whole home remodel takes depends on the scope of the work and the condition of the house, and BCU gives you a realistic schedule with your free estimate. Design, selections and permitting also take time before work starts, and homes that need structural changes, new systems or an addition take longer.
The schedule depends on how much of the house is being opened up, whether the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems are being replaced, and how quickly finish selections are made. Older homes in the Pittsburgh area often reveal surprises behind the walls that add time. Making all finish decisions before demolition starts is the single best way to keep a remodel on schedule.
The cost to build a house in Western Pennsylvania in 2026 depends on the size and design of the home, the finish level, the lot and its site work, and whether the lot has public utilities or needs a well and septic. The site portion varies more here than in flatter regions because of hillsides and clay soil.
A simple single-story home on a flat, serviced lot sits at the low end. A large custom home on a sloped, wooded lot with a well and septic sits much higher. National cost calculators rarely account for Western Pennsylvania's rock, slopes and township permit requirements. Because cost depends on the site and the scope, BCU gives a free, itemized estimate after a site visit and a review of your plans.
Excavation is the digging: cutting, filling, trenching and hauling earth. Site work is the broader category that includes excavation plus everything else needed to make a piece of land ready for a building.
Site work typically covers clearing, rough and fine grading, erosion and sediment controls, stormwater facilities, utility trenching and installation, retaining walls, and building pad or parking lot subgrade preparation. Many excavation contractors only dig and haul. A site work contractor manages the whole sequence from raw land to a pad that is ready for footings.
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Tell us about the project in four quick steps, or call us directly. We price it honestly, up front.