General Contractor in Upper St. Clair, PA

Building Contractors United is a general contractor in Upper St. Clair, PA, building custom homes and large additions for one of the most established residential communities in the South Hills. Upper St. Clair is about 50 minutes from our Zelienople office, and its owners expect a level of planning, finish and follow-through that matches the neighborhood. 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 Upper St. Clair

Upper St. Clair is a township of roughly 20,000 residents built almost entirely around single-family homes and the Upper St. Clair School District, which is consistently ranked among the best in Pennsylvania. Neighborhoods spread across the hills between Route 19 on the east, Boyce Road and Boyce Mayview Park to the west, and McLaughlin Run Road through the center. Homes range from 1950s and 1960s colonials and ranches to large custom homes from the 1990s onward, and the lots are generally larger and more wooded than in neighboring Mt. Lebanon or Bethel Park. For a custom home builder in Upper St. Clair, the work is mostly teardowns and rebuilds on mature lots, custom homes on remaining acreage, and additions that bring a 1960s house up to the scale and finish of the homes around it.

Large additions are a defining project type here. Owners who love their street but have outgrown the house add a full second story, a primary suite wing, a garage with living space above, or a kitchen and family room expansion that opens to the yard. The expectation is that the addition reads as original, with matching brick or stone, clean roof lines, and interior finishes that continue through the whole house. Many projects become whole-home remodels once the walls are open.

Route 19 carries the township's commercial life, with South Hills Village and the plazas around it shared with Bethel Park, along with medical offices, banks and restaurants. The ground is South Hills clay over shale, with steep ravines and wooded slopes that make site planning and drainage central to any new home. Chartiers Creek and its tributaries drain the township, and a mining history in parts of the area can affect foundation design.

Services we offer in Upper St. Clair

Custom homes and large additions are the heart of our work in Upper St. Clair, delivered with the excavation and design-build capability that keeps a complex residential project under one contract.

• Custom homes and new construction, including teardowns and rebuilds on established lots and custom homes on wooded acreage.
• Home additions and remodels, including second-story additions, primary suite wings, garage additions with living space, kitchen expansions and whole-home remodels.
• Design-build for homeowners who want one team responsible for design, pricing, approvals and construction.
• Excavation and site work for foundation excavation, hillside grading, retaining walls, driveways, utility trenching and stormwater.
• Commercial renovation and tenant build-outs for Route 19 offices and medical suites.
• Commercial construction for professional buildings along the corridor.

Permits and local requirements

Upper St. Clair's Community Development Department handles zoning, land development and building permits from the township municipal building on McLaughlin Run Road. New homes and additions are reviewed for setbacks, height, lot coverage and steep slope provisions under the zoning ordinance before a building permit is issued under the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. The township requires grading permits and stormwater management for projects that disturb ground or add impervious surface, and new homes on wooded lots typically need an erosion and sediment control plan and a tree protection approach. Plumbing permits and inspections run through the Allegheny County Health Department, separate from the township building permit.

At the county level, the Allegheny County 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. Parcels with past mining may need a subsurface investigation before foundation design. Many neighborhoods also have homeowners association design standards, which we review alongside the township requirements.

Why BCU in Upper St. Clair

Upper St. Clair is about 50 minutes from Zelienople, on the south side of our one-hour radius. Most of our work is north of Pittsburgh, in Butler County and the North Hills. We come to Upper St. Clair for custom homes and large additions because residential new builds and complete remodels are core strengths. A modern steel-and-stone custom home with an indoor sports court, built north of Pittsburgh, shows the scale we work at. A build like that is a year-long relationship, and what matters is a builder who shows up when promised, prices honestly up front, and manages site work, structure and finish under one roof.

If you are planning a custom home, a teardown and rebuild, or a major addition in Upper St. Clair, we would like to talk. Request a free estimate or call (724) 900-4123. We build it to last for decades and we stand behind it for two years.