Commercial Contractor in Washington, PA

Building Contractors United is a commercial contractor serving Washington, PA, and the surrounding Washington County communities with ground-up commercial construction, site work, and renovation of existing buildings. Washington sits at the southern edge of our service area, about an hour down I-79 from our Zelienople office, and we take on projects here when the scope fits. 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 Washington

Washington is the Washington County seat and the commercial hub of the region south of Pittsburgh. The I-70 and I-79 interchange puts the city on two interstate corridors, and the exits along Route 19 and Racetrack Road have filled with retail, hotels, restaurants and offices. The Tanger Outlets, the casino and racetrack complex nearby, and the plazas along Route 19 in South Strabane Township draw shoppers from well beyond the county. For a commercial construction company in Washington, PA, that corridor is where pads, plazas and hotel renovations happen.

Downtown Washington has a different character. The courthouse, county offices, law firms and banks line Main Street and Beau Street, and Washington and Jefferson College occupies a historic campus a few blocks away. Washington Hospital and the medical offices around it on Wellness Way form another employment center. Older brick commercial buildings downtown and along Chestnut Street and Jefferson Avenue are regular candidates for renovation, change of use and tenant build-out, and Route 40, the old National Road, carries commercial traffic east and west through town.

The region's energy economy shaped the last fifteen years of building. Marcellus Shale operators and the service companies that support them took office and yard space across the county, and that demand still shows up as flex buildings, equipment yards and small office renovations. The ground is typical of Washington County: clay soils over shale and limestone, steep slopes off the ridges, and a long coal mining history that makes mine subsidence a real consideration for foundations and excavation in some areas.

Services we offer in Washington

Commercial construction and the site work that comes before it are the center of what we do in Washington, backed by the rest of our general contracting services.

• Commercial construction, including ground-up retail, office, flex and pre-engineered metal buildings on the I-79 and Route 19 corridors.
• Excavation and site work for commercial pad site preparation, mass grading, utility trenching and stormwater.
• Commercial renovation and tenant build-outs for downtown buildings, plazas and medical offices.
• Design-build delivery that keeps design, pricing and permitting under one contract.
• Custom homes and new construction on acreage in the surrounding townships.
• Home additions and remodels for larger residential projects.

Permits and local requirements

The City of Washington's Code and Zoning office handles permits inside the city limits, with Uniform Construction Code plan review and inspections through the city's building code program. The Route 19 and I-79 retail corridor is largely in South Strabane Township, and other projects fall in North Franklin, Canton or North Strabane Townships, each with its own zoning ordinance, land development process and third-party code agency. Confirming the municipality is always the first step. Downtown Washington has historic buildings, and some exterior work may require review before a permit is issued. Change-of-use projects trigger full review of occupancy, egress, accessibility and fire separation.

At the county level, the Washington 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. Sites with past mining need a subsurface investigation before foundation design, and PennDOT highway occupancy permits apply to new driveways on state routes such as Route 19 and Route 40. We handle these submittals as part of our site work scope.

Why BCU in Washington

We will be direct about distance: Washington is about an hour from Zelienople, and most of our work is north of Pittsburgh in Butler County, the North Hills and Beaver County. I-79 makes the trip straightforward, and for a ground-up building or a full renovation, the schedule is measured in months, not days, so the drive is not the deciding factor. What matters is a contractor who shows up when promised, prices the job honestly up front, and manages site work and building construction under one roof. That is what we bring to Washington County.

If you are planning a new building, a pad site or a renovation in Washington, we would like to hear about it. Request a free estimate or call (724) 900-4123. We build it to last for decades and we stand behind it for two years.