Home / service area / Royal Oak
DESIGN-BUILD IN ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN
Royal Oak Homes, Rebuilt Inside a Tight Lot
Designed, sourced & built under one roof.
A median lot of about 6,500 square feet, a 35-foot rear setback, and a hard 3,500 square foot cap on the house. Royal Oak is the most constrained community we build in, and the projects that succeed here are the ones that worked the zoning out before the floor plan.
4.9★
Over 100 reviews
5 year
Warranty on our workmanship
2014
Founded, and building here since
100%
In-house design, source & build
Local design-build
The buildable box is smaller than the lot suggests.
Royal Oak's median home was built in 1950, and the housing runs from early twentieth-century bungalows and Craftsman houses through the 1940s to 70s buildout, with newer condos and lofts downtown. Vinsetta Boulevard and its storybook architecture is the signature street; Northwood, Brookwood, Vinsetta Park, Clifford Heights and a dozen more fill in around it.
The lots are genuinely small. That is why so much of the market here is teardown and rebuild and why a well-executed addition, done inside the rules, is often the better value.
Worth knowing about the ground as well: Royal Oak sits over the Red Run, a largely enclosed watercourse, and drainage on certain lots reflects that.
What we build in Royal Oak
Services
01 - Kitchens
Working within small original footprints, with waterproofing and a flood-tested pan on every shower.
$65,000 – $160,000+
02 - Bathrooms
Working within small original footprints, with waterproofing and a flood-tested pan on every shower.
$18,000 – $95,000+
03 - Additions
Rear and second-story additions planned against a 35-foot rear setback and a 3,500 square foot cap.
$190,000 – $350,000+
04 - Whole-home
Full renovations of 1920s to 1950s houses on tight lots.
$250,000 – $600,000+
Ranges shown are typical for Royal Oak. Full tier-by-tier pricing is on each cost guide.
building in Royal Oak
What the Approval Process Actually Involves
01
The 35-foot rear setback is the single biggest constraint
R-1 requires a minimum 35-foot rear yard. On a 100-foot-deep lot with a 25-foot front setback, that leaves roughly a 40-foot band of buildable depth. This is the most common reason a Royal Oak rear addition ends up at the Zoning Board of Appeals, and it is the first number we check.
02
There is a hard cap on house size
No single-family residential structure may exceed 3,500 square feet of usable floor area. That is unusual, and it directly limits large additions and second-story build-outs on lots that would otherwise support them. How usable floor area treats basements, garages and unfinished attic space materially changes what is possible, and is worth confirming with the Building Division for your specific project.
03
Coverage is tiered by lot size
On lots under 6,000 square feet, buildings may cover no more than 35 percent of the site, and in no case may total ground floor area exceed 1,800 square feet. On lots of 6,000 square feet or more, coverage drops to 30 percent. Maximum height is 30 feet.
04
Side yards are five feet, and one of them has to stay a driveway
Side yards are 5 feet minimum on lots 45 feet wide or greater, 4 feet on narrower ones and residential districts require an open area at least eight feet wide suitable for a driveway in one side yard. On a 50-foot lot, that combination determines which side an addition can go on before anything else does.
05
Historic review almost certainly does not apply to you
Royal Oak has a Historic District Commission and roughly a dozen-plus designated local districts, but they are overwhelmingly individual buildings or very small groupings; the largest, the L.A. Young district, is eleven homes. Properties cannot be designated historic without owner consent. So unlike Northville, the vast majority of Royal Oak remodels face no historic review at all.
Requirements change. Confirm current specifics with Royal Oak Building Inspection before relying on any of the above. Note the department's code consultation hours are 8:00 to 9:00am and 3:30 to 4:30pm.
where we work
Where We Work in Royal Oak
We build throughout Royal Oak and the surrounding communities: Birmingham, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Pleasant Ridge and Ferndale.
Vinsetta Park
Vinsetta Boulevard
Northwood
Brookwood
Clifford Heights
Catalpa Park
Forest Heights
Hillcrest Manor
Royal Oak Manor
Washington Heights
Starr Acres
Downtown Royal Oak
straight answer
Check the zoning before you fall in love with a plan.
Royal Oak's combination of a 35-foot rear setback, five-foot side yards, tiered lot coverage and a 3,500 square foot cap on the house means the buildable envelope is often much smaller than the lot implies. We would rather establish the box first and design inside it than draw something that has to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals to survive.
Sometimes the honest answer is that the space you want already exists in the house and is badly arranged, and reworking the existing plan gets you there without a variance and for less money. That conversation costs you nothing.
We don't reface cabinets and we don't paint them. We're the right fit when a well-built older house deserves to be rebuilt properly inside its limits.
4.8 stars
Average customer review
2014
Founded in Metro Detroit
Old Woodward
Our office, in Birmingham
100%
In-house design, source & build
Good to know
Royal Oak FAQ
Can I add on to the back of my house?
Often, but the 35-foot rear setback is strict and it is what stops most rear additions on a standard 100-foot lot. We measure the buildable envelope from the survey at the first visit rather than designing into a variance.
Is there a limit on how big my house can be?
Yes. No single-family structure may exceed 3,500 square feet of usable floor area, and lot coverage is capped at 30 or 35 percent depending on lot size. How basements and garages count toward that figure is worth confirming for your specific address.
Can I build a second story?
There is no specific second-story prohibition, the limits are the 30-foot height cap and the 3,500 square foot floor area cap. Whether your house has room under those numbers is the question, and it depends on what is already there.
Is my house in a historic district?
Almost certainly not. Royal Oak's designations are mostly individual buildings, the largest grouping is eleven homes, and a property cannot be designated without the owner's consent. We confirm the address, but the answer is usually no.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree on my property?
Royal Oak regulates trees in public spaces rather than private removals. However, excavation within five feet of a street tree requires permission from DPW, which comes up on driveway and utility work.
Are you licensed and insured in Michigan?
Yes, licensed Michigan residential builder, Lic. 2102213502, fully insured, with our office on Old Woodward in Birmingham.
Planning a renovation in Royal Oak?