Remodeling Contractor in St. Matthews, KY
St. Matthews filled in fast between about 1945 and 1965, and the houses show it. Brick Cape Cods with two small bedrooms down and a low-knee-wall second floor. Long single-story ranches on generous lots. Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival on the older streets closer to Shelbyville Road. They were well built — real brick, oak floors, full basements — and they were laid out for a family that used one bathroom and ate in a separate dining room. That’s the gap most remodels here are trying to close.
Nest Construction works St. Matthews and the small cities around it constantly. Licensed, insured, eleven years in business, 255+ jobs finished.
The typical St. Matthews problem list
The galley kitchen. A 1955 kitchen is a closed room with a doorway to the dining room and a door to the basement stairs. Cabinets on two walls, a window over the sink, and no room for two people. Opening it up usually means taking out the wall between kitchen and dining. In a ranch, that wall is often carrying ceiling joists, so it comes out with a flush or dropped beam and a real load path down through the basement to a footing or a new post and pad. That’s the part that separates a good number from a cheap one.
One bathroom, five by seven. Cast iron tub, tile-over-mortar walls, a single 15-amp circuit, and no exhaust fan. On the tear-out we almost always find the original cast iron waste and galvanized supply, and mortar bed walls that come out in chunks rather than sheets. It is not a weekend job. Done right it’s a full re-plumb of the wet wall, new subfloor where the toilet flange leaked, a vented fan, and a GFCI circuit.
Cape Cod second floors. Knee walls, sloped ceilings, and a stair that lands in the middle of the space. Adding a shed dormer at the back is the standard move for getting a real primary bedroom or a second full bath upstairs. It’s a permitted structural job, and it needs the roof framing checked before anyone promises you a layout.
What’s behind the finishes. Plaster on the older houses, early drywall on the mid-50s and later ones. Nine-by-nine floor tile under the carpet in a lot of basements and kitchens — treat it as suspect until it’s tested. Fuse panels or first-generation 100-amp breaker panels that can’t carry a modern kitchen. Original wood windows with storms, or 1980s aluminum replacements that failed. Thin attic insulation over the whole thing.
Water and trees. Big mature oaks and maples are part of why people love these streets, and they are also why sewer laterals back up and why basements get damp. Before we finish a lower level, we want gutters, downspout extensions and grading sorted out.
What we handle in St. Matthews
- Kitchen remodels — wall removal, beam work, new cabinets, tile
- Bathroom remodels — hall bath gut-and-replace, adding a second bath, tub-to-shower
- Whole-home renovations, dormer additions and rear additions
- Siding, soffit, fascia, gutters and exteriors
- Fences, decks and screened porches
- Tile and flooring, drywall and trim, custom carpentry, painting
Permits: the Letter of Compliance step
This is where St. Matthews is different from unincorporated Louisville. The building permit itself is issued by Louisville Metro. But before Metro will issue it, the City of St. Matthews requires a Letter of Compliance. There’s no charge for it, and it takes a completed application, contractor information, and a site plan — interior remodels are excepted from the site plan requirement.
Two things trip people up. First, the contractor listed has to hold a current City of St. Matthews business license. We do. Second, work in the right-of-way — a new driveway apron, a dumpster in the street, a curb cut — needs a separate right-of-way permit from the city. We handle both, and we schedule around them instead of discovering them mid-job.
Streets and subdivisions we work
Norbourne Estates, Springlee, Cherrywood Village, Beechwood Village, Oxmoor Woods, Fairmeade, and the small neighboring cities that share the St. Matthews address — Richlawn, Bellewood, Seneca Gardens, Rolling Fields, Druid Hills, Windy Hills, Kingsley and Woodlawn Park. We also work Brownsboro Road, Chenoweth Lane, Lexington Road and the streets off Westport Road.
The trust part
Eleven years in business under the same name and the same owner. 255+ completed projects. 4.9 stars across 143 reviews on Thumbtack, 5.0 on Google. Licensed and insured, and we’ll hand you the certificate before we hand you a contract. Built Right. Built To Last.
Talk to Gil
Call (502) 821-9118 or email Office@nestconstructionky.com. We come out, look at the actual house, and give you a written scope and price. Reach us here.
St. Matthews FAQs
Can the wall between my kitchen and dining room come out?
In most St. Matthews ranches, yes. Usually it’s load bearing, so it needs a beam and posts carried down to the basement and a proper footing. We check the framing and the span before we quote, not after.
Who issues my permit — the city or Louisville Metro?
Louisville Metro issues the building permit. St. Matthews issues a free Letter of Compliance that Metro requires first, and your contractor needs a current St. Matthews business license to be on it.
Can I add a full bathroom upstairs in a Cape Cod?
Often, with a rear shed dormer to get the headroom and floor area. It’s a structural, permitted project. We’ll tell you honestly if the framing and the stair location make it a bad idea.
How long does a full bathroom gut take here?
Plan on three to four weeks for a 1950s hall bath once we’re in — the cast iron waste line, the mortar bed walls and the rotted subfloor around the flange are the usual reasons it isn’t two.