Kitchen remodeling
Bathroom remodeling
Home additions & ADU
Roofing
Windows & doors
Driveway & pavers
FenceFree written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Fast, Reliable Home Remodeling Across Running Springs
Home remodeling in Running Springs, CA is not a valley job moved uphill. At 5,800 feet, the houses here fight snow, ice, and fire risk in ways a San Bernardino contractor never has to think about. If you own one of the older mountain cabins or mid-century second homes off Highway 18 or around the village, you already know what happens when a winter storm parks over the ridge: decks sag, roofs groan, and water finds its way into places it shouldn’t. Alder Contractors works here regularly. We know the roads, the inspectors, the snow-load requirements, and the way these old cabins are actually built. Call (833) 467-7020 and tell us what you’re planning. We’ll tell you straight what it will take.
Why Alder Contractors Is Running Springs’s Preferred Home Remodeling Company
Running Springs homeowners hire us because we don’t flinch when a subfloor reveals something the last remodel hid. The housing stock up here runs from 1920s cabins to 1970s second homes, and most of them have been patched, added onto, and repaired without permits for decades. We’ve opened enough walls in Running Springs to know that what’s behind them rarely matches the blueprints, if blueprints even exist. Our reputation here is built on handling those discoveries without drama and without burying the cost in vague language. Homeowners across the 92382 zip code call us because we name the problem, price it, and get it approved in writing before the next tool comes out.
Led by Nelson Ibarra, our team operates from a single point of accountability for every trade on the job. Whether it’s a kitchen gut in an older cabin near the Running Springs village or a full-home addition on a sloped lot off Live Oak Drive, you work with one contractor who owns the schedule, the permits, and the material sourcing. No chasing subs.
Styles & brands we work with
Home Remodeling Contractor in Running Springs
A Home Remodeling Contractor in Running Springs has to be part structural engineer, part snow-load specialist, and part code detective. When we take on a remodel here, we’re almost always opening up framing that has been carrying wet snow for fifty or sixty years. That means the job starts with inspection, not demolition. We look at what’s behind the drywall before we swing the hammer. If the joists are undersized or the wiring is original to the Carter administration, we stop, document it, and write a change order. You approve the number in writing, then we proceed. Typical projects in Running Springs run anywhere from a Home Remodeling kitchen refresh at $14,000 – $45,000 to a full home addition at $45,000 – $130,000, depending on what the mountain gives us once we open things up.
Opening Walls in Old Mountain Cabins
The moment sheetrock comes down, the clock starts on discoveries. In Running Springs, that usually means knob-and-tube wiring, rot at the bottom plates from decades of snowmelt, or framing members that were sistered together with whatever lumber was handy in 1955. We treat every opening as a code-compliance event. If the wall is open, the electrical, insulation, and structural framing behind it get inspected and signed off before anything gets covered back up.
Working With Steep Lots and Snow Loads
Lots off Highway 18 and around the village aren’t flat. Many homes slope hard, and additions or structural repairs on those lots mean engineering for lateral loads, drainage, and roof structure rated for 5 – 8 feet of seasonal snow. A valley remodeler who builds to county minimums is not your friend up here. We build to what the mountain actually does to a house in February, not what the code book says is technically legal.
Home Remodeling Companies in Running Springs
Home Remodeling Companies in Running Springs fall into two camps: the ones who drive up from Rialto or San Bernardino and hope for the best, and the ones who know what a Cal Fire brush-clearance inspection means for a siding job. We’re the second kind. Our work in the 92382 zip code includes whole-home renovations, kitchen and bath remodels, deck replacements, and exterior overhauls that have to survive fire season and snow season in equal measure. We use materials rated for ember resistance where the defensible-space rules require it, and we pull the permits that the San Bernardino National Forest’s proximity makes non-negotiable.
Single-Source Accountability for Every Trade
One contractor. Every phase. When a Running Springs remodel requires framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, windows, and finish work, you’re not coordinating five different crews with five different schedules and five different excuses for why they’re not there. Alder manages every trade under one contract, one schedule, and one name that answers the phone. Nelson Ibarra and the team run the job from first inspection to final walkthrough. Visit our Home Remodeling in Running Springs page to see how we approach full-scope projects.
Material Access Without the Showroom Runaround
Our work here draws on 50+ name-brand material partners, from Cambria and Silestone countertops to Kohler and Grohe fixtures, PGT windows, and James Hardie siding. You don’t have to drive down the mountain to a design center, pick samples, and then hope your contractor can actually source what you picked. We bring the samples to Running Springs, we know which materials hold up at altitude, and we order direct. The brand portfolio means real choices, not whatever the local yard happens to stock.
Trusted Brands We Service in Running Springs
Running Springs homeowners regularly ask us about window and siding brands that can handle high UV, deep snow, and wildfire defensible-space requirements. We work extensively with PGT impact-rated windows for mountain applications, James Hardie fiber cement siding where fire-resistance and snow-melt durability matter, and Tamko roofing products that hold up to freeze-thaw cycles without delaminating. When you install those products on a hillside home off Highway 18, the installation details matter as much as the product itself. Flashing details, ice-dam protection, and proper venting make the difference between a roof that lasts 20 years up here and one that fails in six. We stock the supporting materials our Running Springs jobs need so a trim or flashing piece doesn’t stall a project for a week while something ships from the flatlands.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Home Remodeling Problems We See in Running Springs Homes
- Knob-and-tube and aluminum wiring hidden in walls and attics. Older Running Springs cabins were wired long before modern codes, and many have been patched together with whatever was available. Opening a wall for a kitchen or bath remodel almost always triggers a full rough-in inspection, and often a rewire.
- Rotting pier-and-beam subfloors and undersized joists. Snowmelt and decades of freeze-thaw cycling eat at the wood. We regularly find joists that were undersized when they were installed in 1952 and have only gotten weaker since.
- Failed shower waterproofing leaking into structural framing. The moment a shower pan fails in a Running Springs home, water travels into the subfloor and sits there. By the time the tile looks bad, the framing underneath is worse.
- Decks and rooflines built for valley snow loads, not mountain snow loads. After major storms, decks across Running Springs fail under wet snow load within days. We routinely rebuild to a higher snow-load rating than county minimum, and we reinforce roof structure when we’re already in the walls.
Pricing for Home Remodeling in Running Springs, CA
Remodeling costs in Running Springs run higher than the valley below, and the reason is honest: the mountain demands more from every material and every trade. Add the cost of snow-load-rated framing, Cal Fire compliance, steep-lot access, and the discovery work that older cabins always require, and you get a realistic picture. Here’s what we see across the 92382 market:
| Project | Typical Running Springs Range |
|---|---|
| Kitchen Remodel | $14,000 – $45,000 |
| Bathroom Remodel | $9,000 – $28,000 |
| Home Addition | $45,000 – $130,000 |
| Cabinet Installation | $4,000 – $13,000 |
| Countertop Installation | $2,000 – $6,500 |
| Walk-In Shower Installation | $4,500 – $12,000 |
Every quote includes a written allowance for the discoveries we expect to find when walls come down. If the allowance isn’t needed, you keep the money. If the surprise is bigger than the allowance, we price it in writing and get your sign-off before we proceed. Call (833) 467-7020 for a free estimate, and we’ll give you a real number, not a “we’ll see” promise.
We Also Serve Cities Near Running Springs
Running Springs sits between Lake Arrowhead and Highland on Highway 18, and our crews work the whole mountain corridor. We handle remodels in Lake Arrowhead, Highland, Mentone, and Crestline, all with the same snow-load and wildfire-safety standards we apply to Running Springs jobs. If you own a home anywhere in the San Bernardino Mountains, you’re dealing with the same conditions and the same building stock. We know it.
Serving Running Springs, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Running Springs area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Home Remodeling in Running Springs
Yes. Almost every remodel that opens walls, changes structural framing, or touches electrical and plumbing needs a permit in Running Springs, and the San Bernardino National Forest’s proximity means the permitting path is stricter than down the hill. Once walls are open, the county inspector will require rough-in sign-off for any electrical, plumbing, insulation, and framing work that’s exposed. That’s the moment where old knob-and-tube wiring or undersized framing gets flagged, and it’s why our contracts include a written allowance for exactly those discoveries. Call (833) 467-7020, and we’ll tell you what your specific project will trigger before you commit to anything.
We find knob-and-tube wiring, aluminum branch circuits, rotting pier-and-beam subflooring, undersized joists, and failed shower waterproofing that leaked into the framing for years. The freeze-thaw cycling at 5,800 feet accelerates wood rot, and decades of snowmelt sitting on decks and around foundations does real structural damage. We were called to a 1950s cabin off Highway 18 near the Running Springs village to open up a kitchen, and when we pulled the subfloor we found undersized joists and knob-and-tube wiring hidden under three layers of linoleum. Our team wrote a change order for new load-bearing framing and a full rough-in inspection before any drywall went back up, and we priced it in writing the same day.
Heavy winter snow, often 5 – 8 feet in a season, puts constant load on roofs and decks, and the freeze-thaw cycle pushes water into every crack and seam. Any remodel that opens walls or attic spaces needs to account for snow-load-rated roof framing and ice-dam protection, which valley contractors never think about. We build to a higher snow-load standard than county minimum, and we inspect for hidden water damage from decades of ice damming before we close any cavity. If your current roof or deck wasn’t built for mountain snow, a remodel is the right time to fix it, not after it fails.
Every contract includes a written allowance for structural surprises, electrical discoveries, and waterproofing failures, all price-tagged before we start. If we open a wall and find knob-and-tube wiring, we stop work, document it with photos, write a change order, and get your signature before we spend a dollar on the fix. You never get a surprise invoice at the end. The allowance is your money until it’s actually needed, and if we don’t use it, you don’t pay it. That’s how Nelson Ibarra and the whole Alder team operate here: written, approved, and transparent from the first inspection.
We source cabinets from KraftMaid and Wellborn, and countertops from Cambria, Silestone, and Caesarstone, which means you get materials that actually hold up in a mountain home without driving down to a showroom. These aren’t builder-grade picks that warp in the first freeze-thaw cycle. We bring samples to Running Springs, you choose from the full line, and we order direct. If you want to see what a Cambria quartz countertop looks like in a kitchen at altitude, call (833) 467-7020 and we’ll bring the samples up the mountain.
Written by Nelson Ibarra, Owner at Alder Contractors, serving Running Springs and the San Bernardino Mountains since day one.