Remodeling contractor in Lincoln Square, Chicago

Permits come from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, and the city requires a licensed general contractor for permitted work. We pull the permit and handle the inspections.

Lincoln Square has no Chicago Landmark district, but it has individual landmarks. The Krause Music Store at 4611 N. Lincoln, from 1922 by William Presto and Louis H. Sullivan, is one. The Rosehill Cemetery entrance on Ravenswood, from 1864, is another. If a building you plan to tear down is rated red or orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, the demolition permit can be held for up to 90 days while the city looks at preserving it. That matters if a teardown and rebuild is on the table.

CMAP's community snapshot shows how mixed the housing is. Only 14.3 percent of homes are detached single family houses. Two unit buildings hold 13.2 percent of homes, three and four unit buildings 20.3 percent, and five to nine unit buildings another 22.2 percent. 46.3 percent of homes were built before 1940, and the median year built is 1944. Most households, 59.3 percent, rent.

So the typical client here owns a two flat and lives in one unit, or owns a condo in a small building, or owns a whole three flat. Each one changes the job. In a condo, the association's rules and the building's shared plumbing stacks set the limits. In a two flat you control both units, so we can plan kitchens and bathrooms that stack over each other and share risers.

In a flat, the kitchen and bathroom hang off the building's drain stack. Moving either far from it gets expensive fast, because the new lines have to run across joists and through the ceiling of the unit below. We start every layout from the stack.

If the flat below is occupied, noise, water shutoffs and dust matter as much as the design. We plan shutoffs with the tenant or the neighbour below, and we protect the shared stair and hall.

If your two flat has a full basement, it could become a third unit or a large family room. Chicago's Additional Dwelling Unit ordinance, expanded beyond its pilot areas in September 2025, allows a conversion unit in a basement or attic on eligible lots. The city's process starts with a Department of Housing pre certification and still needs Department of Buildings permits before work starts. We check your address on the city's eligibility map before we design anything.

Water is the other question. The North Branch of the Chicago River forms the west edge of the community area, and FEMA maps a Zone A strip along it, about one percent of the area. For most blocks the risk is the sewer. The city says heavy storms fill the mains and push water back into basements through private drains. A garden unit needs backflow protection, sensible floor drains and finishes that tolerate water.

Most residential blocks are zoned RS3 on the city zoning map. Under the Chicago Zoning Ordinance, RS3 allows a floor area ratio of 0.90 and a minimum of 2,500 square feet of lot area per unit. That density can drop to 1,500 square feet where at least 60 percent of the lots on your side of the block already hold buildings with more than one unit, so it is worth checking your block. Two flats are a permitted use in RS3.

Setbacks are tight on narrow city lots. In RS3 the side setbacks must add up to 20 percent of lot width, with neither side under 2 feet or 8 percent. The rear setback is 28 percent of lot depth or 50 feet for a detached house, and 30 percent for other buildings such as a two flat. Height tops out at 30 feet. Most additions here go up or back, and we check the numbers before drawings start.

Lincoln Square is community area 4, running from Montrose north to Bryn Mawr and Peterson, between Ravenswood Avenue and the river. It takes in Ravenswood, Ravenswood Gardens, Bowmanville and Budlong Woods as well as the square itself. The city's ZIP code boundaries put most of it in 60625, with parts in 60640 and 60659 and a small piece in 60660.