Home remodeling in Monona

Badger Remodel has built and remodeled homes around Madison since 1974. In Monona we take kitchens, bathrooms, basements, additions, decks and docks, floors, windows and doors.

Monona's houses are older than most of its neighbors', a lot of them sit on Lake Monona, and the city's permits run through an outside engineering firm. All three change how a remodel goes.

The houses we work on in Monona

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, tables B25034, B25035, B25003 and B25024 (data).

Monona was built out after World War II. The median home dates to 1963, more than a quarter of all housing went up in the 1950s alone, and about two-thirds was built before 1980. Houses from that era tend to need the same few things:

• Closed-off kitchens. Opening the kitchen to the living or dining room is a common request. Whether that wall is load-bearing decides whether it's a day of work or a beam, posts and an engineer's sizing.
• One bathroom. Houses this age often have just one. Adding a second one, often in the basement, depends on where the drain lines run.
• Basements. Foundations of that age need a moisture check before anything is framed.
• Paint. Work that disturbs paint in a pre-1978 home falls under Wisconsin's lead-safe renovation rules (DHS 163).

Permits in Monona

• Run by GEC. Monona contracts building inspection to General Engineering Company. You apply through GEC's online portal, and inspections are requested from GEC. The building inspector also holds walk-in hours at City Hall Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 to 10 a.m. (source)
• Little is exempt. Monona's permit packet lists kitchen and bathroom remodels, window replacement and new decks as permit work, and publishes no exemption for swapping cabinets or fixtures in place. Electrical, plumbing and ventilation each need their own permit.
• A zoning permit too for any construction or substantial enlargement, separate from the building permit (source).
• No published fee schedule. The inspector calculates fees from the application and plans. So the permit cost is an estimate until the application is in.

Decks, patios and the stormwater charge

Monona's permit application includes a Stormwater Utility form for any project that changes impervious area, and it counts a deck as impervious unless you can show otherwise. So a new deck or addition can raise your stormwater utility charge (application). Projects that disturb soil also go through a separate erosion control and stormwater permit, which asks whether any digging goes below elevation 847.7 ft. On lakefront lots, that question comes up for footings and additions.

Lake Monona lots

Monona measures the shore yard from the old meander line, not the high-water mark. The house stays 50 ft back, which can rise to the average of the two neighboring houses, up to 75 ft. Only boathouses, boat shelters, landings and piers can go in the shore yard, and fences there are capped at 42 inches and must stay 10 ft from the water. The code doesn't list a deck allowance in the shore yard, so we ask the zoning administrator before we design one. See the Monona lakefront rules.

Adding a unit

Monona's zoning code has no ADU section. The city treats one as a conditional use, which means a Plan Commission public hearing, usually over two meetings, with conditions set case by case: the owner lives on site, one per lot, never sold separately. Plan for that in the timeline.

What we do in Monona

• Kitchen remodels: layout changes, cabinets, counters, tile, lighting
• Bathroom remodels: tubs and tiled showers, vanities, tile floors, fans
• Basement finishing: framing, egress windows, bathrooms, ceilings
• Additions and whole-house renovation
• Deck repair and new decks, docks and patios
• Hardwood, laminate and tile floors
• Window replacement and door repair

Electrical, plumbing and HVAC work is done by licensed trades we schedule and supervise, and permitted where the City of Monona requires it.

How a job in Monona starts

1. You send the quote form with a few lines about what you want done. Photos help.
2. We come out for a walkthrough, measure, and look at what's behind the work: the framing, the plumbing, the panel, any water in the basement.
3. You get a written quote with the scope, the permits it needs, and a schedule.
4. We pull the permits, order materials, and book the inspections the City of Monona requires.

Get a quote for your Monona project

Questions we hear in Monona

Do I need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Monona?

Yes. A bathroom remodel needs a building permit, and plumbing, electrical and ventilation work each need their own. The city publishes no exemption for swapping fixtures in place.

Will a new deck change my Monona utility bill?

It can. The permit application counts decks as impervious area for the stormwater utility unless you show otherwise.

Who inspects remodels in Monona?

General Engineering Company, under contract to the city. The permit holder calls in each inspection.