Building in Palo Alto, where the city writes its own rules.
Eichler and Craftsman remodels, kitchens and baths, additions, ADUs and new homes in Palo Alto, from a Mountain View builder who has carried projects through Palo Alto Development Services and the city's reach code.
Five Palo Alto homes, and a grandfather who helped build the Palo Alto Bowl.
Tomio Izumi's grandfather worked as a union carpenter on Palo Alto jobs in the 1950s and 60s. Two generations later, Nuvision has five Palo Alto projects on record: bathroom and kitchen remodels, a whole-house renovation and additions, in Midtown, south Palo Alto's Eichler streets and the older neighborhoods near downtown.
Each one is a red house on our map of where we have worked, drawn near rather than on the home. For ground-up work, see our Palo Alto new construction page.
Eichlers in the south, Craftsmans and bungalows in the north
Palo Alto has more Eichler homes than any city but one, concentrated in Greenmeadow, Fairmeadow, Greer Park and the Royal Manor tracts, several of them protected by single-story overlays. North of Oregon Expressway the stock turns to 1920s Craftsman bungalows and Spanish revivals in Professorville, Crescent Park and Old Palo Alto, some of them on the city's historic inventory. Each kind of house asks for a different approach.
Eichler kitchens, baths and whole-house remodels
Radiant slabs, post-and-beam roofs, atriums and floor-to-ceiling glass. We open these houses up while keeping the lines that make them Eichlers, and we price the energy upgrades the reach code requires alongside the finish work.
Additions to older homes
Second stories and rear additions on Craftsman and prewar houses, matched in roof pitch, siding and trim so the addition reads as original, and carried through Individual Review where the city requires it.
ADUs and new homes
Detached ADUs and garage conversions on Palo Alto's deep lots, and teardown-rebuilds and custom homes from your architect's plans, all-electric from the first drawing.
What the City of Palo Alto asks of a project
- Palo Alto Development Services — the city's one-stop Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue handles plan check, permits and inspections. Palo Alto's process is more thorough than most of its neighbors, with a full set of local amendments to the building, electrical and green building codes. We submit with your architect and build the review time into the schedule rather than discovering it later.
- The Palo Alto reach code — new homes and ADUs are all-electric, and larger remodels trigger electrification and EV-ready requirements. The city also runs its own utility, which changes how service upgrades are scheduled. We tell you at the proposal what it means for your panel, your water heater and your range.
- Trees and single-story overlays — Palo Alto protects coast live oaks, valley oaks and redwoods on private lots, and a dozen Eichler neighborhoods carry single-story overlays. Both shape what can be drawn before a line is drawn.
- Living in the house while we work — containment, daily cleanup and a schedule you can see week by week.
- One quote that holds — detailed, line-item proposals before demolition, and changes priced in writing before they happen.
"Tomio communicated early and often. We always knew where we stood and when things would get done next. Tomio ensured our house was move-in ready on time, by the agreed upon date."
"Responsive, friendly, great attention to detail, and they don't break the bank! Working with Tomio is always a treat."
A Palo Alto house with a project in it?
Send a few photos and your wish list. We'll walk it with you and tell you honestly what it takes.