The Sumner Project: A Whole-Home Transformation in Salt Lake City — and What It Takes to Get One Approved
Some remodels are straightforward. You update finishes, reconfigure a room or two, and the APPROVAL PROCESS CAN BE QUICK. The Sumner Project was not that kind of remodel.
This Salt Lake City home called for an addition, a basement extension, a new office, a new bathroom and closet, an outdoor patio, full landscaping, and a complete kitchen remodel — all coordinated as one cohesive project. And before a single wall came down, we spent months working directly with the city to get every plan reviewed, revised, and approved.
Here's a look inside the project, and why the part most homeowners never see — the approval process — is often what separates a smooth build from a stalled one.
The Scope: Expanding in Every Direction
The Sumner Project touched nearly every part of the home:
The addition and basement extension. Rather than simply building out at grade, we extended the basement footprint along with the addition above it — maximizing usable square footage on the same lot. Basement extensions are structurally demanding work. Underpinning, excavation adjacent to existing foundations, and waterproofing all have to be engineered precisely, and they're exactly the kind of scope that draws close scrutiny from city plan reviewers.
A dedicated office. Purpose-built workspace is one of the most requested features in our Salt Lake City remodels, and the Sumner Project's new office was designed into the addition from day one — not carved out of leftover space as an afterthought.
An additional bathroom and closet. New plumbing runs, ventilation, and storage that serve the way the family actually lives — and add real, appraisable value to the home.
A new patio and full landscaping. The exterior was designed alongside the interior, so the patio, hardscape, and plantings feel like an extension of the home rather than a separate project bolted on at the end.
New skylights. One of the challenges of expanding a home's footprint is keeping the interior bright — deeper floor plans can mean darker cores. Skylights were added to pull natural light into the home from above, so the expanded spaces feel open and daylit rather than closed in. In Salt Lake City, where sunshine is abundant most of the year, overhead glazing works hard for a home every single day.
A new railing on the front of the house. A detail that does double duty: it sharpens curb appeal and gives the facade a more finished, intentional look, while meeting the safety and code requirements that come with the home's front elevation.
A complete kitchen remodel. The heart of the project. The existing kitchen was reworked from the studs to match the scale and quality of the new spaces around it.
The Part You Don't See: Working With the City
Every project in Salt Lake City that involves an addition, structural changes, or expanded footprint goes through plan review — and a project with this much scope goes through a lot of it. Zoning compliance, setbacks, structural engineering review, and coordination across multiple permit categories all have to line up before construction can begin.
For the Sumner Project, that meant an extensive back-and-forth: submitting detailed plans, responding to reviewer comments, revising drawings, and resubmitting until every element was approved. It's not glamorous work. It's also where inexperienced builders lose months.
This is a point we make often, because it matters: the approval process is part of the build. When your builder knows how city plan reviewers evaluate projects, anticipates their questions, and submits complete, well-engineered plans the first time, the timeline stays predictable. When they don't, homeowners end up in a cycle of rejections and revisions that can stall a project before it starts.
The Result
What started as a home that no longer fit its owners is now a residence with meaningfully more livable space, a kitchen built to the standard of the rest of the home, dedicated rooms for work and daily life, natural light pouring in from above, and an exterior — from the new front railing to the patio and landscaping — designed with the same intention as the interiors. All fully permitted, fully approved, and built to last.
Planning an Addition or Whole-Home Remodel in Salt Lake City?
If your project involves an addition, structural changes, or anything the city will want to review closely, the builder you choose determines how smoothly that process goes. Citizen Builders has deep experience navigating plan approval in Salt Lake City, Park City, and Summit County — and we build every project on a fixed-cost contract, so you know your investment before we break ground.
Ready to talk about your project? Contact Citizen Builders to start the conversation.
