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Built by Design
Leawood kitchen remodel with white cabinetry, dark range, and bright connected seating area

SERVICE AREA

Home Remodeling in Leawood, Kansas

Built by Design serves Leawood homeowners with kitchen, basement, bathroom, whole-home, addition, and outdoor-living projects. Start with the rooms you need to change and see how our completed local work connects everyday use with design decisions.

  • 2 documented Leawood projects
  • Recorded timelines of 9 to 13 weeks
  • Family-Owned, est. 2004
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Leawood / Character and continuity

Keep what makes the house yours. Change what gets in the way.

Leawood's original housing development used stone, brick, and clapboard homes with generous yards. The city also identifies several local historic districts. That history makes a useful starting point for an older-home remodel: decide which proportions, materials, and details you want to carry forward.

City of Leawood: the original development and its homes (PDF)

Your home may be much newer. In either case, we can work from the finishes and rooms you're keeping, so an updated kitchen or finished basement belongs to the same house.

Worth carrying forward

  • Exterior materials: stone, brick, and clapboard
  • Room proportions and ceiling heights that suit the house
  • Trim, doors, and details that match the street

What usually gets in the way

  • A closed kitchen that can't host the people in it
  • Storage that never fit the way you live
  • A lower level that is still unfinished

Bring both lists to the first conversation. They set the scope before finishes come up, and they're where the Leawood projects below started.

Built in Leawood

Two ways to make more room for gathering.

Leawood basement remodel game table and open lounge view

Lower level + upstairs connection

A bar with a room around it

The basement brief included a custom wet bar, fireplace lounge, and game area. The design challenge was to include a substantial bar without letting it take over the entire lower level.

An upstairs kitchen update was also part of the project. That makes this a relevant example when you're considering work on two floors and want the choices to connect.

Explore the Leawood basement
Leawood kitchen remodel long work zone leading to a sunny seating nook

Kitchen + flooring

Storage worth putting on display

The homeowners wanted room to host and a place for their artful dishware. Display cabinetry and a cabinet-front refrigerator answered different storage needs while clearer walking paths opened the room.

For your kitchen, bring both the pieces you want to show and the appliances you want to hide. Those decisions affect cabinet dimensions before finishes are selected.

See the kitchen and serving spaces

Leawood additions / Beyond the floor plan

An addition changes the lot, too.

Discuss an addition to your home

Street trees and construction access

Leawood introduced updated street-tree protections in June 2025. Its guidance includes tree-protection plans for certain additions and substantial alterations. Check whether your scope triggers those measures before locating equipment, deliveries, or excavation.

Leawood Codes Administration: street-tree protection and permits

Roof area, paving, and runoff

The city publishes stormwater requirements for added impervious surfaces and rebuilds. A larger roof or patio should be discussed with drainage and land disturbance, even when the main reason for the project is more indoor space.

Leawood stormwater requirements

Historic character, where it applies

If your property is in one of Leawood's historic districts, use the city's district information and preservation resources to identify its context. Confirm any applicable review with the city. Historic designation shouldn't be inferred from a house's appearance alone.

Leawood historic districts and preservation resources
Site plan of a Leawood lot showing the existing house, a proposed addition, a new patio, street trees inside dashed protection zones, a construction access route from the driveway to the rear, and runoff arrows toward the storm drain
Planning concept: building footprint, tree protection, access, and runoff. Not a property survey. Open the drawing full size

How BBD works in Leawood

Decide what stays before deciding what changes.

  1. The first visit is a walk through the house you already have.

    Mike and Kristen meet Leawood homeowners at home, not at BBD's Overland Park office, which isn't open for visits. On an older Leawood house the walk starts with the two lists above: the materials, proportions, and details worth carrying forward, and the rooms that get in the way. On a newer house it starts with the finishes you're keeping.

  2. One written scope, even when the work spans two floors.

    The Leawood basement record paired a lower-level bar and lounge with an upstairs kitchen update in a single 13-week project. Design-build is what makes that practical: layout, structure, selections, and the construction sequence live in one plan, so the kitchen and the basement don't get priced or scheduled as strangers. How design-build works at BBD

  3. Leawood's permit path, and the lot questions that come with it.

    Official source. Leawood's Code Services and Building Permits page.

    The question to settle for your address. Which drawings and reviews should accompany an interior remodel or addition application?

    Checked. September 28, 2026. Requirements change, so confirm before scheduling work that depends on a permit.

    Leawood Code Services and Building Permits

    For an addition, the same conversation covers the June 2025 street-tree protections, stormwater requirements for added roof and paving, and, only where the property is actually designated, historic district review.

  4. Construction with the trade partners named in both Leawood records.

    Both published Leawood case studies list SVB Wood Floors, ASMI Surfaces, and RockTops. Recorded construction ran 9 weeks for the kitchen and 13 weeks for the basement with its upstairs kitchen update, with design and permitting ahead of both.

Two documented projects / What they share

What the Leawood records have in common.

Two published projects is a small set, so these patterns stay close to what the case studies actually record: the rooms, the materials, and the reasons the homeowners gave. Each one links to the record it comes from.

Display storage was part of the brief, not a finish.

Glass-front uppers for colorful dishes and stemware in the kitchen; glass-front display cabinets, vertical wine storage, and lit glassware shelves at the basement bar. In both records the homeowners named what they wanted to see, and the cabinetry was sized around it.

From the records

Concealed appliances kept the room calm.

The kitchen hid the refrigerator behind cabinet-front panels and built the wall ovens in. The basement bar tucked beverage refrigeration and appliance storage behind the counter. The effect in both is the same: the things worth looking at get the attention.

From the records

Contrast hardware on light or warm cabinetry.

Black pulls on white cabinetry and a brass bridge faucet in the kitchen; black pulls on warm stained cabinetry in the updated upstairs kitchen of the basement project. Neither record chased a trend; the hardware reads against the cabinet color, which is what makes it work on an older house.

From the records

A place to sit in daylight.

The kitchen record ends with a sunny seating area that makes the room feel larger. The basement record softened the lounge zones with rugs and gave the bar a wide serving surface. Both are about where people actually settle, not just where the work happens.

From the records

Flooring was updated with the room, not after it.

The kitchen project is recorded as a kitchen remodel with a flooring update, wide-plank wood carried with the new layout. The basement used dark wood-look flooring under the bar and lounge. Changing the floor in the same scope avoids the transition problems that show up when it's done later.

From the records

Recorded construction: 9 and 13 weeks.

Nine weeks for the kitchen and flooring. Thirteen weeks for the full basement with the upstairs kitchen update. Those are construction weeks on two specific houses, not a promise for yours, and design and permitting come first.

From the records

Choosing the rest of the scope

Which rooms need to change together?

A primary bath can stay focused on bathing, storage, and lighting. Once the project also changes adjoining rooms, flooring, or the route to the backyard, put those transitions in the brief so they can be priced and planned together.

Leawood FAQAnswers, by design

Remodeling in Leawood, answered.

Straight answers drawn from BBD's Leawood project records and the city's own resources. Your project team confirms what applies to your home after a walkthrough.

Has Built by Design completed projects in Leawood?

Yes. 2 documented Leawood projects are published as case studies on this site: a basement bar and lounge that also updated the upstairs kitchen, and a kitchen remodel built around display storage and a paneled refrigerator. Each record lists the rooms, the materials, and, where it was recorded, the construction timeline. Browse Leawood projects

Will a Leawood historic district affect my remodel?

Only if the property is actually designated. Leawood's Historic Commission identifies local historic districts, and neither of BBD's published Leawood case studies records a designation. Check your address with the city before assuming restrictions apply, and if it is designated, bring that into the design brief early rather than after drawings exist. Leawood Historic Commission

What should I know before adding on to a Leawood home?

Bring the lot into the plan. Leawood's Codes Administration introduced street-tree protection changes in June 2025 that apply to plans for certain additions and substantial alterations, and the city's stormwater guidance addresses increased impervious area. Trees, delivery access, roof area, and runoff belong in the first conversation, not the last. Leawood Codes Administration

Do I need a permit for a remodel in Leawood?

Often, yes, but the city decides based on the scope and the address, so confirm before scheduling work. Leawood's Code Services and Building Permits page is the official source. The question to ask is: Which drawings and reviews should accompany an interior remodel or addition application? Your BBD project team reviews the permit path as part of planning rather than after construction is scheduled. Leawood Code Services and Building Permits

How long did BBD's Leawood projects take?

The Leawood case studies that record a construction timeline list 9 to 13 weeks. Those are historical records of specific scopes in specific houses, not a promise for yours. Design, permitting, and product lead times come before construction and vary from project to project. Why remodeling timelines change

Where is Built by Design based, and do you come to Leawood?

BBD's office is at 9393 W 110th St Suite 500, Overland Park, KS 66210. It isn't open for client visits. Mike and Kristen meet homeowners at their homes by arrangement, including in Leawood. The company is family-owned and was established in 2004. Request a consultation

Do you handle design and construction for Leawood projects, or only construction?

Both. Built by Design is a design-build remodeler: the same team handles the design, selections, scope, permitting path, and construction, so decisions made in planning carry through to the job site instead of being handed off. How BBD's design-build process works

Beyond Leawood

Nearby areas we serve.

Built by Design works from Overland Park across Johnson County and into the Missouri side of the metro. Each city page is built from documented local projects and that city's own permit resources, so if your home sits near a boundary, compare the neighboring page too.

All service areas

READY TO TALK?

Tell us where your home needs to work better

Tell us what you're planning, where the home is, and what needs to change. We'll respond within 24 hours to discuss project fit and the next step, including whether to arrange a home visit.

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