Host and serve
A wet bar kitchen, drink storage, and seating made this lower level useful for more than watching television. A gym and bathroom expanded its daily uses.
Explore the kitchen-style bar
SERVICE AREA
Home Remodeling in Olathe, Kansas
Plan your Olathe remodel with Built by Design, from kitchens and bathrooms to finished basements, additions, and whole-home improvements.
- 4 documented Olathe projects
- Recorded timelines of 11 to 13 weeks
- Family-Owned, est. 2004
Olathe / Rooms for a changing household
Give shared space and private space equal attention.
Olathe's long-range quality-of-life plan recognizes both residents who want to remain at home as they age and households looking for multigenerational options. A remodeling brief can make those needs concrete: who needs privacy, which bathroom they'll use, and how everyone reaches the kitchen.
Olathe's housing and quality-of-life prioritiesOur completed Olathe projects show several approaches, from a kitchen and two bathrooms to lower levels with gyms, theaters, and guest-related work. We'll help you separate the spaces that can be shared from those that need their own room.
One Olathe project / Three essential rooms
A kitchen, a primary bath, and the other bathroom everyone needs.
The local kitchen-and-bath remodel combined island seating, appliances, and lighting with a primary bath and a second bathroom. Dual sinks and a private water closet addressed the primary suite; the other bathroom received its own finish update.
See the complete Olathe scopeCooking and gathering
Keep a place to sit without blocking the refrigerator or prep counter.
Kitchen remodelingA bathroom for each routine
Separate bathing, getting ready, and storage needs before choosing fixtures.
Bathroom remodelingOne coordinated work plan
Discuss which facilities must remain usable and whether phases can support that.
Remodeling across roomsThree completed Olathe lower levels
What should happen downstairs?
Work out and unwind
Glass doors separate the gym from theater, pool-table, and bar areas. Equipment clearance and the path between activities deserve space in the plan.
See the glass gym and theater
Movies below, guests above
A projector theater, games, and fitness spaces filled the lower level. This scope also refreshed an upstairs guest suite, rather than putting every use downstairs.
View the theater and guest-suite projectBefore the work starts
A plan for the rooms you'll still be using.
Identify the essential rooms
List the bathroom, food-preparation area, home office, and entrances your household needs during construction. These needs should inform the sequence, rather than emerge after demolition.
Describe the actual use of every new space
Tell us if a flexible room will be used for sleeping, if a bar will include cooking, or if someone needs step-free access. Those choices affect more than furnishings and can change the review needed.
Match the application to the scope
Olathe identifies basement finishes and kitchen alterations within its residential interior-remodel process. Additions have a separate application category. Use the city's current guidance to confirm what the combined project needs.
Olathe residential permits: interiors and additions
How BBD works in Olathe
Who lives here decides the plan.
The first visit starts with the household, then the house.
Mike and Kristen meet Olathe homeowners at home; BBD's Overland Park office isn't open for visits. The first questions are about people: who needs a door that closes, who shares a bathroom, who'll be staying for a week or a year. The rooms get drawn after that, not before.One written scope, even when it touches three rooms.
The Olathe kitchen-and-bath record remodeled the kitchen, the primary bath, and a second bathroom as one project. Design-build is what made that workable: one plan for layout, structure, selections, and the order of work, including which bathroom and which place to cook stay open in each phase. How design-build works at BBDOlathe's permit path, matched to the scope.
Official source. Olathe's Building Permit Application Guide page.
The question to settle for your address. Which residential application fits the project, and are sealed plans required for the proposed changes?
Checked. September 28, 2026. Requirements change, so confirm before scheduling work that depends on a permit.
Olathe Building Permit Application GuideOlathe files basement finishes and kitchen alterations under its residential interior-remodel process and additions under a separate category. A combined project is checked against both before anything is scheduled.
Construction with the trade partners named in every Olathe record.
All four published Olathe projects list SVB Wood Floors, ASMI Surfaces, and RockTops. The three basement records list construction of 11 to 13 weeks; the kitchen-and-bath record doesn't record a duration. Design and permitting come before construction on every project.
Four documented projects / What they share
What the Olathe records have in common.
One main-floor project and three lower levels. The case studies repeat a few decisions that fit households with different routines under one roof. Each pattern links to the records it comes from.
A gym in every basement, three different ways.
One record turned a bedroom into the gym. One put the gym behind glass doors with rubber flooring, in view of the theater. One gave it an accent wall and its own corner. The decision each time was how visible the workout should be.
From the records
The bar was a kitchen, or nearly one.
A wet bar kitchen with a range, microwave, sink, and drink fridges. A bar island with new appliances. A bar with a sink, drink fridge, and lit glass shelves. In Olathe the lower level was expected to feed people, not just pour for them.
From the records
Every bathroom got its own color story.
A primary bath with natural wood dual vanities and green walls, a second bath with a blue vanity and textured tile, a basement bath in deep blue with glossy blue shower tile, another with floral wallcovering and patterned floor tile. Shared finishes upstairs, personality in each bath.
From the records
Theater walls that anchor without enclosing.
A dark paneled feature wall with built-ins and floating shelves. A projector screen over a tiled fireplace wall framed in stained wood. A theater lounge open to the bar. None of the three closed the theater into its own room; each gave it a wall worth looking at instead.
From the records
Guests were planned on the floor that suits them.
One basement project refreshed an upstairs guest suite rather than putting guests downstairs. Another finished a basement bedroom and powder bath. The kitchen-and-bath project gave the second bathroom its own update. Where guests sleep decided which floor got the work.
From the records
Recorded construction: 11 to 13 weeks.
The three basement records list 13, 11, and 12 weeks of construction. The kitchen-and-bath record doesn't list a duration, so this page doesn't invent one. Those are construction weeks on specific houses, with design and permitting ahead of them.
From the records
An address-specific question
Planning improvements in Original Town?
Olathe lists a Neighborhood Revitalization Program intended to encourage reinvestment in Original Town. Before committing to the work, ask the city whether your property and proposed improvements qualify and what application timing applies. A remodel doesn't automatically qualify.
Olathe's Neighborhood Revitalization Program resourcesWhen another room is the answer
If privacy, a main-floor bedroom, or a larger living room can't fit within the existing layout, bring an addition into the comparison. We can also look at the connection to outdoor gathering space, with Kristen guiding interior design and Mike coordinating construction.
An Olathe homeowner's experience
They provided us a beautiful space that we will enjoy for years to come.
Any questions or issues that came up were promptly addressed and resolved to our satisfaction. ... They provided us a beautiful space that we will enjoy for years to come.
Customer excerpt; ellipses mark omissions.
Olathe FAQAnswers, by design
Remodeling in Olathe, answered.
Straight answers drawn from BBD's Olathe 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 Olathe?
Yes. 4 documented Olathe projects are published as case studies on this site: a kitchen remodeled together with a primary bath and a second bathroom, and three finished basements with theaters, wet bars, gyms, and guest-related work. Each record lists the rooms, the materials, and, where it was recorded, the construction timeline. Browse Olathe projects
Which rooms stay usable while an Olathe remodel is under way?
Decide that before the schedule is written. BBD's Olathe kitchen-and-bath project touched the kitchen, the primary bath, and a second bathroom, so keeping one bathroom and one place to cook open in every phase shaped the order of the work. Tell the team who lives in the house and what each room is for, and the sequence follows from that.
Is my Olathe home eligible for the city's Original Town revitalization program?
Ask the city. Olathe lists Original Town neighborhood revitalization among its economic incentive resources, but eligibility, application timing, and any benefit depend on the property and the program's current rules. BBD doesn't advise on tax matters, so confirm the details with Olathe before counting on them in a remodeling budget. Olathe economic incentive programs
Do I need a permit for a remodel in Olathe?
Often, yes, but the city decides based on the scope and the address, so confirm before scheduling work. Olathe's Building Permit Application Guide page is the official source. The question to ask is: Which residential application fits the project, and are sealed plans required for the proposed changes? Your BBD project team reviews the permit path as part of planning rather than after construction is scheduled. Olathe Building Permit Application Guide
How long did BBD's Olathe projects take?
The Olathe case studies that record a construction timeline list 11 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 Olathe?
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 Olathe. The company is family-owned and was established in 2004. Request a consultation
Do you handle design and construction for Olathe 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 Olathe
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.
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.