Building and remodeling in the Catalina Foothills
The Catalina Foothills run from roughly River Road up to the Santa Catalina Mountains, in the 85718 and 85750 ZIP codes. Homes here are often custom builds from the 1970s through the 1990s on sloped desert lots, with flat roofs, parapets and big views. That means remodels, roof work and structural repairs are a big part of what owners need, and every project has to respect the slope and the desert around it.
Who issues permits in the Foothills
The Catalina Foothills is not a city. It's unincorporated Pima County, so permits come from Pima County Development Services, not the City of Tucson. In the county, a detached casita is permitted as a guest house, with its own rules: one per lot, it may have a kitchen, it must share the main home's driveway and it can't have a separate utility meter. On steeper lots, the county's hillside and native plant rules can also apply.
What Foothills homeowners call us for
- Custom homes and additions and casitas
- Stucco repair and roof repair and replacement
- Structural repair and framing
- Remodels, bathrooms and custom showers and custom cabinets
- Decks, covered patios and repairs
We see a lot of flat roof repairs, stucco and parapet cracks, beams and framing that need structural repair, and remodels that open up older floor plans to the view.
Built for sloped lots and older homes
Older Foothills homes rarely match today's drawings exactly. Our own crew does the framing and structural work, so when a wall is opened and something unexpected is found, it gets fixed properly, not patched. We're licensed with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (AZ ROC #344537).
Casitas on Foothills lots
Because the Foothills is unincorporated Pima County, Arizona's 2024 ADU law for large cities doesn't apply directly. A detached casita here is permitted as a guest house under Pima County's guest house rules, and on sloped lots the location usually comes down to grading, drainage and protecting the desert vegetation around the house. Our Foothills casita page covers it in detail.
Flat roofs, parapets and stucco
Many Foothills homes have flat or low-slope roofs hidden behind parapet walls. When the coating wears thin or the scuppers clog, water sits on the roof and finds its way into the parapet and the stucco below. That is why we look at the roof and the stucco together. See flat roof repair, roof leak repair and re-stucco.
Opening up older floor plans
A lot of Foothills remodels are about the view: removing a wall, widening an opening or adding glass. That usually means a new beam, engineering and a Pima County permit. Our load-bearing wall removal and beam repair pages explain the process.