Lolo is about fifteen minutes down US-93 from our shop, close enough that we schedule it exactly like a Missoula job with no travel charge and first-thing morning starts.
Lolo sits where Highway 12 leaves US-93 and heads up Lolo Creek toward the pass, fifteen minutes south of our Missoula shop. The town grew in layers, with ranch-style houses from the 1970s near the school and subdivisions from the 1990s and 2000s on the benches east of the highway. Farther out, acreage places are strung up Highway 12 along the creek, most of them on wells and septic. Most of what we build here is for families who moved out for the space and a view of Lolo Peak, then found the house needed more bedrooms than it had. Additions and bigger decks make up the bulk of our Lolo calendar, with kitchens and garage conversions close behind.
Building along Lolo Creek comes with a few local realities. The creek bottom holds water in spring, so footings and posts need to account for saturated soil, and the wind that funnels down the canyon punishes cheap siding on the west face of a house. Fire is the other one. The 2017 Lolo Peak fire burned close enough that a lot of homeowners here now ask about defensible space, and we steer them toward fiber cement or metal siding and ember-resistant vents when we re-side. None of it costs much more when it is planned in from the start, and it changes what an insurer will write.
Because Lolo is a short drive, we treat it like a Missoula job for scheduling. The crew can be on site by seven and there is no travel charge. Permitting outside the city works differently than inside Missoula, and we sort that out before the quote goes out. Every job gets a fixed-scope quote before we start, and the same carpenters who frame the addition hang the doors and set the trim at the end. Call (406) 207-2524 to set up a walk-through.
Working near Travelers' Rest State Park, Lolo Peak, Lolo Creek, Fort Fizzle, Lolo School and throughout the Lolo area.
Tell us about the project. A carpenter, not a salesperson, will get back to you within one business day.
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Acreage lots along Lolo Creek and Sleeman Gulch are mostly on wells and septic, and drain fields limit where an addition can go. We check the septic permit and the setback before drawing anything. Cottonwood roots and a high spring water table also mean deeper, wider footings than a lot in town would need.
The older core of Lolo is full of single-story ranches with low ceilings and small kitchens. The usual fix is taking out the wall to the dining room and adding a beam sized for the snow load, so a family of five has room to move around. We do these in winter when the crew is off deck work.
Almost every deck request in Lolo comes with a view in mind, either Lolo Peak to the southwest or the Bitterroot bottoms. We size posts and footings for 42-inch frost depth and the drifting snow that piles against a south wall, and we build the rail so it frames the view instead of blocking it.
Composite and cedar decks framed to carry Missoula snow loads, with flashed ledgers, footings below frost and railings that pass inspection the first time. One crew handles design, permits and construction.
Custom Decks in Lolo →Bedroom additions, second stories, primary suites and mudroom bump-outs for growing Missoula families, built on frost-depth footings, tied into the existing structure correctly and finished so the seam between old and new disappears.
Home Additions in Lolo →From opening up a closed-off 1950s kitchen to a full gut with new layout, cabinets, tile and lighting, our carpenters handle the structure and the finish work themselves, so the schedule holds and the details line up.
Kitchen Remodels in Lolo →Full residing and targeted exterior repair for Missoula homes: LP SmartSide, James Hardie fiber cement and cedar over a proper drainage plane, plus rotted trim, fascia, soffit and window flashing fixed by carpenters who know where the water got in.
Siding & Exterior Repair in Lolo →Based in Missoula. One crew and one standard of work from Frenchtown to Hamilton, up the Blackfoot and over to Seeley Lake.
Free site visit, a fixed-scope quote in writing, and a crew that shows up when it says it will.
Send us a few photos and a rough idea of the project. You will get a real number from a real carpenter, usually within one business day.
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