Attic Remodel & Conversion Contractors · Portland, OR

Attic Remodeling Contractors in Portland, OR

Q: How much does an attic conversion cost in Portland?

Attic conversions cost $30–$50/sq ft for a basic finish, $50–$75/sq ft for mid-range with a bathroom, and $75–$100+/sq ft for a high-end suite. Adding a dormer costs $15,000–$30,000 but dramatically improves headroom and natural light.

Q: What are the requirements for converting an attic to living space in Portland?

Portland requires a minimum ceiling height of 7 feet 6 inches for at least half of the floor area for an attic to qualify as habitable space. Egress windows are required for any bedroom use. All attic conversions require building permits from the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services.

Q: How long does an attic remodel take in Portland?

Most attic remodels and conversions in Portland take between 4 and 10 weeks depending on the scope. Simple attic finishing projects take less time, while full conversions with bathrooms, dormers or structural changes take longer.

Q: Do you add dormers for attic conversions in Portland?

Yes. Dormer additions are one of the most effective ways to increase headroom and natural light in a Portland attic conversion. Zurc Construction designs and builds shed dormers, gable dormers and hip dormers that blend seamlessly with your existing roofline.

Q: Is attic insulation included in the remodel?

Yes. Proper insulation is critical for comfort and energy efficiency in any Portland attic conversion. We install spray foam, rigid board or batt insulation appropriate for the attic's specific conditions, ensuring your new living space stays warm in Oregon winters and cool during summer months.

Q: What should I look for when hiring an attic remodeling contractor in Portland?

Ask what they measured before quoting. An attic bid without a headroom measurement, a joist span check and a plan for where the staircase lands is a guess, and it's why three attic bids can differ by thirty thousand dollars. Ask specifically whether a dormer is included or excluded — that single line is usually the whole gap. Beyond that: check the CCB license number on Oregon's CCB website, get the estimate itemized, and confirm who pulls the permits for framing, electrical and mechanical. Zurc Construction is CCB #211998, licensed, bonded and insured since 2015.

Q: Is it better to finish the attic or the basement?

Depends on the house. Basements are usually cheaper per square foot and easier to get right, because the floor is already structural and the ceiling height is whatever it is — but they need moisture work, and they’re below grade, which matters for bedrooms. Attics cost more and often need a dormer, but they get real daylight and they’re the better bet for a primary suite. If your attic has steep-pitched framing and your basement is damp, the attic usually wins. If the reverse, the basement does. We look at both during the estimate and tell you which one we’d do with our own money. Our basement finishing page covers that side.

Q: Do you serve Lake Oswego, Beaverton and the west hills?

Yes. Lake Oswego, Beaverton, West Slope, Council Crest, Dunthorpe, Tigard, Hillsboro, Tualatin, West Linn, Oregon City, Milwaukie and Gresham, along with every Portland neighborhood. The west side is where we do the most attic work — those older homes have the steep roof pitches that make conversions straightforward, and we know what the framing looks like before we get there.

Zurc Construction is a licensed attic remodeling and conversion contractor serving Portland and the surrounding metro since 2015. We turn unfinished attics into bedrooms, offices, suites and playrooms — framing, dormers, egress windows, insulation, electrical, HVAC and finish work, permits included. Most Portland attic conversions run $30,000 to $60,000, or roughly $30 to $100 per square foot depending on whether a bathroom and a dormer are in the plan. Whether it's worth it comes down to ceiling height and resale value — we break both down in our is an attic conversion worth it in Portland guide, with design ideas in our attic renovation ideas post. Licensed, bonded and insured. Oregon CCB #211998. Free written estimates.

Typical range: $30,000 – $70,000 Final price depends on scope — your free estimate is itemized in writing.

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Licensed & Insured

5-Star Rated

Portland, OR

Licensed CCB #211998·Insured & Bonded·BBB A+·Serving Portland since 2015

Portland, OR

Beaverton, OR

Gresham, OR

Lake Oswego, OR

Tigard, OR

Hillsboro, OR

Tualatin, OR

Milwaukie, OR

West Linn, OR

Oregon City, OR

Dunthorpe, OR

West Slope, OR

Council Crest, Portland, OR

What It Costs

What an Attic Remodel Costs in Portland

Attic work is priced per square foot of usable floor area — which is not the same as your attic’s footprint, because anything under about five feet of headroom doesn’t count toward it.

A basic finish runs $30 to $50 per square foot: framing, insulation, drywall, flooring, lighting, one open room. Add a bathroom and better finishes and you’re at $50 to $75. A high-end suite with a dormer, an ensuite bath and custom built-ins runs $75 to $100 and up. For a typical 600 to 800 square foot Portland attic, that’s roughly $20,000 at the low end to $80,000 at the high.

A dormer is the one line item that moves the number most — $15,000 to $30,000 — and it’s also the one that decides whether the room feels like a real floor or a crawlspace with carpet.

Whether the money comes back at resale is a separate question, and the honest answer depends on your neighborhood. We go through it in our attic conversion ROI guide.

Basic finish: $30–$50 / sq ft
Mid-range with bathroom: $50–$75 / sq ft
High-end suite: $75–$100+ / sq ft
Dormer addition: $15,000–$30,000

Feasibility

Can Your Attic Actually Be Converted?

This is the first thing to find out, and it takes us about twenty minutes in your house.

Portland requires a finished ceiling height of at least 7 feet 6 inches across half the floor area. Plenty of attics fail that on the first measurement and still work — a shed dormer or a raised ridge fixes it. Some don’t, and we’ll tell you that before you pay for a design.

Then there’s the floor. Most attic joists were sized to hold insulation and boxes, not people and furniture, so they usually need sistering or replacing. Stair access is the one people forget: code requires a proper staircase, not a pull-down ladder, and finding somewhere to put it is often the hardest part of the whole design — it has to come out of a room below.

We check headroom, joist span, stair placement, egress, and whether the electrical panel and HVAC can carry another floor. You get a straight answer on all five before any money changes hands.

Ceiling height: 7'6" over half the floor area
Floor joists: Usually need sistering or replacement
Stair access: Full staircase required, not a ladder
Egress window: Required for any bedroom use

Home Office

Attic Home Office Conversion in Portland

In today's remote work era, a quiet and dedicated workspace is invaluable for Portland homeowners. Attics provide the isolation and tranquility needed for deep focus, away from household distractions. Our Portland attic conversion team creates fully functional home offices complete with custom built-in desks, storage shelving, proper insulation for year-round comfort, electrical upgrades for multiple outlets and ethernet connections, and adequate lighting systems.

Guest Bedroom

Attic Bedroom, Guest Room & Primary Suite Conversion

Need a comfortable place for family and guests when they visit? Convert your Portland attic into a cozy and inviting bedroom complete with custom storage solutions tailored to the room's unique angles and dimensions. Our team handles all aspects of the attic bedroom conversion including framing, insulation, drywall, egress windows required by Portland building code, closet installation and finish work. The highest-value version of this is a primary suite — bedroom, walk-in closet and ensuite bath on their own floor. It’s the attic project that returns the most at resale, and the one most likely to need a dormer. See our bathroom remodeling page for what the ensuite side involves.

Kids Playroom

Children's Playroom & Activity Space

Keep toys, art supplies and kids' clutter away from main living areas by converting your Portland attic into a magical playroom. Our team installs safety railings on all stairways, non-slip flooring, padded wall sections and rounded edges to create a safe environment for children. We add creative built-in storage benches, display shelving for books and toys, colorful accent walls and durable flooring that can handle the energy of kids.

Home Gym

Attic Home Gym & Fitness Studio

With the right flooring, ventilation and structural reinforcement, your Portland attic can become a private fitness sanctuary. Our attic gym conversions include rubber impact flooring, upgraded ventilation systems, mirror installation, proper electrical for equipment, and structural assessments to ensure the floor joists can handle the additional load from heavy gym equipment.

Our Process

Working With Portland Attic Remodelers

Most homeowners get three bids from Portland attic remodelers and can’t compare them, because attic jobs differ more from one contractor to the next than any other remodel — one quotes a dormer, one doesn’t, one assumes the joists are fine.

We measure headroom and joist span, work out where the stair lands, and design the layout around what the roof will actually allow. You get a written estimate that separates structural work, dormer, framing, insulation, electrical, HVAC, egress, finishes and permits — so you can hold it next to anyone else’s and see who left out the expensive part.

If you hire us, you get a start date, a finish date and one phone number. Most attic conversions take four to ten weeks. We pull the permits and schedule the inspections.

Free on-site feasibility check: Headroom, joists, stairs, egress
Licensed & insured: Oregon CCB #211998
Permits and inspections: We handle them
Typical timeline: 4–10 weeks

Service Area

Attic Remodeling in Lake Oswego, Dunthorpe, Council Crest, West Slope & Beaverton

We convert attics across Portland and the west side — Lake Oswego, Beaverton, West Slope, Council Crest, Dunthorpe, Tigard, Hillsboro, Tualatin, Milwaukie, West Linn, Oregon City and Gresham.

Lake Oswego — larger homes with full-height attics; most projects here are primary suites or guest suites with a full bath.

Dunthorpe — 1920s and 30s houses with steep roof pitches, which usually means good headroom but a dormer for egress.

Council Crest — hillside lots and older framing; we check the floor structure before anything else.

West Slope — mid-century homes where the attic is often already floored for storage, which shortens the job.

Beaverton — newer trusses are the common obstacle; we’ll tell you in the first visit whether yours can be opened up.

Not sure which applies to your house? Get a free attic assessment — we’ll tell you on site whether it’s worth doing.

The west hills and Lake Oswego are where we do the most attic work, and the houses explain why. Council Crest, Dunthorpe and West Slope are full of 1920s and 30s homes with steep roof pitches — the best attics in the metro to convert, because the headroom is already there. Beaverton’s mid-century ranches are the opposite: shallow pitches that almost always need a shed dormer to make the space usable, which we design to match the existing roofline rather than bolt onto it.

Older Portland neighborhoods east of the river — Sellwood, Woodstock, Montavilla — sit somewhere between, with the added question of where a staircase can go in a small floor plan.

Not sure which one your house is? Call (503) 309-5973 and describe the roof. We can usually tell you in a minute.

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