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Construction · Orem, UT
Orem is close to built out, so most work here means changing a house that already exists rather than starting from dirt. That is a different skill from tract building. Danny Bird has been building since 2001.
The local picture
Orem grew up on the Provo Bench, and it was orchards before it was houses. The city's own general plan describes an agricultural community where farms, orchards, and open fields dominated the landscape, and the ground was fertile enough that the area helped earn Provo its old reputation as the Garden City of Utah.
Then it grew very fast. Orem counted 8,351 people in 1950, 18,394 in 1960, 52,399 in 1980, and 98,129 in the 2020 census. The push started with Geneva Steel, built in the early 1940s for the war effort, and Orem adopted its first zoning ordinance in 1946.
The result today is a city that is essentially full. Orem's general plan counted roughly 889 acres undeveloped, under 8 percent of the city, and only about 378 acres of that zoned residential. So the work here is remodeling, additions, basement build-outs, and infill. If someone tells you they are going to build you a new house in Orem, the first question is where.
Permits and approvals
Orem publishes more of its own requirements than most Utah County cities, which makes it easier to plan against once you know where to look.
Permits come from the Community Development Department at 56 North State Street, which holds Building Safety, Engineering, and Planning and Zoning. Submittals are online through CityInspect.
Site plan and subdivision work goes through the DRC on a weekly cycle. Payment is due Monday at noon to be reviewed that week, and redlines come back by email on Tuesday. Miss the Monday and you have lost a week.
Wet-stamped structural calculations are required. Sloped lots need a topographical plot plan. New construction adding 500 square feet or more of footprint needs a stormwater pollution prevention plan.
Any retaining wall four feet or taller, measured from the bottom of the footing, requires a separate permit. On a sloped Orem lot that is a real scope and budget item, not a detail.
Design criteria and ground
Orem publishes its local design criteria, and its general plan is candid about where the ground gets difficult.
Footings go below it, on the house, the porch piers, and any hardscape that needs to stay put. It is a fixed cost on every foundation in the city.
Drives sheathing, fastening, and connection detail. It matters most on tall walls, large glazing, and covered outdoor structures, which is exactly what people add to an Orem house.
Orem's general plan flags the low-lying Lakeview area toward Utah Lake for a high water table, wetlands, the fluctuating lake level, and high potential for liquefaction during an earthquake.
Orem has no hillside or geologic overlay zone, but its subdivision code carries supplementary design standards for hillside development, seismic areas, floodplains, and high water table areas.
Neighborhoods
Where the house sits changes its era, its framing, and often its ground. These are the city's own names, not marketing labels.
Canyon View, Cascade, and Orchard sit toward the east side near the mouth of Provo Canyon, where the Olmsted Station powerhouse has stood since 1904 and US-189 heads up toward Heber.
Orem, Sharon, Sharon Park, Hillcrest, and Orem North hold much of the older housing, including the stock that went up around the Geneva Steel boom years.
Heatheridge, Northridge, Windsor, Aspen, and Timpview are largely the decades when Orem grew fastest. Solid framing, dated systems, and floor plans people now want opened up.
Lakeview and Lakeridge run west and south toward Utah Lake. This is where the general plan's high groundwater and liquefaction concerns are concentrated.
Named for the steel mill era, though the mill site itself is in Vineyard, not Orem. Christeele Acres, built in 1943 as Geneva Steel worker housing, is a listed historic district here.
The former University Mall opened in 1973 and has been redeveloped into a mixed-use district. Utah Valley University sits on former farmland in southwest Orem next to I-15.
Every service, in Orem
Blackbird groups ten services under plan, build, and improve. In a city with almost no vacant land, most Orem projects live in the improve group, and the planning services are what keep an ambitious remodel from turning into a bad surprise.
Feasibility, preliminary scope, and a plan for the job before anyone draws it.
A line-item budget for Orem labor, materials, and site work, written before you commit.
An independent set of eyes on your plans, your bids, and your builder. No hammers, just your side of the table.
Design, budget, permitting, engineering, and construction under one contract and one point of blame.
Ground-up custom homes on Orem lots, priced against the site before the drawings are finished.
Office and retail build-outs, renovations, and expansions for Orem businesses and property owners.
Apartments, townhomes, and condominiums, from feasibility through certificate of occupancy.
Whole-home renovations, additions, and structural changes to Orem houses, most of which date from the 1970s through the 1990s and were built to a builder's plan rather than yours.
Bedrooms, baths, kitchens, theaters, and gyms in space you already own.
Covered patios, porches, decks, outdoor kitchens, and the grading and drainage that make a yard work.
Recent work
Blackbird is based in Provo and works across Utah County. The photos below are from a Provo project, and they are labeled that way on purpose.
Questions
Nearby
Orem sits between Provo and the north end of the county. Each of these cities permits, waters, and powers a job differently.
Blackbird's home city. Older housing stock, a large university rental market, and bench lots up against Rock Canyon.
Building in Provo →A pioneer-era downtown core, plus fast subdivision growth out toward the valley floor.
Building in Springville →City owned power, citywide pressurized irrigation, and real canyon wind at the mouth of US-6.
Building in Spanish Fork →One acre base density, a bench built on debris flow fans, and the CE-1 critical environment zone.
Building in Mapleton →A city that barely existed in 2000. Almost entirely new construction, and every sprinkler on culinary water.
Building in Eagle Mountain →An addition, a whole-home renovation, a basement, or a commercial build-out. The first conversation is free and it is with Danny.
Or call or text (801) 735-7186