Palm Springs, Riverside County
Remodeling and repairs in Palm Springs
Alexander post-and-beams, 1920s Spanish Revival, 1970s condo complexes and the valley's biggest vacation-rental market: Palm Springs remodels differently from its neighbors. Here's what shapes a project in this city, and how to find a licensed contractor who knows it.
- Free for homeowners
- Licenses checked at CSLB
- You contract directly with your pro
Quick answer
Permits: City of Palm Springs Building & Safety. Online-only submittal through the Palm Springs Online portal since May 2023. HOAs in Palm Springs: low in older single-family neighborhoods; high in condos and country clubs.
Who to call: Coachella Valley Remodeling connects you with our licensed partner contractor, who visits and gives you a written price. Free to you. Get a free quote or call (760) 766-2218.
Palm Springs is the oldest city in the valley, incorporated in 1938, and it shows in the housing. About 80% of its homes were built before 1990 (Census ACS 2020–2024), more than in any neighboring city. Add a median resident age of 58, more than a quarter of homes held for seasonal use, and the valley's largest vacation-rental market, and you get a city where most remodeling is about updating an older home, often for an owner who isn't here.
What Palm Springs homes look like
Palm Springs has 52 recognized neighborhood organizations, and the housing changes block by block (Wikipedia):
| Neighborhood or type | What you'll typically find |
|---|---|
| Twin Palms, Racquet Club Estates, Vista Las Palmas | Alexander Construction Co. tracts: post-and-beam, clerestory windows, butterfly and folded-plate roofs. Twin Palms (1957–58) homes run about 1,600 sq ft; Racquet Club Estates has more than 500 Alexanders plus the Wexler steel houses |
| Old Las Palmas, the Mesa, Warm Sands, Historic Tennis Club | 1920s–30s Spanish Revival and adobe; Old Las Palmas was laid out on a former citrus grove |
| Deepwell Estates, Movie Colony, Little Tuscany | A mix of mid-century custom homes and earlier estates; Little Tuscany climbs the hillside |
| Tahquitz River Estates, Sunmor | Smaller mid-century homes; Sunmor sits on the former Palm Springs Army Airfield |
| Condo complexes and clubs | 1970s–80s condos, many in country clubs or tennis-club communities with an HOA |
The Alexander Construction Company built about 2,200 houses here between the late 1940s and 1965, roughly doubling the city's housing (Wikipedia). Starter models were about 1,200 sq ft. Those homes are why “mid-century modern Palm Springs kitchen” is a search people actually run, and why so many owners want an update that respects the house rather than erases it.
Two markets in one city
Zillow's typical Palm Springs home was worth about $612,000 in September 2026, around 12% below its peak. The spread inside the city is wide: the bottom third of homes typically sits near $340,000 and the top third near $1.28 million. In practice that's the gap between a 1970s condo and an Old Las Palmas or Movie Colony estate, and the two remodel very differently:
- Condos and smaller mid-century homes usually call for a smart refresh: refaced or new cabinets in the same footprint, quartz counters, a tub-to-shower conversion, and handyman work that keeps a rental or second home in shape.
- Estates and architecturally significant homes call for design-led work: period-correct materials, custom cabinetry, plans and permits, and a contractor who has worked on post-and-beam or adobe construction before.
We refer both. Tell us which one you are when you ask for a quote, and we'll check the job fits our partner contractor's work before we introduce them.
Permits in Palm Springs
The City of Palm Springs Building & Safety Department issues permits inside city limits:
- Online only. Applications go through Palm Springs Online, the city's permit portal, which has been the only way to submit since May 2023.
- When you need one. The city requires a permit to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building, and for regulated electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing work. Moving a sink, adding circuits or opening a wall all qualify.
- 180-day clock. A permit expires after 180 days without an approved inspection. Stalled jobs can lose their permit.
- Current code. New applications from January 1, 2026 fall under the 2025 California Building Standards Code.
- Owner-builders file a verification form. If you hire a contractor, the contractor should pull the permit.
- Contact. Building & Safety, 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, (760) 323-8242. The public counter is open Monday through Thursday.
Historic homes. Palm Springs has designated historic sites and districts. Exterior changes to a Class 1 site or a home in a historic district may need review by the Historic Site Preservation Board. Interior kitchens and baths usually don't, but new windows, doors, roof vents or a moved condenser might. Check your property's status before you design.
Business licenses. Palm Springs taxes businesses from outside the city that work inside it, and construction over $500 requires proof of a state contractor license (city business license tax).
Things that are different here
- Lease land. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' reservation covers about 6,700 acres inside city limits, making the tribe the city's largest landowner. Many condos and some homes sit on leased land. Before a big remodel, know how many years remain on your lease; lease terms can affect financing and resale (KESQ).
- Very hard water. Desert Water Agency groundwater averaged 240 mg/L of hardness, about 14 grains per gallon, in its 2025 report. That's very hard by any scale, and it shortens the life of faucets, valves and water heaters.
- Construction hours. Municipal code section 8.04.220 allows work 7 a.m.–7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or holidays, as summarized by the Old Las Palmas neighborhood organization. Neighbors here know the rule.
- Modernism Week. Every February (with an October preview), home tours, visitors and design events fill the city. If your home is on a tour, or you're near one, plan around it.
- Storms. Hurricane Hilary dropped 3.18 inches of rain on Palm Springs in August 2023, about 69% of a normal year, and the city declared a local emergency (Wikipedia). If your home took water, have your contractor check sink bases and flooring edges before anything new goes in.
- Power. Southern California Edison serves the city, which matters for induction ranges, panel upgrades and rebates.
HOAs: depends where you live
Most older single-family neighborhoods have no HOA. Condo complexes and country clubs almost always do, and that brings architectural review, contractor registration, insurance certificates on file, work-hour limits and rules for dumpsters and deliveries. In condos, plumbing in shared walls and hard flooring that carries sound to the unit below often need approval even for interior work. California Civil Code section 4765 requires an association that reviews changes to decide in writing and explain any denial, but it sets no universal deadline, so ask for your association's.
Vacation rentals and second homes
About 27% of Palm Springs homes, nearly 10,000 units, are held for seasonal or occasional use (ACS 2020–2024). That count includes both owner-used second homes and vacation rentals, and the city regulates rentals through registration and caps. For owners who aren't here, the work that matters most is the work nobody sees: a contractor who shows up, photographs progress, reports problems the same day and finishes before the season. That's the standard we hold contractors to.
Services in Palm Springs
We refer Palm Springs homeowners to our licensed, insured partner contractor for:
- Kitchen remodeling, from condo refreshes to mid-century kitchens
- Kitchen cabinets, including flat-panel and walnut styles
- Cabinet refacing, for solid boxes that just look tired
- Cabinet painting, a sprayed finish on cabinets worth keeping
- Countertops, quartz, porcelain and stone
- Bathroom remodeling, including walk-in showers for aging in place
- Handyman services, from sliding doors to rental turnovers
- Second-home and rental services, managed while you're away
- Luxury and mid-century restoration, design-led projects for significant homes
- General contractors, for multi-trade projects, additions and whole-house updates
What our partner contractor commits to in Palm Springs
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Licensed, bonded and insured, checked by us
Before any introduction we look up our partner contractor's license at cslb.ca.gov: active, the right classification for your job, bond current, workers' comp on file or a valid exemption, plus a certificate of liability insurance. We check again before every new introduction.
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Your information goes only to our partner contractor, with your OK
One licensed local partner contractor, named before it contacts you, and only if you approve. Never a call center or a list, and "stop" means stop.
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A small deposit, then pay as work gets done
California caps the down payment at 10% of the price or $1,000, whichever is less, and payments can't run ahead of the work. Our partner agreement requires it too: no pay-in-full, no cash-only.
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A written, itemized scope
Our partner agreement requires every task, the materials by name, what's excluded, who pulls permits, allowances for anything not chosen yet, and start and finish dates, before money changes hands.
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No surprise charges
Every change is written, priced and signed by you before the work happens. Our partner agreement says the contractor won't charge for a change you didn't sign.
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Measure, draw, approve, then cut
Cabinet layouts and countertop templates, seams and cutouts approved by you before anything is ordered or cut.
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Show up, or call ahead
Our partner agreement requires appointments confirmed the day before, 24 hours' notice of changes and calls returned within one business day. We track no-shows.
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One local person who answers, plus photo updates
A named contact at the contractor and one at our office. Owners who are away get photos at the end of every work day.
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Your home protected and left clean
Our partner agreement requires floor and counter protection, dust control, stone cut outside or with dust extraction, debris hauled away, broom-clean every day.
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Walkthrough first, written warranty after
Final payment only after a walkthrough and a finished punch list, and our partner agreement requires at least a one-year written workmanship warranty. If there's a dispute, we step in to mediate.
Neighboring cities
Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Rancho Mirage and unincorporated North Palm Springs are minutes away, but each has its own permit office (or the county) and its own water provider:
Common questions
How do I get a building permit in Palm Springs?
Through Palm Springs Online, the city's permit portal. Submittals have been online-only since May 2023. Building & Safety is at 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, (760) 323-8242. Most homeowners let their licensed contractor apply; your written contract should say who pulls the permit.
Do Palm Springs permits expire?
Yes. A Palm Springs permit expires after 180 days without an approved inspection. On a job that stalls, that can mean reapplying and paying again, so ask your contractor how inspections will be scheduled.
Does Palm Springs have hard water?
Yes, very. Desert Water Agency, which serves most of the city, reported groundwater hardness averaging 240 mg/L (about 14 grains per gallon), with a range of 94 to 340, in its 2025 water quality report. That's why faucet cartridges, dishwasher valves and ice makers wear out quickly here.
What are the construction hours in Palm Springs?
The municipal code (section 8.04.220) allows construction 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, with no work on Sundays or holidays except emergency repairs. Condo and country-club associations may set narrower hours.
Does a contractor need a Palm Springs business license?
Yes. Palm Springs taxes businesses based outside the city that work inside it, and for construction over $500 it requires proof of a state contractor license. Ask for the CSLB license number and the city business license before you sign.
Last reviewed . Prices and rules change; confirm details with your contractor and your city or county building department.