Fowler is close: about 20 minutes from our shop in southeast Fresno, roughly 12 miles away. Its housing ranges from homes built in the town’s first decades to subdivisions finished since 2000, and the gap between the two shows up in every kitchen and bathroom.

From Fowler’s Switch to a small city

In the early 1870s, State Senator Thomas Fowler set up a rail spur south of Fresno to ship his cattle, and the stop became known as Fowler’s Switch. The first permanent building went up in 1878, a post office opened in 1882, and the city incorporated in 1908.

Vineyards and farmland shaped the town, which calls itself the Blossom Trail City. It sits along Highway 99 about 11 miles southeast of downtown Fresno, and Census estimates put the population near 6,900, with about 55% of occupied homes lived in by their owners.

Old core, new subdivisions

Roughly 17% of homes in the city were built before 1950, by Census estimates, and close to one in ten before 1940. At the other end, about 37% have gone up since 2000, and the median home dates to about 1987.

The older homes are where surprises live: plaster walls, small kitchens with few outlets, cast-iron tubs, galvanized supply lines, older wiring, and lead paint, which brings federal lead-safe rules into any pre-1978 remodel. Electrical upgrades and replacement supply piping are handled by licensed trades and evaluated during the consultation.

The newer homes have the opposite problem. Builder-grade kitchens with granite and maple-toned cabinets, and primary baths with garden tubs and builder-grade shower pans, are approaching their first remodel, and many need new surfaces and fixtures more than new layouts.

Homes from the 1950s through the 1990s, about 45% of the stock, sit between the two. Mid-century houses tend to have closed kitchens and original tile baths, while 1980s and 1990s houses often have oak cabinets, tile counters, cultured-marble vanities, and fiberglass surrounds.

Kitchens and baths, nothing else

All American Renovations is licensed by the CSLB under #1111311 as a B-2 Residential Remodeling contractor, insured and bonded, and our work is limited to kitchens and bathrooms. Inside those rooms, that means cabinets, counters, flooring, tile, showers, tubs, vanities, light fixtures, and faucets. Roofing, additions, HVAC, and whole-house projects fall outside it, and structural, electrical-service, or re-piping questions are evaluated in person with licensed trades. If a project would need a wall moved or a new circuit, you will hear that at the consultation, along with who would handle it.

Permits at City Hall

Permit review and building inspections inside city limits are handled by the Building and Code Enforcement Division of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, at City Hall on South 5th Street. Whether a kitchen or bathroom project needs a permit depends on the scope, and we confirm it during the in-home consultation. Addresses outside city limits in unincorporated Fresno County go through the county instead, and our Fresno County permit guide covers that process.

Twenty minutes from the shop

From our shop at 4143 E Madison Ave, the drive is about 20 minutes, which makes a consultation easy to fit into a weekday or a Saturday. Visits are booked Monday through Saturday, and the estimator confirms coverage by ZIP code before anything is scheduled, as it does for every town we serve.

Fowler’s city water is pumped from groundwater wells, so mineral spotting on glass and fixtures is worth planning for in both rooms. Questions before you start can go to (559) 269-0376, Monday through Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Choosing where to start

Use the estimate request page to pick a kitchen or bathroom. Each room gets its own estimator because the questions differ, and each one shows a personalized planning range, not a quote. Expect most kitchen projects to start around $25,000, a typical kitchen remodel to land around $40,000, and larger kitchens to run $50,000 to $60,000. Bathrooms start around $15,000, land around $25,000 for a typical remodel, and run $30,000 to $40,000 for larger projects.

Once a range fits, book a free in-home consultation, which adds what the estimator can’t see: measurements, the condition behind walls and under floors, permit needs, and your final selections. Our remodeling process explains what happens next, the guide to remodeling older Fresno homes applies to pre-1950 houses here too, and the South Fresno County service area covers nearby towns.