Forest Grove General Contractor

A college town full of hundred-year-old houses deserves a contractor who knows how hundred-year-old houses actually go together. That work is our favorite kind.

Who is the best general contractor in Forest Grove?

Green O Construction — CCB #204939, veteran-owned, licensed architect on payroll — is the Washington County contractor built for Forest Grove's housing stock. Older-home structural work, seismic strengthening, siding replacement, and additions are our core trades, with permits handled through the city's own Building Division at 1924 Council St.

Oregon's oldest college town, and the houses that prove it

Forest Grove — 26,225 people at the 2020 Census, one ZIP, 97116 — grew up around Pacific University, founded in 1849 and still anchoring downtown. A town that old in Oregon terms means real Victorian and Craftsman housing, concentrated in the Clark Historic District and the blocks around campus. These houses were built with old-growth lumber and genuine craft, but also with unreinforced foundations, balloon framing, and wiring and plumbing from another century.

Geography does the rest. Forest Grove sits at the metro's western edge against the Coast Range foothills, first in line for the wind and rain that funnel through the Gales Creek valley every winter. The January 2024 ice storm was hard on century-old roofs here; the 2021 heat dome was hard on everything. Meanwhile David Hill's newer subdivisions climb slopes where drainage and retaining walls are part of the purchase price. Two different towns, construction-wise — we work both.

What we build in Forest Grove

Structural + Seismic Strengthening

Most pre-1950 Forest Grove homes were never bolted to their foundations, and their cripple walls carry no shear bracing — the two failure points in a Cascadia-scale quake. Bolting the mudsill and sheathing the cripple wall is unglamorous work that dramatically changes how an old house rides an earthquake. We scope it with PE engineering partners and warranty the structural work for ten years.

Siding + Exterior

Siding replacement on a Craftsman is a judgment call street by street: repair and repaint original bevel where it is sound, replace with profile-matched Hardie where it is gone. Getting the trim, corner boards, and water table right is what keeps a re-side from erasing a hundred years of character. Wind exposure off the Coast Range makes fastening schedules matter more here than anywhere else we work.

Roofing

Steep Victorian pitches, layered old decks, and skip sheathing under worn-out comp — Forest Grove tear-offs tell you what the house has lived through. We re-deck when skip sheathing will not hold modern shingles, ventilate attics that never had a vent, and register the CertainTeed warranty in your name as a SELECT ShingleMaster 4-Star contractor.

Additions + ADUs

University towns run on rental demand, and Forest Grove's deep older lots are well suited to detached ADUs. Matching an addition to a Craftsman so it looks original is an architecture problem first — ours is on payroll. Feasibility on your lot is free before any drawing starts.

Storm Restoration

When Coast Range wind takes limbs and shingles across the west side, we tarp same-day, document with drone imagery, and write the scope in the format carriers approve. Old-house storm claims need extra care — matching materials on a 1920s roofline is not a line item most adjusters price right the first time.

Forest Grove neighborhoods we know

From historic district blocks to hillside subdivisions, Forest Grove asks for two different kinds of contracting. Here is where the work takes us.

Permits through the Forest Grove Building Division

Forest Grove runs its own Building Division at the city offices, 1924 Council St — structural, plumbing, and mechanical plan review and inspections all happen there. It is a capable enough shop that neighboring Cornelius contracts its building services from it. One quirk to know: electrical permits are not issued by the city — they route through Washington County Building Services in Hillsboro, which matters on any older-home renovation that touches the panel.

Renovating in or near the historic district can add design considerations before the building permit stage. We handle all of it — permits filed in Green O's name, inspections scheduled and met by our lead, corrections answered by our in-house architect instead of an outside firm's waiting list.

The job we see most in Forest Grove

The classic Forest Grove call: a 1915 Craftsman near campus, original bevel siding failing on the weather side, roof deck sagging over skip sheathing, and a foundation the house has never been bolted to. The right sequence runs bottom up — seismic bolting and cripple-wall bracing first, then re-deck and re-roof, then siding repair and profile-matched replacement, so no finished work gets disturbed by structural work behind it. Phased over two seasons, it is an affordable way to buy the house another century. If yours fits that description, the walkthrough is free.

Every service we run in Forest Grove

Forest Grove services, by category

Also serving nearby

Free walkthrough in Forest Grove

Old-house questions welcome — that is the work we like best. Same-day callback for storm emergencies, 24-hour callback otherwise, or email info@greenoconstruction.com.

Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat 8am-2pm · Closed Sundays · CCB #204939