Licensed General Contractor in Northwest Washington

Why Hire a General Contractor Instead of Managing Trades Yourself

Most home projects worth doing need more than one trade. A heat pump conversion can need an electrician. A remodel can need a framer, a drywall crew, and a painter. A roof replacement can need a solar array taken down and put back.

You can hire each of those trades yourself. Plenty of people do. The problem shows up in the gaps between them, when the drywall crew arrives before the electrical rough-in passes inspection, or when two contractors each say the other one owns the problem.

A general contractor exists to close those gaps. We hold the contract, sequence the trades, and stay accountable for the finished result. You get one company to call.

How we work, stated plainly: Alpha Solutions self-performs HVAC, appliance repair, and commercial refrigeration. Everything on this page — electrical, panel upgrades, plumbing, solar, roofing, painting, and drywall — is performed by licensed trade partners we bring in and manage. We are the general contractor of record. We are not the electrician, the roofer, or the solar installer.

The Trades We Coordinate

Residential Electrical

Outlets that stopped working. Old wiring in a house that has changed hands three times. New circuits for a kitchen island, a shop, or a car charger. Lighting that never worked right after a previous remodel.

We scope the electrical work, bring in a licensed electrical contractor to perform it, and manage the schedule and the sign-off. Alpha does not hold a Washington electrical contractor license and does not perform electrical work. In Washington, electrical permits are issued to the licensed electrical contractor doing the work, so that permit is pulled in their name, and we track it as part of the project.

Electrical Panel Upgrades

This is where our own HVAC work and our coordinated trades meet, and it is worth explaining properly.

A lot of the housing stock in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and Snohomish Counties was built when a hundred-amp service panel was standard. That was enough for a gas or oil furnace, a water heater, and a normal set of appliances. It is often not enough once you add a heat pump, especially a system with electric backup heat strips, which draw hard on the coldest days of the year.

So when we quote a heat pump system, the panel is part of the conversation, not a surprise later. We look at the existing service size, the breaker space available, and the load the new equipment will add. If the panel cannot carry it, the upgrade has to happen before or alongside the install.

Here is what that looks like in practice. Alpha self-performs the heat pump. Alpha does not perform the panel work — a licensed electrical contractor does that, and the electrical permit is theirs. What we do is sequence the two jobs so the panel is ready when the equipment lands, keep both under one contract, and make sure you are not sitting without heat while two companies wait on each other.

If you are weighing a heat pump conversion, our HVAC services page covers the equipment side.

Plumbing

Water heaters, fixture replacement, leaks, repipes, and the rough-in work behind a kitchen or bathroom remodel. Plumbing shows up in more projects than most homeowners expect, because moving a sink, a shower, or an appliance means moving the supply and drain lines with it.

Plumbing is performed by a licensed plumbing trade partner we bring in and manage. Alpha does not perform plumbing work in-house. Where plumbing overlaps with our own trades — a leaking line behind a dishwasher, or a bathroom remodel that also needs venting — we handle the handoff so you are not the one deciding which contractor owns the problem.

Solar

Solar is a good fit for some Northwest Washington homes and a poor fit for others. Roof age, roof pitch, shading, and your panel’s capacity all decide it before price ever enters the conversation.

Alpha does not install solar in-house. We scope the project, bring in a licensed trade partner to design and install the array, and coordinate it against the rest of your home, particularly the roof and the electrical service, which are the two things a solar project most often collides with.

If your roof is near the end of its life, we will tell you to replace it first. Pulling an array off a new roof is an avoidable cost.

Roofing

Roofing is its own trade with its own crew, its own weather window, and its own failure modes. In this climate, most roofing problems we get called about are moisture problems: flashing, valleys, ventilation, and the slow damage that follows.

Alpha does not perform roofing work in-house. We scope the job, bring in a licensed roofing trade partner, and manage the schedule, the material selection, and the warranty conversation. Where roofing overlaps with something else — a solar array, attic ventilation tied to your HVAC system, or drywall repair from a leak — we handle the handoff between those trades instead of leaving it to you.

Painting

Interior and exterior painting, whole-house repaints, and paint as the finish stage of a larger remodel.

Painting is performed by our trade partners, not by Alpha crews. Our job is prep standards, sequencing, and making sure paint happens after the trades that would damage it and not before. On a remodel, that ordering is most of the difference between a finish that lasts and one that gets touched up twice.

Drywall

Hanging, taping, texture matching, and repair, including the repairs that come after electrical, plumbing, or leak work opens a wall.

Drywall is performed by our trade partners under our management. Texture matching in an older home is the part people underestimate. Matching an existing texture well enough that the patch disappears is a skill, and it is worth scoping honestly up front rather than discovering it at the end.

Remodeling and Whole-Room Projects

Remodeling is where a general contractor license carries the most weight, because a remodel is general contracting: multiple trades, permits, inspections, and a sequence that has to hold together.

Kitchens, bathrooms, and whole-room overhauls have their own page with the process, the trades involved, and what shapes the timeline. See our remodeling services.

The Advantages of Working With One General Contractor

• One contract. One scope, one quote, one agreement covering every trade on the job.
• One schedule. We sequence the trades so they are not tripping over each other or waiting on an inspection nobody booked.
• One point of contact. You call us. We chase the trade partner.
• One company accountable at the end. If something is wrong after the job, you are not refereeing between two contractors who each blame the other.
• Trades that already work together. We use partners we have worked with, which matters more on a multi-trade job than it does on a single service call.
• Permits tracked, not assumed. We track what needs pulling and who pulls it, including the permits that legally belong to the specialty contractor.

Our General Contracting Process

Scope and Site Visit

We come out and look at the real conditions: the panel, the roof, the walls, the access. Most bad quotes come from guessing at things you can only see in person.

Written Quote and Trade Selection

You get the scope in writing, including which trades the job needs and what each one is responsible for. We tell you plainly which parts Alpha performs and which parts a trade partner performs. Nothing starts until you approve it.

Permits, Scheduling, and Execution

We handle the general contractor permit work, track the specialty permits pulled by the trades, and set the order the work happens in. You get one schedule, not five.

Walkthrough, Sign-Off, and Warranty

We walk the finished job with you before it is called done. If something is not right, we bring the trade back. Afterward, warranty questions come to Alpha. You do not have to track down a subcontractor you never hired directly.

What Drives General Contracting Cost

Every project gets a written quote before work starts. We do not price blind, and we do not publish numbers that would be wrong for your house. What moves a quote up or down:

• How many trades the job needs. A single-trade job and a four-trade job are different animals.
• The size and scope of the project — square footage, how many rooms, how much of it is new versus repair.
• Permits and inspections, which vary by jurisdiction and by what you are changing.
• Material selection. Same job, very different quotes depending on what you pick.
• The age and condition of the house. Older homes hide more: undersized panels, out-of-date wiring, framing that is not where the plans say it is.
• Access and site conditions. A tight crawlspace or a steep roof takes longer.
• Whether the work is structural or affects systems like heating, cooling, or the electrical service.
• Timing. Roofing and exterior work in this region are weather-dependent, and a compressed timeline costs more than a flexible one.

Why Choose Alpha Solutions

Veteran-owned. Alpha Solutions is a Veteran-Owned Small Business.

Licensed, bonded, and insured. Alpha Solutions is a registered Washington general contractor, which means the bond and liability insurance the state requires are in place and current.

Licensed Washington general contractor. Our license number is **ALPHAS*748B1**. You do not have to take that on faith. Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries publishes contractor records publicly. Search that license number on the L&I contractor verification tool and you can confirm it yourself. L&I also explains what to check before hiring any contractor, and we would rather you did that with every contractor you talk to, including us.

Honest about who does what. We tell you up front which work Alpha performs and which work a licensed trade partner performs. You should know that before you sign, not after.

A real trades company, not a broker. We self-perform HVAC, appliance repair, and commercial refrigeration every day. That is why we can tell whether a trade partner’s work is good.

See everything we offer on our services overview.

General Contracting Across Northwest Washington

Alpha Solutions serves Northwest Washington: Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and Snohomish Counties.

That includes Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Burlington, Oak Harbor, and Stanwood, along with Anacortes, Sedro-Woolley, Lynden, Ferndale, and Blaine.

Not sure if you are in range? Ask us.

General Contracting — Frequently Asked Questions