LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – As the snow melts and temperatures rise, construction crews quickly toil to complete as much work as possible in the limited, and sometimes unpredictable, construction season in the Tahoe Basin. As that time of year is getting underway, what does the construction season look like this year?

Construction projects overall in the Tahoe Basin do not show a significant trend up or down, with residential construction slightly slowing and commercial construction slightly increasing, depending on the Tahoe region.

While the Tahoe area of Douglas County saw no new single-family home builds in 2024 or 2025, major improvements at the Golden Nugget (formerly Hard Rock Lake Tahoe) and Harveys Lake Tahoe caused a spike in commercial permits, more than doubling commercial valuations in one year. The commercial valuation between January and April 2024 was $8,697,679. That number was $22,726,615 between January and April this year.            

Improvements to the Golden Nugget began shortly after Fertitta Entertainment, LLC purchased the casino in 2023, then the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe.  

The Golden Nugget’s neighbor, Harveys, started a $160 million makeover in October. At the end of April, amid renovations, Caesars Entertainment announced its plans to transform Harveys Lake Tahoe into Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino this summer. Renovations will continue under the new brand, slated to be complete in mid-2026.         

Douglas County Building Official Tim Davis noted he believes new homes have shown signs of slowing down due to interest rates and the rise in material costs. His department typically sees a rise in remodels and additions when new builds slow. However, that has not been the case this time around. Douglas County has instead seen a slight decrease in remodels and additions between 2024 and 2025.

While the inverse relationship between new home builds and additions/repairs has not been the recent trend in Douglas County, it appears to be the case in El Dorado County. Construction projects overall from Echo Summit to the Tahoe Basin have remained somewhat consistent in the last five years, with 182 in its slowest year (2020) and 232 in its busiest (2023). What has changed is the number of single-family builds in relation to additions, alterations and repairs.

When permits for new single-family homes were at a five-year high of 57 homes in 2021, there were only 62 permits for additions, alterations and repairs. However, in 2024, when new single-family home builds were at a five-year low with only 18, there were 118 permits for additions, alterations, and repairs.                                       

The five-year history for single-family home builds in the Tahoe portion of El Dorado County shows a downtrend. In 2021, there were 57 permits for single-family homes, then 27 in 2022, 37 in 2023, and 18 in 2024. As of early May, there are six permits for single-family homes, although it could still be too early to tell how this season will stack up to prior construction years.

In Placer County, new single-family home permits are trending slightly below the levels seen at this time last year. However, the county is currently reviewing a few projects. If approved and permitted this season, those projects could push the numbers higher.

Gabe Armstrong, Tahoe deputy director of the Placer County Community Development Resource Agency, says these current numbers are not unusually low for the Placer County-Tahoe area and remain consistent with those from the 2022–2023 fiscal year.

Placer County commercial building permits are experiencing a slight uptick. Commercial permit activity is higher compared to the same period last year, as well as the past five years. Most of these permits are for remodels, tenant improvements, or repair projects rather than new construction.

In Incline Village and Crystal Bay, commercial work permits, from new builds and additions, to tenant improvements have increased slightly in the past 12 months at 30, compared to the 27 permits the 12 months prior.

In that time, Incline Village and Crystal Bay permits pulled for residential new builds, additions and remodels is slightly lower, going from 186 to 165.