We are exploring the idea of raising our North Lake Tahoe 1950's cabin (~950 sq. ft.), and adding a new 1st floor underneath. We bought the cabin 10 years ago, and have restored and updated over the years, but we want more space.

Some Context:

• The cabin is classic "Old Tahoe" - with a mid-century modern vibe. We absolutely love it - and it has great emotional resonance because our family and friends worked on restoring it with us, and we've made so many memories. It has a warm, old-school feeling that is very difficult to find anymore - people just tear these old beauties down. So we are very committed to preserving the existing cabin.
• It's very well-built - strong, totally square and dry after 60+ years. We've done restoration work - including the heating system, floors and ceilings, new bathrooms, new roof - but the original builder (and owner - an Austrian contractor), built it beautifully.
• We'd like to make the existing cabin into the new second floor (preserving the 3 existing bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and living room) and add a great room, master bedroom & better entry/mudroom downstairs. We may look into adding a garage as well.
• The cabin is on a flat, 1/2 acre lot in King's Beach, CA. We moved the driveway when we bought it, and had site surveys done, and have TRPA assessments computed and documented. We still have quite a bit of plot footprint and overall square feet allowance available. Working with TRPA is challenging, but we've been through it before, and know the ropes.

I hired a local architect to design a single story addition a few years back, but it was architecturally boring, and we shelved it. Then, a friend suggested I look into raising the house and adding a new first floor. I've been doing a lot of research into this option and I think it could be great for the reasons above - especially since the existing cabin is so lovely and in such great shape. Here is a link to some photos online: https://www.rentlever.com/rental/9U0GS3FW

Here is the problem:

• We've renovated 6 old houses in the past 20 years - in CA, Chicago, New York - and in these locations, I've always found amazing, collaborative and high-quality contractors and architects. However, it is REALLY HARD to find good firms in the North Lake Tahoe area - it seems like they only want to do new construction - if we can even get them to show up.
• We are looking for a great architect and great contractors who know the Tahoe basin, and would work with us on this project.
• Also, if anyone has good tips, articles or examples of other house lifting projects, we'd love to hear about them.
• Finally, if anyone has a great general handyman in Tahoe, we have lots of small projects we'd like help with.

Thanks in advance!