Luxury Remodeling in Brea

Brea takes its name from the Spanish word for tar, plenty of which was found in the hills above town, and the city was founded as an oil community. Those hills, part of the Puente and Chino Hills, still form its backdrop and shape much of what can be built: density on hillside land is tied to average slope, a Hillside Zoning Ordinance governs grading and retaining walls, and new structures in the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones follow the city's wildland interface standards. The fire risk is concrete here, since the 2008 Freeway Complex Fire destroyed homes in Olinda Village along Carbon Canyon Road. Below the hills, the older blocks around City Hall Park keep a traditional street grid, and a house listed on the city's Historic Resources Register brings its own plan review for additions and exterior changes. Before a pool, backyard or ADU is drawn, it pays to know which of those settings the lot belongs to.

The historic core around City Hall Park still holds a traditional grid street pattern, while neighborhoods built from the 1960s through the 1990s are suburban, with curving streets and cul-de-sacs, and more compact, clustered development in the foothills was arranged largely to avoid environmentally constrained land. On land designated Hillside Residential, the General Plan caps density by average slope, from 2.2 units per acre on slopes of 10 percent or less down to one unit per 20 acres where the average slope exceeds 30 percent.

One team designs, permits and builds every project, and our own crews self-perform the work, so the people who plan your Brea project are the people on site building it.