ADUs & Additions in Granada Hills

Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). LADBS issues residential building, grading and pool permits here, with plan check and inspection handled through the Van Nuys Development Services Center. The terrain rises from south to north toward the Santa Susana Mountains, and parcels on the City's Designated Hillside Areas map fall under the Baseline Hillside Ordinance (No. 184,802), which limits grading quantity, floor area and height.

North of Rinaldi Street, the northwest portion is also in the Granada Hills 'K' Equinekeeping Supplemental Use District, and foothill properties near the mountains sit in or beside Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone mapping with brush clearance and Chapter 7A obligations.

The Balboa Highlands tract, the 1962-64 Joseph Eichler subdivision designated in 2010, is a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, so exterior alterations there require HPOZ design review through Los Angeles City Planning. Oaks and other protected species are common on the north side and need an Urban Forestry permit before removal or encroachment, and review length varies.

We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Flat postwar tract lots dominate the southern half, while the northern foothills hold larger, sloping parcels with view orientation and descending rear yards that need retaining before they are usable. One local condition that shapes the work: The ground transitions from flat alluvial tract land in the south to sloping foothill terrain with shallow bedrock in the north, and an identical pool design prices very differently across that line.

All of it, including Balboa Highlands, Knollwood, Granada Hills North and Granada Hills South. Our crews run every job out of our Cahuenga Pass base in Los Angeles, with our own people on site.

Detached ADU: generally $150,000 to $400,000+ across Southern California. What moves it is square footage, finish level, utility runs, and site access; garage conversions typically run well below a ground-up detached build. We give line-item pricing after seeing the site rather than quoting a number over the phone.

Plan a realistic year. Design and engineering typically take one to three months, city plan check and corrections add several more, and construction usually runs four to eight months depending on size and site access.

Usually yes, and often substantially, because the foundation, walls and roof already exist. The trade-offs are that you lose the garage, and older slabs and framing sometimes need upgrading to meet current code.

California ADU law is designed to allow long-term rental, and an ADU is one of the few ways to add rentable square footage to a single-family lot. Short-term rental rules vary by city, so confirm your local ordinance before counting on that income.

Yes. Plans, engineering, Title 24 and the city submittal are all handled in-house, including responding to plan-check corrections. That is a service we sell on its own, so it is not something we hand off.