ADUs & Additions in Westchester

Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). Private pools in the City of Los Angeles are permitted through a Combined Building-Mechanical permit, while pools serving more than two dwelling units need separate building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits. Using a City of Los Angeles standard plan on file with LADBS reduces plan check time. Parts of Westchester are mapped inside the city's Hillside Grading Area, including the blocks near the bluffs on the northern edge and parts of Westport Heights and Loyola Village, and a pool on a lot in that area needs its own LADBS grading permit. In Kentwood, some of the Kentwood Home Guardians' Declarations of Protective Restrictions contain architectural restrictions, so plans for exterior changes or an ADU go to the Kentwood Home Guardians Architectural Review Committee before any work begins. A decision is due within 30 days of a complete submittal, and no variances from those restrictions are approved. Because the whole neighborhood lies within 20,000 feet of LAX's runways, any construction or alteration that would rise above the FAA's 100-to-1 notification surface requires notice on FAA Form 7460-1 at least 45 days before construction starts or the building permit application is filed, whichever comes first. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Most lots sit on the level top of the coastal terrace. The blocks near the northern bluffs and parts of Westport Heights and Loyola Village fall inside the Hillside Grading Area, and Kentwood lots are reviewed against the protective restrictions written for their tract and lot. One local condition that shapes the work: Westchester is built on a broad terrace 100 to 150 feet above sea level, where older alluvial deposits are locally capped by a veneer of old, largely stabilized dune sand, and deep borings describe dense to very dense sands and silty sands.

All of it, including Kentwood, Westport Heights and Loyola Village. 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.