Backyard & Outdoor Living in Agoura Hills

City of Agoura Hills Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division. Residential permits are issued by the City of Agoura Hills Building and Safety Division, with planning and architectural review handled in the same Community Development Department.

The City's protected tree regulations (AHMC 9657, updated by Ordinance 25-482 in December 2025) protect every scrub oak regardless of size, plus any oak, California sycamore or Southern California black walnut measuring six inches or more at 4.5 feet above grade.

The tree protection zone starts five feet outside the dripline and is never less than 15 feet from the trunk, so grading, trenching or paving inside it requires a protected tree permit. Parcels in or partly in a designated hillside area need architectural review approval or a conditional use permit before a building or grading permit can issue.

CAL FIRE's March 2025 local responsibility area maps place the large majority of the city in high or very high fire hazard severity zones, which drives defensible space and exterior material requirements. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

A mix of flat tract parcels with modest rear yards near the valley floor and half-acre-plus equestrian and hillside properties with slope, oaks and long driveways in the older ranch areas. One local condition that shapes the work: Decomposed granite and clay-rich hillside soils vary sharply within a single parcel, so pool shells and detached structure foundations usually need a project-specific soils report rather than a standard detail.

All of it, including Old Agoura, Morrison Ranch, Lake Lindero and Liberty Canyon. Our crews run every job out of our Cahuenga Pass base in Los Angeles, with our own people on site.

Full backyard transformation: generally $50,000 to $250,000+ across Southern California. What moves it is how much hardscape is involved, whether a pool or outdoor kitchen is included, grading and retaining, and the level of lighting and planting.

We give line-item pricing after seeing the site rather than quoting a number over the phone.

A patio and turf refresh often finishes in three to five weeks. A full transformation with hardscape, an outdoor kitchen, structures and lighting typically runs ten to sixteen weeks, and longer if a pool is part of the same phase.

Pavers cost more up front but flex with ground movement instead of cracking, and individual units can be lifted and replaced. Poured concrete is cheaper initially, but a crack means cutting out and repouring a section that rarely matches. On most Southern California soil we recommend pavers for anything you will look at every day.

Yes, and on most projects we insist on it. Correcting grade and adding proper drainage while the yard is already open is far cheaper than retrofitting it after new hardscape is down.

Yes. Design, permits, hardscape, structures, kitchen, lighting and planting run through one team and one project manager, so nothing gets lost between trades.