Backyard & Outdoor Living in Eagle Rock

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. The City's Hillside Grading Area map takes in essentially all of Eagle Rock, valley floor included, so a pool that needs a building permit here also needs an LADBS grading permit for its excavation. The LADBS pool bulletin limits its prescriptive design method to lots not designated as hillside areas, so pools on hillside lots need an engineered design. Much of the neighborhood, above all the slopes ringing the valley, is also mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and fire brush clearance zone. Where a lot is in both a Hillside Area and a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, LAMC 12.22 A.33(c)(4) prohibits ADUs unless one of a few listed exceptions applies, although the City's ZA Memo 143 states that, under state HCD guidance, the restriction may not be enforced on state ADU types. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Lots here were laid out in the early twentieth century, and most carry detached rear garages. SurveyLA records lots of 50 by 155 feet on Mt. Royal Drive, typically 50 to 60 feet wide and 130 to 150 feet deep across the Hill Drive neighborhood, with some substantially larger parcels along Hill Drive itself, and 45 to 50 feet wide by 130 to 135 feet deep on Happyland's flat streets. Happyland's hillside parcels are more irregular, running 40 to 70 feet wide and as deep as 210 feet. One local condition that shapes the work: The hills ringing the Eagle Rock Valley are largely mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and fire brush clearance zone, so planting near the slope is planned around brush clearance.

All of it, including Hill Drive, Happyland, Mt. Royal Drive and Dahlia Drive. 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.