Backyard & Outdoor Living in Los Feliz

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. Nearly all of Los Feliz, the flats included, lies inside the city's Hillside Grading Area, so a pool here also needs its own LADBS grading permit. Most of the hills north of Los Feliz Boulevard, Laughlin Park and Franklin Hills are also in the Hillside Area governed by the Baseline Hillside Ordinance, while the flats around Vermont and Hillhurst largely are not. LAMC 12.22 A.33(c)(4) bars ADUs, with limited exceptions, on lots in both the Hillside Area and a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, although ZA Memo 143 notes that, under state guidance, the restriction may not be enforced on state-law ADU types. Projects involving designated landmarks, such as the Ennis House and the Lovell House, both Historic-Cultural Monuments, are reviewed by the Office of Historic Resources for conformance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

In LA County Assessor data, detached single-family lots north of Los Feliz Boulevard have a median of about 10,000 square feet, and inside Laughlin Park the median rises to roughly 16,000. The flats around Vermont and Hillhurst are tighter, at about 6,500 square feet, and Franklin Hills is tighter still, near 4,700 square feet on hillside streets. One local condition that shapes the work: CAL FIRE's 2025 fire hazard map places the hills north of Los Feliz Boulevard, Laughlin Park, Los Feliz Knolls and Franklin Hills in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, with Griffith Park directly above.

All of it, including Los Feliz Hills, Los Feliz Estates, Laughlin Park and Los Feliz Village. 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.