Backyard & Outdoor Living in Placentia

City of Placentia Development Services Department, Building and Safety Division. Building permit applications go to the Building Division of the Development Services Department at 401 East Chapman Avenue only after planning and zoning clearance is obtained. Pools and spas require a full plan submittal, with a pre-site required on both new construction and remodels, and Municipal Code Section 20.40.090 waives a separate grading permit for a pool authorized by a valid building permit. Elevated decks in the R-1, RPC, PUD and SP-7 zones need a special use permit from the Director of Development Services, with the decision date set at least 21 days after a complete application and notice mailed to owners within 100 feet. After the State Fire Marshal added Placentia to its 2025 Local Responsibility Area fire hazard maps, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. O-2025-04 designating those zones on June 17, 2025, so a parcel's zone status is confirmed before design. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

The subdivision code sets R-1 minimum lots at 7,000 square feet, 7,500 on corners, and R-A lots at 20,000 square feet. In R-1, buildings may cover no more than half the net lot, a new house keeps a 20-foot rear yard and additions and accessory structures a 10-foot one, patio covers may reach within five feet of the side and rear lines, and slopes steeper than five percent are not allowed within 17 feet of the rear of the house. Planned areas such as East Placentia (Specific Plan 7) and Specific Plan 8, where most lots are clustered and many of the remaining row lots look onto a golf course, follow their own specific plan standards, and some parcels carry an O or O-1 combining oil district overlay. One local condition that shapes the work: Oil wells and pipelines operate within the city, and the Municipal Code bars a new habitable building within 100 feet of any well that has not been abandoned unless the Planning Commission or City Council waives or modifies the distance. Old pits and wells backfilled with undocumented fill can also settle unevenly, so well locations are checked before an ADU or pool is sited.

All of it, including Old Town Placentia, Atwood, La Jolla and East Placentia. 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.