Backyard & Outdoor Living in Playa del Rey

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. Lots inside the Coastal Bluffs Specific Plan (Ordinance No. 170,046), which covers the Playa del Rey bluffs, carry extra rules. No permit is issued for a pool or spa over ground sloping 7:1 (14.3 percent) or steeper unless it uses a permanent non-chlorine water purification system, and such a pool must be pumped to the street when drained. In Subareas 1 and 3, drainage from roofs, pools and spas must reach an improved street by gravity unless LADBS finds that infeasible and approves another method, and a project that imports or exports more than 10 cubic yards of earth needs a soils and geology report that also addresses earthquake hazards, including the Charnock and Newport-Inglewood faults. Bluff parcels on streets such as Montreal Street and Sunridge Street also sit inside the City's mapped Hillside Grading Area, where a pool excavation needs its own grading permit. The bluff, lagoon and beach areas are in the coastal zone, and because the City has no certified Local Coastal Program for Westchester-Playa del Rey, any required coastal development permit must be found consistent with Chapter 3 of the Coastal Act. Parcels in the dual permit jurisdiction area also need a second coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Recent City and Coastal Commission cases here involve lots of roughly 3,500 to 7,300 square feet, and on the Palisades del Rey bluffs many fall steeply away from the street. Below them sit the small village commercial strip along Culver Boulevard and The Jungle, a tight cluster of closely built apartments near the beach. One local condition that shapes the work: The bluffs are ancient wind-blown dunes, and the state seismic hazard map places their steepest faces in a zone of required investigation for earthquake-induced landslides.

All of it, including Palisades del Rey, Del Rey Hills, The Jungle and Del Rey Lagoon. 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.