Backyard & Outdoor Living in Riverside

City of Riverside Community & Economic Development Department, Building & Safety Division. The Building & Safety Division of the Community & Economic Development Department issues permits from the One Stop Shop at 3900 Main Street, 3rd Floor, with applications and permit records available through the city's Public Permit Portal. The division targets a 20-business-day first review for most new projects and 10 business days for resubmittals and smaller projects, with expedited review available for an added fee. Plan check expires one year after fees are paid unless a 180-day extension is requested in writing, and a residential permit becomes invalid if work has not started within 12 months of issuance. Hillside parcels answer to Proposition R (1979) and Measure C (1987), which applied the Residential Conservation (RC) Zone to hillside areas based on slopes over 15 percent, and exterior changes to designated cultural resources or properties in historic districts need a Certificate of Appropriateness under Title 20. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Unusually varied for one city: period homes in the designated historic districts, larger residential-agricultural parcels zoned RA-5 in the Arlington Heights Greenbelt, and hillside lots on the city's uplands, where the RC Zone applies to slopes over 15 percent. One local condition that shapes the work: On hillside lots the RC Zone and the Grading Code's hillside standards govern how much a site can be reshaped, so the grading approach for a pool, terrace or accessory structure is settled before the design is.

All of it, including Wood Streets, Mount Rubidoux, Alessandro Heights and Hawarden Hills. 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.