Backyard & Outdoor Living in Rolling Hills Estates

City of Rolling Hills Estates Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division. Rolling Hills Estates is a contract city: its Building and Safety Division, part of Community Development at City Hall on Palos Verdes Drive North, uses Willdan for building and safety services, and application materials go to Willdan for building review only after Planning has approved the project. For ADUs and small additions, the city's submittal list asks for fully dimensioned plans showing existing and proposed lot coverage, plus one set signed by the homeowners association and the adjacent neighbors. Title 17 requires Planning Director grading approval for cut or fill between one and three feet deep or ten to twenty cubic yards of import or export, and Planning Commission approval beyond three feet, beyond twenty cubic yards or on any slope of 35 percent or more, although excavation for a swimming pool under a valid building permit is exempt. On lots in the H (horse) district, no permit may be issued that would rule out a future horse-keeping area of at least 800 square feet, set 35 feet from any dwelling on or off the lot and ten feet from a swimming pool, with a limited exception for legally built homes that cannot fit one until they are substantially expanded or rebuilt. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Single-family zones set minimum lots of one acre in R-A-E, 20,000 square feet in R-A-20, 15,000 in R-A-15 and 10,000 in R-A-10, on curving streets that follow the hillsides and mostly end in cul-de-sacs. Pools, spas, patios and decking count at 75 percent of their area toward a lot coverage cap of 25 percent in R-A-E, 30 percent in R-A-20 and R-A-15, and 35 percent in R-A-10, so coverage is often the first number a backyard plan is checked against. One local condition that shapes the work: The General Plan Safety Element maps more than 1,200 acres of the planning area as Altamont Clay Loam, Diablo Clay Loam and Montezuma Clay Adobe, expansive clay soils with a high shrink-swell potential, so pool shells, slabs and footings are best designed from a site soils report.

All of it, including Dapplegray Lanes, Rollingwood, Los Ranchos Verdes and Ranchview. 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.