Backyard & Outdoor Living in San Marino

City of San Marino Community Development Department, Building Division. Plan check, permits, and inspections are handled by the Building Division of the Community Development Department, which also staffs the city's Design Review Committee. That committee meets twice a month and reviews all new homes, all two-story additions, certain one-story additions, and architectural changes visible from public view. The tree preservation ordinance still requires a permit to remove any oak from any yard, or an established tree from a front or street-side yard, with substantial fines for unpermitted removal or damage. The Raymond Fault Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone runs through the city, so mapped lots require a fault study before new living space is sited. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing the city.

Almost everything is single-family on large, level lots — typically a quarter acre to a full acre — with deep front setbacks, formal landscaping, and generous rear yards. In practice that means estate parcels carry dense mature canopy — oaks, camphors, magnolias — whose root plates and drip lines dictate where a pool, spa, or cabana can physically go..

All of it, including Lacy Park, Old Mill, Mission District, Huntington Library area. We are based in Los Angeles at Cahuenga Pass, so San Marino is a short run for our crews rather than a job we service from out of the area.

Full backyard transformation in this market generally runs $50,000 to $250,000+. 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.