Plans, Permits & Design in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). LADBS issues residential building, grading, plumbing, electrical and pool permits citywide, with Development Services Centers downtown and in Van Nuys, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles and San Pedro, while zoning entitlements and design review come from Los Angeles City Planning. Parcels inside a designated hillside area fall under the Baseline Hillside Ordinance (No. 184,802), which caps grading quantity, floor area, height and retaining wall dimensions. A large share of the city sits in a Methane Zone or Methane Buffer Zone under Ordinance 175,790 where mitigation must be addressed before permits issue, and coastal neighborhoods such as Venice and Pacific Palisades additionally require a Coastal Development Permit. Protected trees and shrubs — oak, western sycamore, Southern California black walnut, California bay, Mexican elderberry and toyon — are regulated under Ordinance 186,873 at four cumulative inches of trunk diameter and need an Urban Forestry permit; review length varies by parcel and scope. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing the city.

Lot character varies enormously, from 5,000-square-foot flat R1 parcels in the older grid neighborhoods to steep, irregular hillside lots where usable outdoor space has to be manufactured with retaining structures and cantilevered decking. In practice that means soil swings from deep alluvial fill on the valley floors to weathered bedrock and old landslide debris in the hills, so the geotechnical report drives foundation and pool shell design more than the architecture does..

All of it, including Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Cheviot Hills. We are based in Los Angeles at Cahuenga Pass, so Los Angeles is a short run for our crews rather than a job we service from out of the area.

Plans, drawings and permit management in this market generally runs $4,500 to $25,000+. What moves it is project type and size, whether structural engineering, Title 24 or a soils report is required, and how many jurisdictions or review bodies are involved. We give line-item pricing after seeing the site rather than quoting a number over the phone.

Yes. Plans and permits is a service we sell on its own, and plenty of clients use us for the drawing set and permit management and build with someone else. We would rather do it properly than tie it to a construction contract.

Because the required consultants vary. A straightforward patio cover needs a modest set. An ADU on a sloped lot may need structural engineering, Title 24, a soils report and a survey, and each of those is a separate specialist fee on top of the city's own plan-check and permit charges.

Most commonly incomplete structural detail, missing Title 24 forms, drainage not shown, or a discrepancy between the site plan and the survey. Corrections are normal, not a failure. The thing that costs time is a slow response to them, which is why we act as the applicant.

Yes, where a community requires it. HOA architectural review runs on its own calendar and its own standards, entirely separately from the city, and starting it late is one of the most common reasons a project slips.