Plans, Permits & Design in Manhattan Beach

City of Manhattan Beach Community Development Department, Building and Safety Division. Building permits are issued by the Building and Safety Division of the City's Community Development Department, with applications accepted through the Citizen Self Service portal.

Manhattan Beach has a certified Local Coastal Program, so the City itself issues Coastal Development Permits under the Coastal Development Permit Procedures chapter of that program, and certain decisions remain appealable to the California Coastal Commission.

Chapter A.96 of the Local Coastal Program decides whether a Coastal Zone project needs a Coastal Development Permit or qualifies for an exemption, so we check the City's Coastal Zone map first. Review time varies with scope, and a plan check expires if no permit is issued within 12 months of the application.

We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Tight and narrow near the beach, with larger, steeply sloped view parcels up the hill and wider conventional lots inland. One local condition that shapes the work: Loose beach sand and dune deposits across much of the west side require engineered shoring, and often caissons, before excavation for a basement, pool or equipment vault.

All of it, including Sand Section, Tree Section, Hill Section and El Porto. Our crews run every job out of our Cahuenga Pass base in Los Angeles, with our own people on site.

Plans, drawings and permit management: generally $4,500 to $25,000+ across Southern California. 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.