Design and engineering for Los Angeles
We are ten minutes away in Agoura Hills, and we design, engineer and permit residential projects across Los Angeles County.
Who issues building permits in Los Angeles?
Residential projects in Los Angeles are permitted by Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). What applies to a given parcel depends on its community plan, its zone, whether it is hillside, and whether an overlay or specific plan covers it — which is why the first useful thing anyone can tell you about an LA project is the parcel’s zoning position, not a price.
What shapes a design here
These are the conditions that change a Los Angeles project before the first sketch. Confirm current requirements against the agency — rules change.
- Community plan, zone, hillside status and overlays all change what is allowed.
- The Baseline Hillside Ordinance limits floor area and grading on sloped lots.
- ADU approval is ministerial and is handled separately from discretionary planning review.
Services in Los Angeles
Accessory dwelling units
California removed most of the discretion that used to stop ADUs.
Home design
Most of what determines whether a house works is settled early, on a site plan, before anyone has drawn a kitchen.
Structural engineering
In seismic California the lateral system is not a detail added at the end — it decides where walls can go and how big an opening can be.
Civil engineering
On a flat lot the civil scope is small.
Additions & remodels
Every remodel has a point where continuing to keep the old structure costs more than replacing it.
Nearby
Thinking about a project in Los Angeles?
Send us the address. We come back with the zoning position for that parcel, the permit path for this jurisdiction, and a fixed fee for the first phase.