California New Construction, Custom Homes & Small Multifamily

What we build

Our practice sits at the intersection of architecture, engineering, and field execution. Every project is delivered as a single design-build contract: one team owns feasibility, design, permitting, engineering, construction, and closeout — instead of bidding plans out to the lowest GC after the fact.

• Custom homes

  New single-family homes on infill or replacement lots — flat-lot and hillside, 2,000–8,000+ sq ft.

• Luxury homes

  Higher-finish custom homes with premium envelopes, indoor/outdoor integration, and complex MEP.

• Teardown rebuilds

  Permit-aware demolition of an existing house and a same-lot replacement build, often larger.

• Fire rebuilds

  Post-fire ground-up replacement homes — Palisades, Altadena, Eaton, Sonoma — coordinated with insurance and recovery permit tracks.

• Hillside homes

  Sloped-lot builds with caissons, retaining, drainage, fire access, and view-corridor strategy.

• SB9 duplex / lot split

  California SB9 feasibility for urban single-family lots — eligibility, screening, and realistic outcomes.

• 2–6 unit small multifamily

  Duplex, triplex, fourplex, and 5–6 unit infill projects for investors and owner-occupants.

Los Angeles & Bay Area regional hubs

Different markets, different permit cultures, different cost stacks. Each regional hub covers what makes ground-up construction work in that market — LADBS plan-check rhythm in LA City versus the contract-city patchwork across LA County, and the city-by-city DBI / planning patchwork across the nine-county Bay Area.

• Los Angeles

  LADBS, LA City Planning, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Glendale, Malibu, Palisades & Altadena fire rebuild context.

• Bay Area

  San Francisco DBI, Oakland, Berkeley, the Peninsula (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Los Altos), and the East Bay hillside cities.

New construction vs ADU vs addition vs duplex

ADUs and ground-up new construction solve different problems. An ADU adds rentable square footage on an existing lot under ministerial review. A custom home or teardown rebuild replaces the primary structure under full discretionary planning and building plan-check. A duplex or small multifamily build adds doors for income; SB9 sits in between when the lot qualifies.

The right path is rarely obvious without a written feasibility — lot coverage, FAR, setbacks, parking, fire/hazard overlays, slope, soils, utility capacity, and renter-protection rules all push the math in different directions. We run that math once, on paper, before the first design dollar is spent.

Preconstruction feasibility — the only honest start

Every ground-up project starts with a written preconstruction feasibility review covering zoning, FAR, height and setback limits, hillside or coastal overlays, fire/WUI status, historic overlays, soils and slope, utility capacity, and the realistic permit path through the specific jurisdiction.

The output is plain-English: what the lot can permit, an honest budget range with named drivers, a realistic timeline range with named risks, and a one-page next-steps memo. You decide whether to keep going before any design fee or contract is committed.

Design, engineering & permit coordination

Design-build means architecture, structural, civil, geotech, Title 24, MEP, and field execution sit under one contract with one accountable team. Every consultant is briefed against the same target budget, the same target schedule, and the same buildability constraints — instead of arriving piecemeal at plan-check.

• Architecture

  In-house or partnered architecture coordinated against budget from sketch.

• Structural engineering

  Lateral, seismic, and gravity engineering coordinated with the foundation/civil package.

• Civil + geotech

  Drainage, grading, retaining, and stormwater coordinated with soils/geotech recommendations.

• Title 24 / CALGreen

  Energy and green-building compliance under the 2025 California Energy Code (effective for permits filed on/after January 1, 2026).

• MEP

  Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing coordinated with the energy model and the structural package.

• Permit coordination

  Plan-check submittals, correction cycles, planning hearings, and clearance routing.

Cost ranges — honest, named drivers

Per-square-foot averages obscure more than they reveal. The same nominal size costs very different amounts on a flat infill lot versus a hillside parcel with caissons, or under a streamlined LADBS path versus a contract-city design-review process. The cost page breaks ranges out by project type and names the drivers that move them.

• Entry-level new construction

  Modest finishes, simple lot, conventional foundation — lower end of the range.

• Custom and luxury

  Higher finish levels, premium envelopes, complex MEP, indoor/outdoor integration.

• Hillside premium

  Caissons, retaining, drainage, access, and grading typically add 30–80% over flat-lot equivalents.

• Fire rebuild

  Insurance scope drives the budget; like-for-like rebuilds price differently than revised designs.

• Small multifamily

  Per-door economics, life-safety upgrades, and accessibility triggers shape the stack.

Timeline ranges — where projects actually slip

Most ground-up California residential projects run 18–36 months brief-to-keys: feasibility and concept design, full design development, structural / civil / geotech / Title 24 coordination, plan-check and correction cycles, planning hearings where required, permit issuance, and 12–22 months of construction.

Schedule risk concentrates in three places: discretionary planning where required, plan-check correction loops, and long-lead utility coordination (especially service upgrades). Hillside, coastal, fire-zone, and historic-overlay projects add additional review tracks.

Common risk factors we plan around

• Soils + slope

  Expansive soils, fill, and slope can rewrite the foundation package. Geotech early.

• Utility capacity

  Electrical service upgrades and sewer connections can add months. We scope early.

• Fire/WUI overlays

  Wildland-Urban Interface zones add ignition-resistant envelope and ember-resistant venting requirements.

• Discretionary planning

  Coastal, hillside, historic, and design-review processes are calendar risk — we sequence around them.

• Plan-check corrections

  Cycle count is the single biggest schedule lever once the package is in. Clean submittals matter.

• Construction-loan draws

  Lender draw inspections must be planned into the schedule, not bolted on.

How our design-build process works

We work in five clear stages — feasibility, design, permit, construction, closeout — with a written milestone and a yes/no decision gate at the end of each. You always know what is decided, what is open, and what changes the budget.

• 1 · Feasibility

  Written zoning/FAR/permit review, budget range, timeline range, and a yes/no recommendation.

• 2 · Design

  Schematic → design development with continuous estimating against the target.

• 3 · Permit

  Engineering coordination, plan-check submittal, correction loops, planning where required.

• 4 · Construction

  Fixed-scope contract, weekly schedule update, monthly owner walk.

• 5 · Closeout

  Inspections, sign-off, warranty, and a documented as-built package.

Frequently asked questions

Do you build outside of Los Angeles and the Bay Area?

Our active service areas are Los Angeles County and the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Outside those regions we will refer you to a vetted peer rather than stretch the team.

Can you help if I only have a lot and no plans?

Yes — that is the most common starting point. The preconstruction feasibility review is built specifically for owners and investors who need to understand what a lot can permit and what it would honestly cost before committing to design.

Do you take on projects where another GC has already started?

Sometimes. We need to see the existing contract, the existing plan set, the permit status, and the field condition before we can decide whether to take it over. Distressed jobs require a written conditions report first.

Is the contract fixed-price?

Yes — the construction contract is fixed-scope and fixed-price against an agreed set of permitted drawings. Change orders are only initiated by owner-requested scope changes, jurisdictional corrections, or genuinely concealed conditions, and every change is priced in writing before work proceeds.

Will you work with my architect?

Yes. Design-build does not require us to also do design; we coordinate with outside architects regularly. The contract structure adjusts so the design team carries their own coordination responsibility while we carry construction and field-engineering accountability.

Can you support construction-to-permanent loan draws?

Yes. We produce the standard draw documentation lenders expect (AIA G702/G703 or equivalent, lien releases, photographic evidence, inspection coordination) and we plan the schedule around the lender's draw cadence.

What about ADUs?

ADUs remain a core service. If an ADU is genuinely the right tool for your lot we will tell you so during feasibility. New construction pages exist because not every project is an ADU — and the wrong tool wastes money.

Official sources

• California Building Standards Commission ↗

  California Department of General Services

  Authoritative source for California Building Code, CALGreen, and reference standards.

• California Energy Commission — Building Energy Efficiency Standards ↗

  California Energy Commission

  2025 California Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6) effective for permits filed on/after January 1, 2026.

• California HCD — SB 9 (Urban Lot Split / Two-Unit) ↗

  California Department of Housing and Community Development

  Statewide SB9 eligibility, lot-split mechanics, and exemptions.

• CSLB License Lookup ↗

  California Contractors State License Board

  Verify license status — confirm CSLB #1098432 directly with the source.

Related pages

• Los Angeles New Construction →

  LADBS, hillside, fire rebuild, and contract-city context for LA County projects.

• Bay Area New Construction →

  Nine-county Bay Area permit patchwork, Peninsula custom homes, and East Bay hillside.

• Custom Homes →

  How custom homes are scoped, priced, engineered, and built.

• Luxury Homes →

  Premium custom homes with higher-finish envelopes and complex MEP.

• Teardown Rebuild →

  Demo + ground-up replacement on the same lot.

• Hillside Construction →

  Caissons, retaining, drainage, fire access, and engineered slope work.

• Fire Rebuild →

  Post-fire rebuild planning, insurance coordination, and recovery permits.

• Small Multifamily (2–6 unit) →

  Duplex, triplex, fourplex, and small infill multifamily projects.

• SB9 Duplex & Lot Split →

  California SB9 feasibility — eligibility, screens, and realistic outcomes.

• New Construction Cost →

  Honest budget ranges, soft vs hard costs, and the drivers that move them.

• Permit Timeline →

  Feasibility-to-permit ranges by jurisdiction, project type, and overlay.

• Title 24 & CALGreen →

  2025 Energy Code, CALGreen, electrification, and heat-pump strategy.

• Geotech & Drainage →

  Soils, slope stability, drainage, grading, and erosion control.

• Design-Build Process →

  The five-stage design-build workflow from feasibility to closeout.