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Design-Build Remodeling in Los Angeles, CA
One contract for design, engineering, permits, and the build, with your construction budget set while we design.
- One contract, one team
- Budget priced during design
- Engineering and permits handled
- Fixed-price build contract [confirm]
CSLB Lic. [#000000] | Bonded & Insured | Written Workmanship Warranty
Book a Free Consultation
We walk the house, talk through your plans, and outline the design phase. No charge, no obligation.
Form fields: Full name, Email, Phone, Project address, Scope (Design-build project, Whole-home remodel, Open concept / wall removal, Custom home or rebuild, Attic or basement conversion, Not sure yet), Preferred date, Tell us about your house and plans. Submit button: Book My Free Visit (red #E12228).
Free Consultation
We walk the house with you and outline what the design phase will cover. Book a slot.
Budget Before Drawings
You see a construction budget before the design is final. See how it works.
One Team Designs and Builds Your LA Remodel
Serving: Toluca Lake, Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Los Feliz, Hancock Park, Cheviot Hills, and Culver City.
Design-build remodeling in Los Angeles puts your design, engineering, permits, and construction under one contract with one licensed team. Los Angeles Home Remodelers prices the work while we design it, so the plan you approve is a plan you can afford to build.
You get a single point of responsibility. If a drawing misses a duct or a beam, that’s our problem to fix, not a fight between your architect and your builder.
Older LA houses punish a design drawn from the sidewalk. We cut test openings, check the attic and crawlspace, and pull the permit history before your layout’s final.
- Test openings before layout
- Budget updated at each review
- Structural engineer on the team
- Permits filed in our name [confirm]
- Written change-order process
- Warranty terms in writing [confirm]
Certified Service
CSLB Lic. [#000000]
Where Design-Build Goes in Your LA Home
Design-build is how we deliver the work. These pages cover the work itself: whole-house updates, wall removal, new homes, and attic or basement rooms.
Not sure where to start?
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Whole-Home Remodeling in Los Angeles
Every room, system, and permit on one schedule, with one team from design to final.
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Open-Concept Remodels & Wall Removal
Take out walls safely, with an engineered beam, posts, and footings where the load lands.
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Custom Home Building
Knock down and rebuild, or build new on your lot, within LA zoning and hillside rules.
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Basement & Attic Conversions
Turn an attic or crawlspace into a legal bedroom, office, or suite with headroom and egress.
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Choosing a Design-Build Contractor in LA
Ask who draws the plans, who stamps the engineering, and whose name is on the contract. Then look up the CSLB license: a design build firm that builds should hold a B general license.
Ask when you’ll see a construction budget. A design build contractor in Los Angeles who only prices after the drawings is running design-bid-build under one logo. Your design agreement should list every item below.
- Site walk and test openings
- Zoning and permit history check
- Structural engineer and calcs
- Written scope of work
- Allowances listed by room
- Preconstruction meeting
- As-built measurements
- Floor plans and 3D renderings
- Title 24 energy report
- Construction budget by line item
- Plan check and permit filing
- Final inspection and closeout
What Working With Us Looks Like
One point of contact
Your project manager runs design, permits, and the build, and answers your calls. You never referee a designer and a contractor over whose fault a problem is.
Written scope, written changes
Everything in the contract is a line item. Any change gets priced and signed before a crew touches it, so nothing shows up on a final invoice as a surprise.
A clean site, every evening
Dust walls, floor protection, and a locked site at the end of each day. If you're living in the house, we phase the work so you always have a kitchen or a bathroom.
What Each Design-Build Phase Delivers in LA
Each phase ends with something you can hold: a budget, a drawing set, a permit. You approve one before we start the next, so you’re never paying to design a house you can’t build.
Feasibility & Budget
We walk the house, check zoning in ZIMAS, and set a target construction budget with you. If the wish list and the budget don't match, you hear it now, before anyone draws a line.
Design & 3D Renderings
Floor plans, elevations, and 3D renderings show the layout before it's framed. After each review round, we reprice the budget, so design and cost move in step.
Structural Engineering
A licensed structural engineer sizes beams, posts, footings, and shear walls from our measurements. Value engineering happens here, like trading a steel beam for wood when the span allows.
Permits & Plan Check
We submit the drawings, structural calcs, and Title 24 energy report to LADBS, then answer plan-check comments until the permit issues. Culver City and Pasadena run their own building departments [confirm], so we file wherever your house sits.
Build & Closeout
The project manager who ran design runs the build. You get a schedule, weekly updates, milestone payments, and a final walk-through before we close the permit.
Remodels We Run as Design-Build in LA
Design-build pays off most when a project touches structure, systems, and permits at once. These five come through our door most often.
Whole-House Remodel
Every room, the wiring, and the plumbing on one plan. One budget covers all of it, so you don’t hear about the old panel after the tile’s picked.
Kitchen and Living Rework
A closed kitchen opened to the living room. Design sets the beam, the island, and the new circuits in one pass, and you approve renderings before a wall comes down.
Main-Floor Suite
A bedroom and bath on the ground floor for aging in place. We draw wider doors and a curbless shower now, so the house keeps working for decades.
Second-Story Addition
More room without losing the yard. Zoning floor-area limits and the foundation decide the size, so we check both before design starts.
Fire Rebuild
After a fire, one team runs the survey, design, rebuild permits, and build, and prices scope in the format your insurer asks for [confirm].
Design-Build vs. Design-Bid-Build in LA
The method you pick decides when you learn the price. Design-build sets the construction budget during design; the other two find it out afterward.
Question
Design-build
Architect, then bid
Owner-managed
Who designs
Our designer and engineer
Your architect, hired first
You, or a drafter you hire
Who prices
Us, during design
Bidding contractors, after plans
Each trade, one at a time
Budget set
Before drawings are final
After the full drawing set
Trade by trade, as you go
Who owns problems
One contract, one team
Split: architect or builder
You do
Change orders
Priced and signed first
Gaps between plans and bid
Hard to track
Fixed-price contract
One price for the scope in your contract. You carry less risk, and any change goes through a written change order. Choose it when design is complete and you want a firm number.
Cost-plus contract
You pay actual cost plus an agreed fee, with open books. It suits jobs with big unknowns, like an older house where the walls haven’t been opened yet.
Allowances
A placeholder amount for items you haven’t picked, such as tile or light fixtures. We set allowances from your real choices, not showroom minimums, so they hold.
The redesign round
With architect-then-bid, plans often come back over budget, and you pay to redraw them before a second bid round. Design-build prices as it goes, which is how you skip that round.
How Your LA Home Type Shapes the Design Phase
Your house’s era decides what we check before a single line gets drawn. Here’s where the design phase spends its time in each.
1910s–30s
Craftsman & Spanish
Walls rarely match any old plan, and plaster hides knob-and-tube wiring. We open test holes before design, and in HPOZ districts we plan time for historic review of street-facing changes [verify].
1940s–60s
Post-War Ranch
Slab floors lock in the plumbing, so moving a bath means trenching. We keep wet rooms near existing lines when your layout allows, and route new ducts through the low attic before ceiling heights get set.
1950s–70s
Hillside & Split-Level
Hillside lots often need a survey and a soils report before design, and hillside rules cap added area [verify]. Split levels in Eagle Rock add stairs to every layout choice.
1980s–2000s
Stucco Two-Story
Original plans are often on file with LADBS, which speeds design. Shear walls sit where you’d least expect, so our engineer marks which walls can move before you fall for a layout.
Any era
Previously Remodeled
A past owner’s unpermitted addition shows up in the permit records, or not at all. We compare the house to the records during design, then price what it takes to legalize or rebuild that work [verify].
Which Design-Build Work Needs an LA Permit?
Most of it does. Structural changes, new circuits, moved plumbing, and added area all need LADBS permits and inspections, and design-build folds that paperwork into the design phase. Finish-only work usually doesn’t.
Permit needed in most cases
- Removing or moving bearing walls
- Panel upgrades and new circuits
- Moving plumbing or gas lines
- Adding square footage or a story
- New or relocated HVAC ducts
Usually permit-free
- Paint and plaster patching
- Flooring over a sound subfloor
- Swapping fixtures in place
- Interior doors and trim
- Design work before you file
Title 24 rides with the plans
California’s Title 24 energy code applies to permitted remodels and additions. Our designer and energy consultant prepare the compliance forms with the drawings, so insulation, window, and lighting choices get settled in design [verify].
Engineering goes to plan check
LADBS reviews stamped structural calcs with the drawings. Plan-check comments come back to us, and we answer them with the engineer, so you don’t carry that back-and-forth [confirm].
The permit carries our license
We pull permits under our CSLB license [confirm]. An owner-builder permit makes you the legal contractor, with responsibility for the trades, the inspections, and the risk.
Why Homeowners Pick Us Over the Lowest Bid
The lowest whole-house bid in Los Angeles usually leaves out the beam, the panel, or the permit. We price the real scope during design, so your change-order column stays close to empty.
- Line-item scope, including structure and systems
- One project manager answers your calls start to finish
- Materials get ordered only after you sign off on the plan
- Phased work, so you can stay in the house when it makes sense
- Payments tied to milestones, never to a calendar
- A written workmanship warranty you can hold us to
- Crews who work on our jobs only, not day labor
Licensed & Insured
CSLB Lic. [#000000]
Free On-Site Estimates
Measured, not guessed
Written Warranty
On our workmanship
Local LA Crews
No day labor on site
How a Design-Build Project Runs in LA
A design-build remodel runs in six phases. Design and plan check take longer than most owners expect, and the build moves faster because it’s planned.
Phase 01
Consult & feasibility
We walk the house, review zoning, and talk through your goals and target budget. You get a written design proposal within [1–2] weeks.
Phase 02
Design & budget
Floor plans, 3D renderings, and finish choices take about [6–10] weeks. After each review, we reprice the construction budget so you approve both at once.
Phase 03
Engineering & energy
The structural engineer sizes beams and footings while the Title 24 report gets prepared. Expect [2–4] weeks, often overlapping final design.
Phase 04
Plan check & permit
LADBS plan check usually runs [6–12] weeks for a whole-house remodel. We answer corrections and hold your build slot while the permit issues.
Phase 05
Preconstruction
You sign the build contract, we order long-lead items like windows, and we walk the schedule together. If you’re staying home, we set the phasing now.
Phase 06
Build & closeout
Construction runs about [4–9] months by scope, with city inspections at each stage. We finish with a punch list, final inspection, and your as-built plans.
Get Your LA Remodel Priced Before It's Drawn
One visit tells you what your house allows, how the design phase works, and where your budget lands. The consult is free, and you won’t sign anything.
- Walls, attic, and crawlspace checked on site
- Design phase and fees explained
- No obligation and no pushy follow-up calls
or send the form and we’ll call you back.
Book a Free Consultation
We walk the house, talk through your plans, and outline the design phase. No charge, no obligation.
Form fields: Full name, Email, Phone, Project address, Scope (Design-build project, Whole-home remodel, Open concept / wall removal, Custom home or rebuild, Attic or basement conversion, Not sure yet), Preferred date, Tell us about your house and plans. Submit button: Book My Free Visit (red #E12228).
Design-Build Remodeling Across Los Angeles County
We design and build from Studio City and Van Nuys to Pasadena, Beverly Hills, and Venice, in century-old homes and newer ones. Don’t see your neighborhood below? Call and ask.
- Van Nuys
- North Hollywood
- Toluca Lake
- Burbank
- Glendale
- Pasadena
- South Pasadena
- Altadena
- La Cañada Flintridge
- Eagle Rock
- Highland Park
- Mount Washington
- Silver Lake
- Los Feliz
- Echo Park
- Atwater Village
- Hancock Park
- Windsor Square
- Larchmont
- Mid-Wilshire
- Miracle Mile
- West Hollywood
- Beverly Hills
- Beverlywood
- Cheviot Hills
- Brentwood
- Pacific Palisades
- Santa Monica
- Mar Vista
- Venice
- Westchester
- Playa del Rey
- Culver City
Design-Build Remodeling FAQs
Click a question to see the answer. The first one is open to start.
Still weighing your options?
Call and a project manager answers, not a call center.
What is design-build remodeling?
Design-build is a delivery method where one company designs your remodel and builds it under one contract. You hire one team, and it owns the drawings, the engineering, the permits, and the construction. It replaces the usual order of hiring an architect first, then collecting contractor bids.
Is design-build more expensive than hiring an architect?
Usually not, and it’s rarely cheaper either. Design fees and construction costs land in a similar place. What design-build saves is the redesign round, when an architect’s plans come back over budget and you pay to redraw them. Pricing during design keeps the plan inside your number.
What's the difference between design-build and design-bid-build?
In design-bid-build, you hire an architect, finish the plans, and then collect contractor bids. In design-build, one team designs and prices in the same phase. The real difference is timing: you learn the construction cost while you can still change the design, not after the drawings are done.
Who owns the plans in a design-build contract?
Your design agreement decides that, so read it before you sign. Ours gives you a copy of the drawings for your house once the design phase is paid [confirm]. Some firms keep the plans until you sign the build contract. Ask which rule applies before you pay any design fee.
Can I bring my own architect?
Yes. If you already have an architect, we can join during design as the builder, pricing the drawings as they develop and flagging costly details early. That’s often called a preconstruction agreement. You keep your architect, and we take responsibility for the build contract [confirm].
When do I get a construction budget?
You get a target budget at the first design meeting and an updated one after each review. By the time drawings are final, the construction budget is priced line by line, with allowances marked. You sign a build contract only after you’ve seen and accepted that number.
Is the design fee credited toward construction?
That depends on the agreement [confirm]. Some design-build firms credit part of the design fee to the build contract, and others don’t. Either way, your agreement should state the fee, what it covers, and whether a credit applies before you pay a deposit. California also limits home-improvement deposits [verify].
How long does the design phase take?
Plan on [2–4] months for design, engineering, and Title 24 work on a whole-house remodel, then [6–12] weeks of LADBS plan check. Smaller projects move faster. Your quick decisions on layout and finishes shorten design more than anything we do.
Can I change things after design is done?
Yes, through a written change order. Each change gets priced and signed before a crew touches it, with its effect on the schedule spelled out. Changes cost least during design, when they’re lines on a drawing, and most after framing or drywall goes up.
How do you handle surprises behind the walls?
We cut test openings during design, so fewer surprises are left to find. What we can’t see gets a contingency line in your construction budget. If we hit rot, bad wiring, or a hidden beam, we photograph it and price the fix as a change order you approve first.
Other Remodels We Handle in LA
Kitchen Remodeling
Cabinets, countertops, islands, and permits under one contract.
Bathroom Remodeling
Walk-in showers, tub conversions, vanities, and accessible baths.
ADU Builders
Detached ADUs, garage conversions, and JADUs, designed and built.
Design-Build Guides for LA Owners
DESIGN SLOTS OPEN FOR [MONTH] AND [MONTH]
Get Your LA Remodel Designed by One Team
A design-build remodel gives you one contract, a budget set during design, and one team to call. Los Angeles Home Remodelers handles design, engineering, permits, and construction. Book your free design-build consult today.
- Free design consults, Mon–Sat
- CSLB Lic. [#000000], bonded and insured
- Written workmanship warranty
Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm
Book a Free Consultation
We walk the house, talk through your plans, and outline the design phase. No charge, no obligation.
Form fields: Full name, Email, Phone, Project address, Scope (Design-build project, Whole-home remodel, Open concept / wall removal, Custom home or rebuild, Attic or basement conversion, Not sure yet), Preferred date, Tell us about your house and plans. Submit button: Book My Free Visit (red #E12228).