Expand your living space with expertly crafted home additions designed for the way you live.
Hillstar Construction is a licensed and insured general contractor serving Los Angeles since 2010, backed by over 35 years of construction experience. We design and build room additions, open-concept expansions, and second-story additions in-house for homeowners across Woodland Hills, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, and Studio City.
A room addition is the most direct way to add square footage to an existing home without moving. Growing families add bedrooms, new home offices, private in-law suites, and expanded living rooms — and the goal of every addition we build is for the new space to feel like it's always been part of the house rather than tacked on after the fact.
Our crew handles every trade in-house: foundation, framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing, drywall, and finish work. We match the exterior materials, rooflines, and finishes to the existing structure so the addition reads as one continuous home from the curb. For homeowners who want to combine an addition with broader interior upgrades, we also handle full home remodeling projects on the same schedule — one team, one timeline, one point of contact. If you're still in the planning phase, our guide on home expansion planning walks through the key decisions homeowners need to make before breaking ground.
Open-concept expansions combine two or more existing rooms — typically the kitchen, dining, and living areas — into a single connected space. For older Los Angeles homes built with compartmentalized floor plans, opening up the main living area is one of the highest-impact changes a homeowner can make. The result is more natural light, better flow between rooms, and a more social everyday layout.
The work usually involves removing or modifying walls, which requires structural engineering when load-bearing walls are involved. We handle the plans, the engineering, and the structural reinforcement that a proper open-concept expansion requires — not just the cosmetic finish. Open-concept projects almost always overlap with kitchen work, which is why we often combine an expansion with a full kitchen remodel or bundle in a bathroom remodel on the same build. Doing related work together keeps the project cleaner, faster, and easier to live through than scheduling each room separately.
When you want more space but the lot can't grow outward, building up is often the best option. A second-story addition preserves your backyard, driveway, and landscaping while adding bedrooms, a master suite, or a full living level on top of the existing home. It's a common path for LA homeowners in established neighborhoods where lot sizes are tight but ceiling height is available.
Second-story additions are structurally more involved than ground-floor work. The existing foundation and first-floor framing usually need to be reinforced to carry the new load, a new staircase has to be planned into the floor plan, and the roof has to be rebuilt to match the existing architecture. We handle all of that in-house, from structural plans to final exterior finish. If separate, self-contained living space is your actual goal rather than expanding the main home, an ADU is sometimes a better fit — we'll walk through both options at the consultation so you can decide which approach matches what you want out of the project.
