Licensed California general contractor (CSLB #972213) delivering Pasadena home remodels — craftsman preservation, full-scope interior and exterior, Pasadena Building & Safety permits handled end-to-end.
Hillstar Construction delivers whole-home remodels for Pasadena homeowners. Our office sits on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills — we travel to Pasadena projects for the first site visit and stay engaged through every inspection. We work across Bungalow Heaven, Garfield Heights, Prospect Park, Madison Heights, Oak Knoll, West Pasadena (San Rafael Hills and Linda Vista), East Pasadena (Hastings Ranch), Old Pasadena-adjacent blocks, and surrounding 91101, 91103, 91104, 91105, 91106, 91107, and 91108 addresses on full-scope interior renovations, multi-room remodels, whole-home gut remodels, and coordinated inside-and-outside projects — including preservation-grade remodels of Bungalow Heaven craftsman homes and other HPOZ properties. The same in-house team handles design, Pasadena Building & Safety permits, Historic Preservation Commission coordination, framing, all trades, cabinetry, tile, flooring, lighting, and finish work. Licensed and insured since 2010, CSLB License #972213.
★★★★★ 5.0 · 17 reviews on Houzz
Every Pasadena home remodel starts with an honest conversation about scope. A targeted multi-room remodel — kitchen, a primary bathroom, family room, and a couple of supporting spaces — sits in a different design and permit lane than a whole-home gut remodel that pulls walls, reworks the floor plan, and touches the exterior. We match design decisions to the home's architectural language, and in Pasadena that architectural language runs exceptionally deep. Craftsman bungalows (1900–1930, Greene & Greene-influenced) anchor Bungalow Heaven and the other HPOZs. Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Mediterranean, and Prairie-style homes fill historic blocks. East Pasadena carries post-war ranch and strong mid-century modern inventory. Oak Knoll and West Pasadena (San Rafael Hills, Linda Vista) hold contemporary-custom and hillside estates.
Design deliverables include detailed drawings, material and fixture selections, a written cost breakdown, and a realistic permit-plus-construction timeline before any demolition. For scope that touches the exterior — new windows, stucco or siding changes, roof replacement, front-yard hardscape reconfiguration — we map the Pasadena Building & Safety permit path. For homes inside an HPOZ or on the Historic Resources Inventory we also map the Historic Preservation Commission review layer, and for hillside lots in West Pasadena we account for Pasadena's Hillside Development Regulations.
The value of a full-service remodeling contractor on a Pasadena project is that every trade and every permit track is lined up before the first wall comes down. Design, structural, rough trades, finish work, HPOZ coordination where applicable, and any hillside-ordinance coordination all follow one plan.
Our in-house crew manages demolition, framing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, drywall, tile, cabinetry, flooring, and interior finish work. When a remodel extends into new square footage or structural expansion, we coordinate directly with the same team that handles home additions and new ADU construction, which keeps the entire build under one roof and one schedule.
Remodeling inside a Pasadena home often means working with 1900s–1930s framing, plaster-over-wood-lath walls, galvanized supply lines, cast-iron waste stacks, knob-and-tube survivors, original single-pane wood windows, and character-defining millwork that's worth preserving rather than ripping out. A thoughtful whole-home remodel on a Pasadena craftsman or pre-war home replaces the mechanical systems in full, rebuilds subfloor where moisture damage exists, preserves or recreates character-defining detail, and chooses interior finishes that honor the original architecture. Post-war ranch and mid-century properties in east Pasadena have their own construction-era realities. Finished areas of the home stay protected throughout construction with dust barriers and daily cleanup.
Permit jurisdiction for a Pasadena home remodel runs through the City of Pasadena Building & Safety Division at City Hall on North Garfield Avenue — not LADBS. Whole-home scope on an HPOZ or landmark-listed property routes through Historic Preservation Commission review in parallel with the Building & Safety permit. Lots in West Pasadena's San Rafael Hills and Linda Vista hillside, plus east-edge foothill blocks, fall under Pasadena's Hillside Development Regulations for any exterior-footprint changes — Pasadena has its own hillside standards, distinct from LA's Baseline Hillside Ordinance.
A well-executed Pasadena home remodel reads differently than a generic renovation. Craftsman-bungalow remodels in Bungalow Heaven and the HPOZs restore or recreate period siding profiles, wood windows, porch detailing, and interior millwork while quietly bringing plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, HVAC, kitchens, and bathrooms up to modern standards. Spanish and Tudor homes maintain their period vocabularies with similar fidelity. East Pasadena mid-century homes preserve their architectural clarity — long horizontal lines, floor-to-ceiling glass, clean roof lines — while updating systems. Oak Knoll and West Pasadena custom remodels reach luxury-tier finish, imported stone, and integrated detailing. All share the same invisible thoroughness: plumbing, waterproofing, electrical service, and structural integrity.
Every Pasadena project passes Pasadena Building & Safety final inspection where required and is backed by Hillstar Construction's workmanship guarantee. We walk through the finished home with you, confirm every detail meets the agreed scope, and address any final punch-list items before we consider the project closed.
Most Pasadena remodels wrap with a fresh interior painting package so the new layout reads as complete when the paint goes on last. Full-exterior-inclusive remodels often add a new color coat, siding refresh, and roofing updates at the same time, so the inside and outside of the home finish together.
Pasadena directly. Pasadena is its own incorporated municipality with its own permit jurisdiction — the Building & Safety Division inside the Pasadena Planning & Community Development Department at City Hall on North Garfield Avenue. Every permit, plan-check review, and inspection for a Pasadena home remodel goes through that office, not LADBS. We handle the full submission and inspection coordination directly with Pasadena staff.
Whole-home remodels on HPOZ properties (Bungalow Heaven, Garfield Heights, Prospect Park, Madison Heights landmark district, Normandie Heights, Orange Heights, and others) route through Historic Preservation Commission review for any work affecting character-defining features — original wood windows, period siding and porch detail, character-defining interior millwork. Individual landmark-designated homes outside an HPOZ trigger similar review. Exterior-scope work on hillside lots in West Pasadena (San Rafael Hills, Linda Vista) or east-edge foothill blocks additionally routes through Pasadena's Hillside Development Regulations review. We identify which pathways apply at the design phase and manage the submissions in parallel with the Building & Safety permit.
Bungalow Heaven is Pasadena's flagship HPOZ — roughly 800 designated craftsman bungalows built 1900–1930 across blocks around East Washington, Mar Vista, and Michigan Avenue. Pasadena has several other HPOZs plus individual landmark designations and the Historic Resources Inventory. If your home sits inside an HPOZ or carries landmark status, a whole-home remodel affecting character-defining features — original wood windows, period siding, porch detail, craftsman interior millwork — requires Historic Preservation Commission review in addition to the Building & Safety permit. Remodels that preserve those features while updating mechanical systems, kitchens, bathrooms, and finishes typically pass HPOZ review cleanly. Additions, exterior reconfigurations, or character-altering interior work require a more careful submission and more review time. We confirm HPOZ boundary and landmark status at the first visit.
Pasadena has its own Hillside Development Regulations — distinct from LA's Baseline Hillside Ordinance — that apply to lots in West Pasadena's San Rafael Hills and Linda Vista area, and to east-edge foothill blocks touching Angeles National Forest. Exterior-footprint changes on those lots face additional height, grading, cut-and-fill, and design-standard requirements on top of the standard Building & Safety permit. Slope also drives foundation engineering cost. Interior-only remodels on hillside lots don't usually trigger hillside-specific review, but any exterior work — window additions, decks, siding changes, roof replacements — does. We walk every hillside lot before quoting so the engineering and access cost are priced into the scope from day one.
For targeted scope — one wing, one floor, a kitchen-plus-primary-suite phase — yes, routinely. We use dust barriers, seal off active construction zones, protect finished areas, keep the jobsite clean at end of day, and sequence trades so at least some portion of the home stays livable. For true whole-home scope that pulls plumbing, electrical, and HVAC back to rough-in across every room — and especially for Bungalow Heaven or HPOZ craftsman restorations that involve full mechanical replacement and subfloor rebuild — most Pasadena homeowners either relocate for the active-construction months or plan a livable-wing phasing strategy with us at the start. We walk through both options at the consultation.
A focused multi-room remodel — kitchen, primary suite, and a couple of supporting spaces — typically runs $300K to $750K in Pasadena at the finish level most homeowners expect here. A full whole-home remodel with comprehensive interior work and meaningful exterior scope (windows, stucco or siding, roof, front-yard hardscape) typically runs $750K to $1.8M. Ground-up gut remodels with custom detailing and period-appropriate restoration on craftsman homes commonly reach $1.8M to $4.5M. Oak Knoll and West Pasadena custom estates can exceed these ranges. Whole-home timelines are typically 9 to 24 months from kickoff to certificate of occupancy, with permit review and any HPOZ or hillside-overlay coordination accounting for a meaningful share of the total.
Lior and his team were extremely courteous, prompt, and worked hard to make sure every element was exactly what we were looking for.
— Ian, October 2022Lior and his crews worked diligently to repair, replace and refurbish our home damaged by a burst pipe.
— Fern Somoza, February 2019
