Pasadena's Premier
Whole-Home Remodeling Experts

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 phase or plan a livable-wing phasing strategy with us at the start. We walk through both options at the consultation.

Cost and scope depend on project size, design, property conditions, permits, materials, finish level, and any local-jurisdiction or historic-district coordination that applies. We review every option with you at the consultation and provide an itemized written cost breakdown so the design aligns to your priorities.