Custom homes, additions, and whole-house renovation — managed end to end under CSLB 757470.
Schedule a Site AssessmentCalabasas-based, working across Westside LA, Malibu, and the Conejo Valley under CSLB 757470.
Schedule a Site AssessmentFounded 1998 by Eli Kaspi. A 30-person crew focused on complex, permitted residential builds.
About Pure BuildersYour property’s municipal boundary and service arrangements determine which LA County building department reviews your home project. Start with the parcel, because a mailing address can point you toward the wrong office.
LADBS serves the City of Los Angeles. Other properties follow independent city processes or County-administered review, including certain cities that contract with the County.
Permit agencies vary within Los Angeles County. Our guide to LA County construction permits sets out the submission routes in more detail. Calabasas, Santa Monica, and Culver City each have separate municipal permitting processes.
Unincorporated County properties generally follow County administration, with work routed by address or parcel. Some incorporated cities also contract with the County for building services.
EPIC-LA is a submission system used for County-administered work. Its availability does not make it the correct starting point for every property within the county.
Locate the parcel within the municipal boundary before preparing the permit submission. The useful question is which jurisdiction serves that exact piece of land.
Westlake Village specifically warns that a mailing address does not determine the municipal boundary. County-administered work must also be routed using the address or parcel.
A survey, parcel map, or existing property record can help identify the land being discussed.
Several cities operate their own application and review systems. The correct portal depends on the jurisdiction established for your parcel.
LADBS guidance applies to City of Los Angeles projects, including applicable Palisades work. Instructions from that department should stay tied to properties under its authority.
Planning a project? Every Pure Builders project starts with a site assessment — a walk-through of the property that sets scope, permit pathway, and a realistic schedule before any design fees are committed.
Schedule a Site Assessment
The project team submits the required plans and supporting documents through the responsible agency’s process. Depending on the scope, supporting documents can include engineering calculations, energy documents, and green-building forms.
Departmental reviewers examine the submission and issue corrections when changes or further information are needed. The responsible designers address those comments and submit revised documents for another review.
Required clearances and permit issuance follow the agency’s approval process. Construction then proceeds through required inspections and final approval, with utility coordination where applicable.
Qualifying County rebuild workflows publish a 10-business-day first-review target and a 5-business-day subsequent-review target. Those targets cover specific review stages, not the full permit duration. Correction preparation, clearances, and other required steps still affect the schedule.
Westlake Village splits building review and city planning between different routes. The city contracts with Los Angeles County for building and safety services.
Its plan check moved to EPIC-LA on April 1, 2024, while city planning remained separate. A submission through the County system therefore still needs attention to the city’s planning requirements.
Agoura Hills administers city intake, interdepartmental review, outside-agency approvals, and permit issuance.
Malibu proposals may involve coastal, zoning, hillside, geotechnical, or rebuild-path review, depending on the property and scope. A burned-home replacement qualifies for a coastal exemption only when it meets the applicable conditions.
Project size and scope shape the required submission, while jurisdiction determines the review process and required clearances. A substantial structural addition and a ground-up custom home can need different supporting work.
Materials affected by energy or wildland-urban interface requirements also influence construction costs. Soils and hillside conditions can add engineering work and affect how the site is prepared.
Agency scheduling and correction cycles affect the time between submission and permit issuance. The schedule needs separate allowances for document preparation, agency review, revisions, clearances, construction, and inspections.
The 2025 California Building Standards Code became effective January 1, 2026. Local amendments, valid project vesting, and qualifying wildfire-reconstruction exceptions can affect the rules that apply. Coastal parcels add another layer, which we cover in our Malibu Coastal Development Permit guide.
A universal permit price or completion duration would miss those differences. As a general guide, building permit fees in Los Angeles County are calculated from declared construction valuation rather than a flat rate, so they scale with the size of the job, and plan check and permit fees on a large residential project commonly land in the five-figure range before separate agency clearances. Initial plan check often runs six to ten weeks, with each correction cycle adding weeks on top. Confirm current fee schedules with the agency that holds jurisdiction, because they are revised periodically.
Major structural, electrical, gas, and plumbing work needs permits and coordination by appropriately qualified professionals. Specialty subcontractors need license classifications appropriate to their contracted work.
On our own projects, from Calabasas and Santa Monica through to major home projects in Hollywood, we coordinate with owners’ architects, structural engineers, and Title 24 consultants. We use that coordination to connect the construction scope with the plans and supporting documents those professionals prepare, so the submittal reaches the counter as one consistent package.
Regulations and workflows change. The responsible team should confirm current requirements with the local building and planning departments.
Every project with us starts with a scheduled site assessment. We confirm jurisdiction from the parcel before any drawings are commissioned, because we have seen design fees spent against the wrong agency’s requirements. If you are not sure which office reviews your property, call us on 888-240-5955 and we will walk the parcel details with you.
Yes. Your architect or contractor can use the parcel information to identify the responsible building office and planning department. We coordinate with owners’ architects, structural engineers, and Title 24 consultants during project planning. Establishing who prepares each required document also helps organize the submission once jurisdiction is settled.
No. Coastal review addresses a separate part of the approval process. The project still follows the building-permit route for its construction scope. For disaster replacement, the proposed footprint, height, volume, setbacks, and site conditions can affect coastal exemption eligibility. Required geotechnical or coastal-engineering reports may also need submission.
Have the project team establish the correct parcel jurisdiction before continuing the submission. The designers can then compare the existing plans with that agency’s requirements. Local amendments, submission formats, and supporting documents may need attention. Culver City, for example, handles applications and correction responses through its own portal.
Yes. A city business license concerns the contractor’s authorization to conduct business there; a building permit covers the proposed work. Santa Monica requires valid city business licenses for contractors and subcontractors, and its contractor list affects final approval. Culver City also requires a current city business license for contractors obtaining permits.
Ordinary applicable applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026, use the 2025 Energy Code. Valid vesting and local amendments also matter. Targeted relief allows qualifying Los Angeles and Ventura wildfire reconstruction to continue under the 2022 Energy Code. Applicable solar-ready obligations remain, so eligibility needs project-specific review.
This article is general information, not legal, insurance, or engineering advice. Pure Builders is a general contractor, not a public adjuster, attorney, or engineer. Code requirements and costs change — confirm current requirements with your local building department.
Contact our Los Angeles construction team to request a scheduled site assessment. We handle custom homes, major additions, whole-house renovations, and fire rebuilds on property our clients already own.
We are a contractor — we do not sell, list, or broker property.