Design, permits, engineering and construction under one roof

Green Design and Build is a full-service residential general contractor and design-build remodeler based at 16120 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91406, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. The company is led by Dekel Sofer. We are licensed by the California Contractors State License Board as a General Building Contractor, CSLB #1110975, and we are bonded and insured. We build ADUs and garage conversions, kitchens and bathrooms, room additions, whole-home renovations, new homes, foundation work, flooring, patio covers, pavers, painting, and windows and doors, for projects of every size. We also coordinate roof replacement as your general contractor.

Company facts

A note from Dekel Sofer, founder

I founded Green Design and Build with a simple goal: to create a better, more transparent experience for homeowners looking to remodel, renovate, or build their dream home. After seeing how complicated the construction process can become when design, permits, engineering, and construction are handled by different companies, I wanted to build a full-service design and construction company that could manage every step under one roof. Today, Green Design and Build proudly serves homeowners throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County, and western San Bernardino County, delivering high-quality home remodeling, kitchen and bathroom renovations, ADUs, home additions, and custom construction with a strong focus on craftsmanship, communication, and customer satisfaction.

Here is how I run a job. Every project gets a written scope before a contract, not after. Every homeowner has one person to call, and that person can answer questions about the schedule, the budget and the crew without checking with someone else. When we open a wall in a 1960s Valley ranch house and find a corroded galvanized line or an undersized panel, we stop, photograph it, price it in writing and get your approval before we touch it. That is the only way a remodel stays on budget in houses this old.

If you want to talk through a project, my team and I are at the Sherman Way office every day.

How we work

We follow the same sequence on a bathroom refresh and on a 1,000 square foot detached ADU.

1. Consultation. A phone or in-office conversation about your goals, your property and a realistic budget range.
2. Site visit. We walk the property in person, usually for about two hours, and check the things that change price: access, utilities, panel capacity, slope, setbacks and the condition of what is already there.
3. Written scope. You receive an itemized proposal that says what is included, what is excluded and what is an allowance, usually within about 48 hours of the visit.
4. Contract with CSLB-compliant terms. California law caps the down payment on a home improvement contract at $1,000 or 10 percent of the price, whichever is less. Our contracts follow that, and payments after that track completed work.
5. Permits. We prepare and submit plans and pull the permit with the right office: LADBS for the City of Los Angeles, including Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino and Northridge; the city building division in Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and the Orange County cities; county Building and Safety for unincorporated areas.
6. Build with one point of contact. A project manager runs the schedule, the crews and the inspections and reports to you throughout.
7. Walkthrough. We walk the finished work with you, close out the punch list and confirm every inspection has passed before final payment.

Who does the work

Our own crews handle carpentry, framing, demolition, drywall, tile, flooring, painting, concrete and finish work. Roofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, solar, and asbestos or mold abatement are regulated trades that require their own specialty licenses, and on our projects that work is performed by licensed tradespeople under our project management. Roofing is performed and permitted under a C-39 Roofing license, by a roofing contractor scheduled and supervised by us as your general contractor. You still have one contract and one point of contact; we schedule and supervise those trades and are responsible for the finished result.

Licensed, bonded and insured

Green Design and Build holds General Building Contractor license #1110975 from the California Contractors State License Board. You can verify the license, bond and workers’ compensation status yourself on the CSLB site: Check license #1110975 at CSLB. We recommend running that check on any contractor you are considering, including us. A certificate of insurance is available on request before you sign.

What homeowners say

Green Design and Build has 146 reviews and a 4.7-star rating on Yelp. Read the reviews on Yelp. A selection:

The team

Green Design and Build is run by Dekel Sofer and a small in-house team of project managers, a designer and an office coordinator, with crews that stay on one job until it is finished. Every project gets a dedicated project manager who is on site during construction and is the one person you call about the schedule, the budget and the crew. The people homeowners thank by name in our Yelp reviews are the people who will run your project.

Where we work

From the Van Nuys office we cover the residential markets of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties and the western Inland Empire:

• San Fernando Valley — Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Northridge, Woodland Hills, North Hollywood and the rest of the Valley
• Los Angeles — Central and Westside LA, the South Bay, the San Gabriel Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley
• Orange County — Irvine, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Fullerton and the master-planned South County communities
• Ventura County — Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura
• Riverside County (western) — Corona, Riverside, Eastvale, Norco, Jurupa Valley, Murrieta and Temescal Valley
• San Bernardino County (western) — Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills and Fontana

The full city list is on our Areas We Serve page.