Patio Covers in Los Angeles and Across Southern California: Alumawood, Wood, Insulated and Steel
Custom Patio Covers Built for Shade, Style, and Durability
Green Design and Build designs and installs patio covers for homes across Los Angeles County, the San Fernando Valley, Ventura County, Orange County, western Riverside County, and western San Bernardino County. We create outdoor structures that improve comfort, protection, and curb appeal.
A patio cover is a one-story roof structure, attached to the house or freestanding, that shades an outdoor living area without enclosing it into a room. Green Design and Build (CSLB #1110975, licensed, bonded and insured) designs, permits and builds Alumawood, wood, insulated-panel and steel patio covers, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. Installed covers run about $25 to $110 per square foot depending on material, and most aluminum projects are finished within three to six weeks of the first site visit.
Patio cover types: which one fits your backyard?
Alumawood and other aluminum covers. Embossed aluminum with a wood-grain finish, sold as lattice (open) or solid (flat pan or W-pan) roofs. Aluminum does not rot, does not feed termites and never needs staining, which is why we recommend it most often for a standard Valley or Orange County backyard. Alumawood carries ICC-ES evaluation report ESR-1398P, which is what makes the permit fast. The trade-off is that it is not real wood and does not feel like it up close.
Insulated roof panels. A 3-inch foam core between aluminum skins, for people who plan to live under the cover: full shade, a much cooler surface than single-skin aluminum, a finished ceiling, and enough depth to hide wiring for recessed lights and a fan. It is the most expensive aluminum option.
Wood. Douglas fir or redwood posts (usually 4×4 or 4×6), beams and rafters, under a solid roof of torch-down, composition shingles or tile to match the house, or an open lattice. Wood gives the warmest look and the most design freedom, but it needs repainting or restaining, moves and checks as it ages, and is the only option termites care about.
Lattice versus solid. Lattice lets light through and keeps the patio open but does not stop rain or direct afternoon sun; solid gives full shade and real rain protection. We often mix the two on one cover.
Steel. For long clear spans and cantilevers with no posts in the view; always engineered, needs rust protection, costs the most, and most homes do not need it.
Attached versus freestanding. An attached cover ledgers to the house framing and borrows it for lateral support, so it needs fewer posts. A freestanding cover can go anywhere in the yard, at the cost of extra footings and about a week of concrete cure time.
Permits, setbacks and what the code actually requires
Plan on a building permit for an attached cover anywhere in our service area; in the City of Los Angeles that means LADBS, and the only wall-mounted structures the Municipal Code exempts are canopies and awnings projecting no more than four feet from the house. The “120 square foot” exemption homeowners ask about is an LA County rule for small detached sheds and shade structures no more than 12 feet high with no electrical, plumbing or mechanical work; it never covers an attached cover, and zoning still applies. Other cities have their own versions, so we check before quoting.
Under the Los Angeles Building Code (LAMC 91.3112, which adopts Appendix I of the California Building Code), a patio cover is a one-story structure no more than 12 feet high, used for recreation and outdoor living only, whose longer wall and one other wall are at least 65 percent open or glazed above 6 feet 8 inches. Close it in further and it becomes a room addition with foundation, insulation, Title 24 and egress requirements; if you want an enclosed sunroom, we permit it as an addition from the start.
LADBS reviews attached aluminum covers against its Attached Patio Cover information bulletin (P/BC 2023-006) and the manufacturer’s evaluation report, which is why an Alumawood cover on a level lot often clears plan check in days. That report sets a minimum design live load of 10 pounds per square foot and allows a post to bear on an existing 3.5-inch slab without a footing only when its load is under 750 pounds. Wood and steel covers, hillside lots and the City’s high-wind areas get full plan check with engineering. Setbacks are a zoning question: a cover generally cannot sit inside the required side or rear yard, and yard encroachment is the most common plan check correction we see.
Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. Many hillside homes in Sherman Oaks, Encino, Woodland Hills, Glendale, Pasadena and eastern Ventura County sit in a mapped fire zone. In the City of Los Angeles, LADBS bulletin P/BC 2023-023 requires a fire-retardant roof covering on every building and, inside the VHFHSZ, allows open trellis and spaced-roof structures only when they serve a single-family home and are built of non-combustible material, pressure-treated members or heavy timber (6×6 minimum columns, 4×6 minimum roof framing); Chapter 7A of the state code applies the same idea to exposed patio cover framing. The standard Alumawood report does not cover fire zones, so a VHFHSZ cover usually needs an engineered detail, which we flag on the first visit.
Electrical for fans, lights and heaters
If you want a ceiling fan, lighting, a TV or a heater under the cover, plan the wiring before the roof goes on: on an insulated panel cover the conduit runs inside the panel channels and the fan box is blocked to the beam, while on a lattice or single-skin cover the runs are exposed and follow the beam line. The electrical work is performed by licensed electricians and scheduled and supervised by us as your general contractor, under its own permit and inspection.
The rules that catch homeowners off guard: every outdoor receptacle must be GFCI-protected behind a weatherproof while-in-use cover, fans and fixtures must be listed for damp or wet locations, and a fan needs a fan-rated box. Infrared heaters usually need a dedicated circuit, and on 1950s to 1970s Valley houses still on a 100-amp panel, that is often what tips the project into a panel upgrade; gas heaters add a plumbing permit and a licensed plumber.
Drainage and the slab under the cover
A solid cover collects every drop of rain that used to fall on the patio and puts it in one place. Aluminum covers have an integrated gutter along the front beam and wood covers get a conventional one; either way the downspouts must discharge away from the foundation and the neighbor, not back onto the slab. On flat-pan roofs we set the pitch so water reaches the gutter instead of ponding, and we tuck the ledger flashing under the stucco weep screed rather than caulking over it, the detail behind most stained ceilings and dry rot.
If the existing slab is cracked, heaved by roots or sloped toward the house, replace it before the cover goes up, not after. Posts get their own rebar footings, cured before we load them; most racked covers we are asked to fix were set on a thin slab never meant to carry a point load. For a cover over a pool deck or outdoor kitchen, see outdoor living and pavers.
Where we do this work
The permit path and the material choice both shift across our service area. In the City of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, LADBS handles the permit, most lots are flat 1950s to 1970s ranch houses suited to an attached Alumawood cover, and the hillside neighborhoods add fire-zone and geotechnical review. Elsewhere in Los Angeles County, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Clarita and Long Beach each review through their own building division, with the same fire-zone rules on the Glendale and Pasadena hillsides. In Orange County, the permit is usually simple but the HOA architectural committee in master-planned communities adds three to eight weeks and often dictates color and roof style. Ventura County homes in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley get more wind and, on the eastern edge, fire-zone review through their city building departments or Ventura County Building and Safety. In western Riverside County, summer heat in Corona, Eastvale and Murrieta makes insulated panels the default, and most newer subdivisions have HOA review. The same heat and stronger Santa Ana winds apply in western San Bernardino County, where Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga covers are engineered for wind exposure and HOA review is common in the newer communities. See every city we serve on our service areas page.
Building in Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Corona or Eastvale? See our patio cover contractor page for the Inland Empire, which covers 100°F summers, Santa Ana wind loads, HOA review and city-by-city permits out there.
A covered patio in Woodland Hills
The covered patio on our Woodland Hills rebuild, framed on site and tied into the new pool terrace. See the full project.
Related outdoor pages: Outdoor kitchens, decks and pergolas · Pergola cost · Patio cover cost · Concrete driveways and patios · Outdoor kitchen cost · Outdoor living hub
How long does a patio cover take?
| Stage | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| Site visit, design and written quote | About a week |
| Engineering (wood, steel, long spans, hillside lots) | One to two weeks |
| HOA architectural review, where it applies | Three to eight weeks |
| Building permit: aluminum on a manufacturer’s report / engineered wood or steel | Days to two weeks / three to eight weeks |
| Installation: attached aluminum / wood | One to three days / one to two weeks |
| Freestanding covers: footing cure before loading | About one extra week |
| Whole project, aluminum or wood, including HOA review | Three to six weeks |
The build is the short part; the calendar time is permitting, engineering and the HOA. We start the paperwork the day the contract is signed.
What does a patio cover cost in Southern California?
These are typical Los Angeles budgeting ranges for a professionally installed cover, not a quote. They come from our patio cover cost guide; a hillside lot, a long span or HOA review moves the number.
| Cover type | Installed price per sq ft | 12 x 20 ft cover (240 sq ft) |
|---|---|---|
| Alumawood lattice (open, filtered shade) | $25 to $45 | $6,000 to $10,800 |
| Alumawood solid (flat or W-pan, full shade) | $30 to $55 | $7,200 to $13,200 |
| Insulated aluminum (3-inch foam-core panels) | $45 to $75 | $10,800 to $18,000 |
| Wood (Douglas fir or redwood) | $40 to $80 | $9,600 to $19,200 |
| Steel (custom, long spans) | $60 to $110 | $14,400 to $26,400 |
Common line items on top of the cover itself:
| Add-on | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Freestanding instead of attached (extra posts and footings) | $1,500 to $4,000 |
| New concrete patio slab under the cover | $8 to $18 per sq ft |
| Permit and plan check fees | $400 to $1,500 |
| Stamped engineering, when required | $800 to $2,500 |
| Electrical for fans, lights or heaters | $1,000 to $3,500 |
Our post on the best materials for outdoor patio covers explains why the cheapest cover is rarely the best value on a west-facing Valley patio.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit for a patio cover in Los Angeles?
Yes. An attached patio cover in the City of Los Angeles requires a building permit from LADBS, and the same is true in every city and county we serve; the only wall-mounted structures the Municipal Code exempts are canopies and awnings projecting four feet or less. LA County exempts some detached shade structures of 120 square feet or less, but never an attached cover or electrical work.
How much does a patio cover cost in Southern California?
A professionally installed patio cover in Southern California typically runs $25 to $110 per square foot depending on material: $25 to $45 for Alumawood lattice, $30 to $55 for solid Alumawood, $45 to $75 for insulated panels, $40 to $80 for wood and $60 to $110 for steel. A 12 x 20 foot solid Alumawood cover lands around $7,200 to $13,200 installed, before electrical, a new slab or engineering; these are budgeting ranges, not a quote.
How long does it take to build a patio cover?
An attached aluminum patio cover is usually installed in one to three days, and the whole project from site visit to final inspection takes three to six weeks. A wood patio cover takes one to two weeks to build and three to six weeks overall, including engineering, plan check and any HOA review.
Is Alumawood or wood better for a Southern California backyard?
For most Los Angeles homes an Alumawood patio cover is the better value: it does not rot, does not attract termites, never needs staining, and permits quickly on its ICC-ES evaluation report. A wood patio cover is the better choice when you want a heavier architectural look, a roof that matches the house, or spans a kit system cannot do.
Can I add a ceiling fan, lights or a heater to a patio cover?
Yes, a patio cover can carry ceiling fans, lighting, a TV and heaters, but the wiring has to be planned before the roof panels go on and it needs its own electrical permit. Every outdoor receptacle must be GFCI-protected with a weatherproof in-use cover, fans and fixtures must be rated for damp or wet locations, and a fan needs a fan-rated box; an insulated panel cover hides the wiring inside the panels.
Can I enclose my patio cover into a room later?
Not without a new permit and, in most cases, a new structure. The Los Angeles Building Code defines a patio cover as a structure whose longer wall and one other wall are at least 65 percent open above 6 feet 8 inches; close it in and it becomes a room addition subject to foundation, insulation, Title 24 and egress requirements. If a sunroom is the real goal, we permit it as a room addition from the beginning.
See this work: the long covered patio on our Woodland Hills rebuild is photographed from timber framing through to the finished terrace.
Design ideas
If you are still working out what you want, we have written up the design decisions in this trade — what each choice does to the space, what it costs, and which ones you cannot undo later: Patio cover design ideas.