General Contractor in Glendale

Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys, about 20 minutes west of Glendale on the 134. We are a full-service residential general contractor and design-build remodeler for projects of every size — kitchens, bathrooms, ADUs, room additions, hillside work and whole-home renovations — serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. Led by Dekel Sofer, we have completed hundreds of projects and hold a 4.7-star rating across 146 Yelp reviews.

Glendale is its own city with its own building department, zoning code, design review and utility, so a remodel here does not run the way a Los Angeles remodel does. This page covers what changes, neighborhood by neighborhood, and the kind of residential work we take on in Glendale.

Glendale is not LADBS: what changes when the city is Glendale

The first thing we tell a Glendale homeowner is that none of the Los Angeles rules they may have read about apply. Glendale runs its own Permit Services Center at 633 E. Broadway, Room 101, with counter hours only in the mornings on Monday and Wednesday, morning and afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday, and closed on Friday. Applications go through the city’s online Glendale Permits portal, and resubmittals go back to the same case planner. We create the account, submit the set, track corrections and schedule inspections, so you deal with one contractor rather than a portal.

Three Glendale rules shape residential projects more than any other:

• Design review for single-family homes. Glendale requires design review for every new house, every second-story addition and any exterior remodel visible from the street. Additions that add less than 700 sq ft of floor and garage area within a two-year period in the R1, R1R and ROS zones are exempt, and detached accessory buildings under 500 sq ft are exempt if they match the house in materials, roof style and architecture. Additions and remodels are reviewed by community development staff; a project that staff consider incompatible with the neighborhood goes to the Design Review Board. We design to the guidelines from the start so the review is a formality rather than a redesign.
• Hillside review. Projects on lots with an average slope over 50 percent, or grading over 1,500 cubic yards, get additional review, and the north Glendale hills come with geotechnical reports and engineered foundations the same way the Sherman Oaks hills do.
• Historic District Overlay Zones. Glendale has nine designated historic districts — Ard Eevin Highlands, Brockmont Park, Casa Verdugo, Cottage Grove, Niodrara Drive, North Cumberland Heights, Rossmoyne, Royal Boulevard and South Cumberland Heights. In these districts the Historic Preservation Commission reviews exterior work instead of the Design Review Board, and windows, siding, roof form and additions visible from the street are held to the district’s standards. Interior kitchen and bathroom remodels are not affected; a street-facing addition is.

Glendale housing stock, by area

Rossmoyne, Adams Hill, Verdugo Woodlands and the historic districts. Glendale’s best-known neighborhoods are 1920s and 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor and Mediterranean homes on curving hillside streets, with clay tile roofs, plaster walls, wood windows and original hardwood. These houses reward careful work: matching plaster, keeping or restoring wood windows where the district requires it, and planning kitchens around walls that were never meant to move. Lath-and-plaster demolition, galvanized plumbing and knob-and-tube or early Romex wiring are standard findings, and every home built before 1978 gets EPA lead-safe practices.

The flats south and east of downtown — Tropico, Citrus Grove, Mariposa, the Glenwood area. Flatter lots with 1920s–50s bungalows and post-war ranches, many with detached garages, on lots that comfortably fit a detached ADU. This is where most Glendale garage conversions and ADUs happen, and where a room addition under the 700 sq ft design-review exemption can move quickly.

North Glendale, Glenoaks Canyon, Chevy Chase Canyon and the Verdugo Mountains foothills. Sloped lots, canyon streets and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone parcels. Additions and ADUs here mean a soils report, engineered retaining walls or caissons, Chapter 7A ignition-resistant exteriors and, on the steepest lots, hillside review. Drainage is the item most often underestimated, so we design it before the foundation.

Montrose and La Crescenta (Glendale portion). Smaller 1940s–60s homes on the Crescenta Valley slope; the same fire-zone and drainage considerations apply, and the county line runs through the area, so we confirm which jurisdiction issues the permit before drawing anything.

Two things are the same on every Glendale project: electrical service changes go through Glendale Water & Power, the city’s own utility, not LADWP or Southern California Edison, and the city’s development impact fee for ADUs is waived under 750 sq ft.

ADUs in Glendale

Glendale’s ADU standards differ from Los Angeles in ways that change the design. A standard ADU on a single-family lot is capped at 1,000 sq ft, an ADU over 850 sq ft must have a second bedroom, a junior ADU is capped at 500 sq ft, and side and rear setbacks are 4 feet. Detached ADUs are limited to 16 feet in height, or 18 feet in the city’s High Quality Transit Areas, with an allowance for roof pitch; an attached ADU can go to 25 feet. Glendale also runs a Standard Plan Program with a pre-approved one-story, 740 sq ft one-bedroom design, which shortens plan check for homeowners who want a proven layout. Our ADU rules calculator shows what state law guarantees on your lot; the Glendale-specific caps above are the layer on top, and we walk you through both at the site visit. For budgets, read how much it costs to build an ADU. Every Glendale rule, fee category and permit step is laid out in our Glendale ADU rules guide.

What we build in Glendale

• Kitchen remodeling — opening up 1920s and 1940s kitchens where possible, or reworking them within original walls in the historic districts. Read what homeowners wish they knew before remodeling a kitchen first.
• Bathroom remodeling — often the first project in a pre-war Glendale home, because the original bath is small and the plumbing is galvanized. See how much a bathroom remodel costs.
• ADUs and garage conversions on the flats, and engineered hillside ADUs in the canyons.
• Room additions — ground-floor additions under the design-review threshold, and second-story additions designed for review from the first sketch.
• Whole-home renovations of Spanish Revival and Tudor homes, keeping the exterior character while replacing every system. See our remodeling services.
• Foundation and structural work — seismic bolting of pre-war raised foundations, retaining walls and hillside drainage. Our post on warning signs your foundation needs repair covers what to look for.
• Roofing — clay tile repair and replacement, and Class A assemblies in the fire zones.
• Windows and doors — including wood-window restoration or district-compatible replacements where historic review applies.
• Flooring, painting, patio covers, pavers and outdoor living.
• Concrete, retaining walls, artificial turf, fencing, outdoor kitchens and decks and landscaping and irrigation.
• Plumbing and electrical upgrades as part of remodels, performed by licensed tradespeople.

Permits in Glendale: how we run it

Design first, then permits, in the order Glendale expects. For a project that needs design review, we prepare the elevations and material board the reviewer will want to see before the building set is finished, because a change requested at design review is cheap on paper and expensive after engineering. For historic districts we photograph the existing conditions and document what stays. Then the building plans, structural calculations and energy compliance go through the Glendale Permits portal, we respond to plan-check corrections, and we schedule every inspection with the Building Division. Our Los Angeles County page explains how this differs from LADBS work, and our San Fernando Valley page covers the neighborhoods between Glendale and our office.

Bathrooms in Rossmoyne and Adams Hill houses come with cast-iron drains and lead-safe demolition; our bathroom remodeling in Glendale page walks through that and the Glendale Building & Safety permit process.

What homeowners say

From our Yelp reviews:

“They completely remodeled my kitchen and they turned out beautiful. The job came in within my budget including full 3rd design rendering.” — Yakir A.

“I hired Green Design and Build to do my bathroom. From start to finish, Drake was the best!” — Leore O.

More on our About page.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need design review for an addition in Glendale?

In Glendale, design review is required for new single-family homes, second-story additions and exterior remodels visible from the street. Ground-floor additions that add less than 700 sq ft of floor and garage area within two years in the R1, R1R and ROS zones are exempt, as are detached accessory buildings under 500 sq ft that match the house. Green Design and Build designs every Glendale project to the city’s guidelines so that review, where required, does not send the plans back.

Can I build an ADU in Glendale?

Yes, Glendale allows a detached or attached ADU on single-family lots, capped at 1,000 sq ft (with a second bedroom required over 850 sq ft), plus a junior ADU of up to 500 sq ft inside the house. Detached units are limited to 16 feet in height, or 18 feet near high-quality transit, with 4-foot side and rear setbacks, and the city waives its development impact fee for units under 750 sq ft. Green Design and Build designs to these caps and can use Glendale’s pre-approved Standard Plan when it suits the lot.

My house is in a Glendale historic district. Can I still remodel?

Yes, interior remodels such as kitchens and bathrooms are not affected by Glendale’s historic district overlay, and the Historic Preservation Commission reviews only exterior work such as additions, windows, siding and roof changes visible from the street. Green Design and Build prepares the documentation the commission expects, matches materials and profiles to the district standards, and keeps the character-defining features that make these homes valuable.

Which utility handles a panel upgrade in Glendale?

Glendale Water & Power, the city-owned utility, handles electrical service changes in Glendale rather than LADWP or Southern California Edison, so a 200-amp panel upgrade for a kitchen remodel, EV charger or ADU is coordinated with GWP alongside the city building permit. Green Design and Build schedules the utility work as part of the project so the service change does not hold up rough-in inspection.

How far is Green Design and Build from Glendale?

Green Design and Build’s office at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys is about 20 minutes from central Glendale by the 134 Freeway, and a little more to the north Glendale canyons. Site visits are easy to schedule and crews arrive early. Homeowners are welcome to visit the office, which is open every day from 8 AM to 6 PM.

Are you licensed to work in Glendale?

Yes, Green Design and Build holds California General Building Contractor license CSLB #1110975 and is licensed, bonded and insured for residential work in Glendale and throughout Los Angeles County. The license can be verified on the Contractors State License Board website. HVAC, plumbing and electrical work on our projects is performed by licensed tradespeople.

Plan your Glendale remodel with a contractor who knows the city's rules

Tell us the neighborhood and what you want to build, and we will schedule a free site visit, explain whether design review or historic review applies to your lot, and give you a written, itemized estimate.