General Contractor in the San Fernando Valley
Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) headquartered at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys, in the middle of the San Fernando Valley. We are a full-service residential general contractor and design-build remodeler for projects of every size, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County and western Riverside County. The Valley is home turf: most of our crews, suppliers and permit runs are within a 20-minute drive of the office, and the majority of our ADUs, garage conversions, kitchen and bathroom remodels and room additions are built here.
The company was founded in 2023 and is led by Dekel Sofer, who has more than 16 years of hands-on construction experience. We hold 146 reviews on Yelp with a 4.7-star rating and have completed more than 500 projects. Regulated trades such as HVAC, plumbing and electrical are performed by our licensed specialty-trade partners.
Why a Valley-based contractor matters for a Valley project
A contractor who is already in the Valley shows up earlier, stays later, and does not price your job to cover a drive across the Sepulveda Pass. Just as important, we know the local building process. Most Valley communities — Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, North Hollywood, Reseda, Northridge, Woodland Hills and the rest — are part of the City of Los Angeles, so plans are checked and inspections are scheduled through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). The local counter is the LADBS Van Nuys office, about ten minutes from our shop.
Five Valley-area communities are separate cities with their own building departments: Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando, Calabasas and Hidden Hills. Their processes and fee schedules differ from LADBS, and Calabasas and Hidden Hills add design review and hillside rules of their own. We tell you at the first meeting which department will handle your project and what that means for the timeline.
The Valley’s housing stock and what it means for your remodel
Understanding what a house is made of is half the job. The San Fernando Valley was built out mostly between the late 1940s and the 1970s, and that shows up in almost every project we bid.
Post-war single-story ranch homes on large lots. The typical Valley house is a 1,200–2,000 sq ft single-story ranch on a 6,000–8,000+ sq ft lot, often with a detached garage at the back. Lots this size are why the Valley has become one of the most active ADU markets in California: a detached garage can be converted, or a new detached unit can be placed in the rear yard while keeping a usable backyard. It is also why room additions are common — the lot has room, and the original floor plan usually has small bedrooms and a closed-off kitchen that families want to open up.
Hillside homes in the Santa Monica Mountains foothills. South of Ventura Boulevard — in Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Tarzana and Woodland Hills — the Valley climbs into the hills. Homes there fall under the City of Los Angeles Baseline Hillside Ordinance, which controls floor area, grading, height and access. Almost any addition or new structure on a hillside lot needs a geotechnical (soils) report, structural engineering for retaining walls and caissons, and a longer plan-check path. Many of these parcels are also inside a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, which brings Chapter 7A ignition-resistant construction requirements for exterior walls, roofing, vents, decks and windows, plus brush-clearance obligations. We build in the hills regularly and budget the engineering and fire-rated materials into the estimate from the start rather than surprising you later.
The 1994 Northridge earthquake legacy. The Northridge earthquake damaged tens of thousands of Valley homes and permanently changed how the region thinks about structure. Pre-1980 houses commonly have unbolted sill plates, unbraced cripple walls and, in older duplexes and small apartment buildings, soft-story conditions where a tuck-under garage sits beneath living space. The City of Los Angeles adopted a mandatory soft-story retrofit ordinance in 2015 for those buildings. For single-family homes retrofitting is voluntary but inexpensive relative to what it protects, and we fold bolt-and-brace work into foundation projects, additions and whole-home renovations whenever the crawlspace is already open. Our guide to warning signs your foundation needs repair covers what to look for.
Heat. The Valley runs well hotter than the coast in summer, and older houses were built with minimal insulation, single-pane aluminum windows and undersized ductwork. A large share of our work here is about comfort: insulated patio covers that make a west-facing backyard usable in August, attic insulation, dual-pane window and door replacement, and HVAC replacement or ductless mini-splits (installed by our licensed specialty-trade partners) as part of remodels and ADUs. All of it has to meet California Title 24 energy standards, which we handle in the plan set.
Original systems. Galvanized water lines, 100-amp panels, clay sewer laterals and asbestos-containing floor tile or ceiling texture are common in Valley homes of this era. We test and plan for these up front; our post on why ADU quotes vary so much between contractors explains how ignoring them leads to mid-project cost increases.
San Fernando Valley communities we serve
We work throughout the Valley. The list below groups the communities we build in most often, with the permitting authority noted where it differs from LADBS.
East Valley – North Hollywood – Valley Village – Toluca Lake – Studio City – Sherman Oaks — see our Sherman Oaks page – Sun Valley – Burbank (City of Burbank Building Division) – Glendale (City of Glendale Building and Safety)
Central Valley – Van Nuys — our home base; see our Van Nuys page – Lake Balboa – Encino – Panorama City – Arleta – Pacoima – Mission Hills – North Hills – Sylmar – San Fernando (City of San Fernando Building and Safety)
West Valley – Tarzana – Reseda – Winnetka – Canoga Park – Woodland Hills – West Hills – Northridge – Granada Hills – Porter Ranch – Chatsworth – Calabasas and Hidden Hills (each city runs its own building and planning department)
What we build most in the San Fernando Valley
- Detached ADUs in rear yards of ranch-style lots, most often 400–800 sq ft one- and two-bedroom units for family or rental income.
- Garage conversions of detached and attached two-car garages into ADUs, offices and studios. The Valley’s detached-garage layout makes these the most common ADU type we build.
- Kitchen remodeling, usually removing the wall between a 1950s galley kitchen and the dining room to create an open plan, with new electrical, plumbing and lighting.
- Bathroom remodeling, from hall-bath refreshes to converting a 1960s tub bath into a curbless walk-in shower.
- Room additions — primary suites, family rooms and second stories on lots with the room to grow.
- Whole-home renovations of original-condition houses, often after a purchase or inheritance, where kitchen, baths, flooring, windows, panel and HVAC are replaced in one permitted project. See our broader remodeling services.
- Roofing, including the cool-roof requirements for Los Angeles re-roofs. Our post on whether you need a permit to replace a roof in Los Angeles covers LADBS re-roof permits.
- Foundation and structural work, including seismic bolting, cripple-wall bracing and post-and-pier repair.
- Patio covers, pavers, outdoor living and backyard remodeling — the Valley’s heat and large yards make covered outdoor space one of the best-value projects we build.
- Flooring, interior and exterior painting, and window and door replacement.
- Plumbing and electrical upgrades as part of remodels — repiping galvanized lines, panel upgrades to 200 amps and EV-charger circuits — performed by our licensed specialty-trade partners.
ADUs in the San Fernando Valley
The Valley is one of the strongest places in California to build an accessory dwelling unit, for one simple reason: lot size. State law sets the framework. A detached ADU of up to 800 sq ft with four-foot side and rear setbacks must be allowed on nearly any residential lot, and the City of Los Angeles permits detached ADUs up to 1,200 sq ft of total floor area. No replacement parking is required when a garage is converted, and no parking is required at all for an ADU within half a mile of public transit, which covers a large part of the Valley along the Orange Line busway, Van Nuys Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard. Once a complete application is submitted, the city has 60 days to approve or deny it. The LADBS ADU Standard Plan Program can shorten plan check further for homeowners who choose a pre-approved design.
Use our ADU rules calculator to check what your lot allows, and read our guide to how much it costs to build an ADU for a full breakdown. On the site we quote a rule of thumb of six months to a year from first meeting to move-in for a typical ADU project, including design and permitting.
Two Valley-specific points. If your lot is in a hillside area south of Ventura Boulevard, the state’s ADU protections still apply, but so do the geotechnical, grading and fire-zone requirements, so plan on a longer design phase. And older Valley sewer laterals and 100-amp panels frequently need upgrading to serve a second unit; we check both before we price the job.
How we work
We handle design, engineering coordination, permitting and construction as one team: a site visit and scope discussion, a written estimate with allowances spelled out, design and plan check, then construction with a single point of contact. The full sequence is on our About page. If you are comparing contractors, our guide on how to hire a general contractor without getting scammed explains what to check, starting with the license.
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.
“I worked with both Max and TOM to rebuild my roof. We added Solar a brand new electrical box and backup battery for a 1969 house.” — Troy S.
Read more on our About page or on Yelp, where we hold a 4.7-star rating across 146 reviews.
Frequently asked questions
Which building department handles permits in the San Fernando Valley?
Most of the San Fernando Valley is inside the City of Los Angeles, so permits for Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, North Hollywood, Reseda, Northridge, Woodland Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods go through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), with the LADBS Van Nuys office serving as the local counter. Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando, Calabasas and Hidden Hills are separate cities with their own building departments. Green Design and Build works in all of these jurisdictions and confirms the correct department at the first site visit.
Can I build an ADU on a typical San Fernando Valley lot?
Yes, nearly every single-family lot in the San Fernando Valley can accommodate an ADU. State law requires cities to allow at least an 800 sq ft detached unit with four-foot side and rear setbacks, and the City of Los Angeles permits detached ADUs up to 1,200 sq ft. The Valley’s 6,000–8,000+ sq ft lots and detached garages make both garage conversions and new detached units practical, and our ADU rules calculator can show what your specific property allows.
How long does an ADU take to build in the San Fernando Valley?
A San Fernando Valley ADU typically takes six months to a year from the first meeting to move-in, including design, LADBS plan check and construction. Once a complete application is submitted, the city has 60 days to approve or deny it, and using a pre-approved LADBS standard plan can shorten plan check. Hillside lots, sewer or electrical upgrades, and mid-project design changes are the most common reasons a schedule runs longer.
Do hillside homes in Sherman Oaks, Encino or Studio City need special permits?
Yes, homes south of Ventura Boulevard in the Santa Monica Mountains foothills are governed by the City of Los Angeles Baseline Hillside Ordinance, which limits floor area, grading and height and often requires a geotechnical report and engineered retaining walls. Many of these lots are also in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, which requires ignition-resistant Chapter 7A construction for exterior walls, roofs, vents and decks. Green Design and Build builds in the hillside areas regularly and includes the engineering and fire-rated materials in the estimate from the beginning.
What is a soft-story retrofit and does my Valley home need one?
A soft-story retrofit strengthens a wood-frame building where an open ground floor, usually a tuck-under garage, sits beneath living space and can collapse in an earthquake, a failure the Valley saw widely during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The City of Los Angeles requires these retrofits for qualifying multi-unit buildings under its 2015 ordinance, and owners of affected buildings receive an order to comply from LADBS. For single-family homes the work is voluntary, but bolting the sill plate to the foundation and bracing cripple walls is inexpensive protection that Green Design and Build often adds during foundation or addition projects.
How much does a kitchen remodel cost in the San Fernando Valley?
A kitchen remodel in the San Fernando Valley ranges widely depending on whether walls are removed, whether the layout changes, and the level of cabinetry and finishes chosen, so we do not quote a single number without seeing the house. Our guide to what a Los Angeles general contractor costs gives per-square-foot ranges by project type, and our post on what homeowners wish they knew before remodeling a kitchen covers the decisions that drive the price. Green Design and Build provides a written, itemized estimate after a free site visit.
Do you handle the permit process, or does the homeowner?
Green Design and Build handles the entire permit process for San Fernando Valley projects, including preparing the plan set, submitting to LADBS or the relevant city department, responding to plan-check corrections and scheduling every inspection. The homeowner signs the application as the property owner and receives copies of the approved plans and final sign-off. This is included in our design-build service, not an add-on.
Are you licensed and insured to work in the San Fernando Valley?
Yes, Green Design and Build holds California General Building Contractor license CSLB #1110975 and is licensed, bonded and insured for residential work throughout Los Angeles County, including every San Fernando Valley community. You can verify the license on the Contractors State License Board website. Regulated trades such as HVAC, plumbing and electrical on our projects are performed by licensed specialty-trade partners.
Ready to start your San Fernando Valley project?
Our office is at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys, and we are open every day from 8 AM to 6 PM. Tell us about your ADU, kitchen, addition or whole-home remodel and we will schedule a free site visit and give you a written estimate you can hold us to.