Manhattan Beach — built to local rules.
Manhattan Beach is one of the most coveted — and most regulated — places to build in Los Angeles. Tight lots, strict design review, and clients who've earned the right to be exacting. We're built for that.
How Manhattan Beach is different.
MB's planning department reviews almost every project. Heights, setbacks, FAR, and aesthetic review can stretch a poorly-prepared scope by months. We come in pre-aligned: drawings that anticipate the conditions, a permit timeline that's honest, and a crew that knows the inspectors by name.
Building & Safety sits at 1400 Highland Avenue, open Monday through Thursday, 7:30am to 5:30pm with alternate Fridays. Plan check normally runs six to ten weeks, and expedited review is available. Above 26 feet, Hill Section design review adds a step that catches second-story additions which would clear without comment inland.
Site conditions that move the schedule.
The lots here are sand. Perimeter footings routinely go 36 inches or deeper, and any cut past roughly 18 inches is worth a geotechnical report before rather than after. Wind exposure is Category D within a mile of the coast, which drives framing and connector requirements under ASCE 7.
West of Sepulveda, salt-air corrosion is high. We specify marine-grade stainless and Galvalume on exposed assemblies because standard hardware does not survive the exposure — a lesson the neighborhood teaches every owner eventually. The May Gray and June Gloom marine layer narrows the window for exterior finish work, so paint and coatings get scheduled around it rather than through it.
Where we've worked.
Sand-section new builds where every foot of FAR matters, hillside Tree Section additions, and full-down-to-the-studs renovations in the Hill Section. We build to the level of finish MB buyers expect — and to the schedule MB neighbors require. Our nearest published projects sit just south, including the Raymond Estate in Hermosa Beach.
Our work runs across the Sand Section, Hill Section, Tree Section, and El Porto.
Manhattan Beach permit guides.
Manhattan Beach is the city we have written up most thoroughly — what the counter at 1400 Highland actually asks for, job type by job type:
- ADU Permits in Manhattan Beach: Plan-Check Reality
- ADU Plan-Check Timeline in Manhattan Beach
- Manhattan Beach ADU Code Compliance: What Trips Up Plans
- New Build Permits in Manhattan Beach: Timeline Reality
- New Build Timeline in Manhattan Beach: What to Plan For
- New Build Code Compliance in Manhattan Beach
- Electrical Permits in Manhattan Beach: What to File and When
- Electrical Permit Timeline in Manhattan Beach
- Reroof Permits in Manhattan Beach: What to File
- Reroof Timeline in Manhattan Beach: Permit to Final
Start a Manhattan Beach project.
Custom homes, additions, ADUs, and full renovations. Begin with a free consultation, or see how we approach residential new build and renovation.
We take projects across all of Manhattan Beach's 90266.
Neighboring cities we work in: Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, and Redondo Beach.