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Custom home in Palos Verdes Estates built by DECOMA Industries

Residential

Custom home builder in Palos Verdes Estates.

Custom homes and ground-up rebuilds in Palos Verdes Estates — design through final, by a licensed team that knows the Art Jury, the PVHA, and the city's hillside and view rules.

Why palos verdes estates custom home

Building in Palos Verdes Estates is a design-review city, on a hillside

Palos Verdes Estates is unlike anywhere else in the South Bay to build. Two things shape every project: the Art Jury — the city's architectural review body, working alongside the Palos Verdes Homes Association — and the hillside itself. Get either wrong and a beautiful set of drawings stalls in review or runs into a geotechnical wall after you've already spent on design.

We've built custom homes on the hill for decades, and the lesson is the same every time: the home that gets approved and built cleanly is the one designed for PVE from the first massing study — not the one redesigned after the Art Jury weighs in.

The Art Jury and the PVHA — designed for, not discovered

Every exterior project in Palos Verdes Estates goes through Art Jury review. Massing, materials, roof form, color, landscape, and — crucially — the views from neighboring lots all factor in. We develop the design with that review in mind from the start, which is what keeps a project moving through approval instead of cycling through redesigns. For the timeline reality on the entitlement side, see our notes on new-build permits in Palos Verdes Estates and the Art Jury.

Hillside lots, geotech, and views

Most of PVE is sloped, so a custom home here is a structural and grading project as much as an architectural one:

  • Geotechnical — soils investigation, foundation design for slope and soil, and the drainage a hillside lot demands.
  • Grading & shoring — cut/fill within the city's limits, retaining, and temporary shoring where access is tight.
  • View preservation — designing height and massing to protect the neighbors' views the Art Jury exists to defend.
  • Structure — self-performed under our Class A/B engineering license, coordinated with the soils and structural engineers.

Proof on the hill

Our local work in Palos Verdes Estates includes the Valmonte Home and our Palos Verdes residence, with more across the peninsula. The same team that builds in PVE serves the rest of Palos Verdes Estates and the South Bay, under one license since 1978.

Tell us about your lot and what you're picturing. The first consult is free, 30 minutes, and ends with an honest read on what it takes to build it here.

How we run it

Scope to sign-off.

  1. 01

    Lot, geotech & feasibility

    PVE is a hillside city. We start with the lot's slope, soils and geotechnical reality, grading limits, easements, and the views the Art Jury will protect — so the design that follows is one that can actually be approved and built here.

  2. 02

    Design & Art Jury review

    Schematic through construction documents, developed with the Palos Verdes Art Jury's design review in mind from the first massing study. Building to PVE's architectural character on the front end is what gets a project through review without redesign.

  3. 03

    Build

    Foundation, structure, and finishes — structural work self-performed under our Class A/B license, with the grading, shoring, and drainage a hillside lot demands. One team and one schedule from groundbreaking to final.

Why DECOMA

One license, three disciplines, forty years.

Family-run South Bay general contractor since 1978. We design, build, and manage — under one license — so the team you start with is the team that hands you keys and the team that answers the phone when something needs fixing in year ten.

Years building
48+
Projects delivered
3,000+
Repeat clients
300+
CSLB Class
A/B

FAQ

Common questions.

What is the Art Jury and will it affect my Palos Verdes Estates home?
Yes — every exterior project in Palos Verdes Estates goes through the Art Jury, the city's long-standing architectural review body, alongside the Palos Verdes Homes Association. Massing, materials, rooflines, and the views from neighboring properties all matter. We design to that standard from the first study rather than discovering it in review.
How long does a new custom home take to permit in PVE?
Plan on the better part of a year from design to issued permit for a ground-up home, longer for difficult hillside or view-sensitive lots, because Art Jury review and geotechnical work run in parallel with city plan-check. We sequence the submittals so the calendar doesn't surprise you.
Do you handle hillside lots and grading?
Yes. Much of Palos Verdes Estates is sloped, so geotechnical investigation, grading, shoring, and drainage are part of nearly every project here. We coordinate the soils engineer and structural design and self-perform the structural work under our Class A/B engineering license.
Can you work with my architect, or do you design too?
Both. We coordinate with your architect through permit and construction, or we take it from design through final as one team. Either way you get a single accountable builder who knows what PVE review will and won't accept.
Do you only build new homes, or remodels too?
Both — ground-up custom homes, major renovations, and additions. The Art Jury and PVHA review applies to exterior remodels too, so the same local experience matters.

Service areas

Palos verdes estates custom home across the South Bay.

Born in Harbor City, working across LA County since 1978. Same crew, same license number, same shop at 25941 Frampton Ave, Harbor City.

Talk to a contractor

Tell us about your project.

One business day for a scope, timeline, and budget range. CSLB #375508 A/B.

Request consultation(310) 418-0258