Los Angeles

[johndeep]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on the difficulty ofdoing a room addition to a property in Topanga Canyon. I think that I've heard that this falls under the California Coastal Commission jurisdiction, and I think that additions which would add to the square footage have to clear an environmental review plus maybe some other hurdles? Anyone know the specifics on cases like these? And how difficult/ realisitic is it to get something like this permitted? Also, if you were to build up rather than out (add a second story), would you be facing the same permit hurdles? Thanks

[johndeep]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on the difficulty ofdoing a room addition to a property in Topanga Canyon. I think that I've heard that this falls under the California Coastal Commission jurisdiction, and I think that additions which would add to the square footage have to clear an environmental review plus maybe some other hurdles? Anyone know the specifics on cases like these? And how difficult/ realisitic is it to get something like this permitted? Also, if you were to build up rather than out (add a second story), would you be facing the same permit hurdles? Thanks

[inspector_guy]

Get the straight scoop from the building department. Very approachable. They will not follow you home and are not stalkers. Building officials are very generous (with their time) when they meet a sincere homeowner.

[GEAH]

My experience with LA Country Building & Safety has been horrendous. They will slow you down as much as possible, as to keep the amount of "work" they can claim to be doing high.

[newatthis]

Going up if possible is better as it is much, much cheaper than adding on horizontally.  Permit wise its the same usually. 

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johndeep wrote:

Hi all,

Looking for advice on the difficulty of doing a room addition to a property in Topanga Canyon. I think that I've heard that this falls under the California Coastal Commission jurisdiction, and I think that additions which would add to the square footage have to clear an environmental review plus maybe some other hurdles? Anyone know the specifics on cases like these? And how difficult/ realisitic is it to get something like this permitted? Also, if you were to build up rather than out (add a second story), would you be facing the same permit hurdles? Thanks

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[newatthis]

Hi all,

Looking for advice on the difficulty of doing a room addition to a property in Topanga Canyon. I think that I've heard that this falls under the California Coastal Commission jurisdiction, and I think that additions which would add to the square footage have to clear an environmental review plus maybe some other hurdles? Anyone know the specifics on cases like these? And how difficult/ realisitic is it to get something like this permitted? Also, if you were to build up rather than out (add a second story), would you be facing the same permit hurdles? Thanks

[SCGUY]

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GEAH wrote:

My experience with LA Country Building & Safety has been horrendous. They will slow you down as much as possible, as to keep the amount of "work" they can claim to be doing high.

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My experience was exact opposite, super easy to deal with and very helpful in plan approval stage.  Now that being said, it was a one story addition on flat land so am guessing that helped.

[GEAH]

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SCGUY wrote:

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GEAH wrote:

My experience with LA Country Building & Safety has been horrendous. They will slow you down as much as possible, as to keep the amount of "work" they can claim to be doing high.

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My experience was exact opposite, super easy to deal with and very helpful in plan approval stage.  Now that being said, it was a one story addition on flat land so am guessing that helped.

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When was the experiece? Things got ugly in 2008 due to the drastic reduction in building.

[Adam-la]

My most recent experience:

- LA Housing Department required us to get a permit for changing the water heater in a rental property I bought in July (water heater installed by previous owner)

- Obtained permit from LADBS ($250), had plumber complete installation the right way

- Inspector came, asked who relocated the supply pipes to the water heater.  We didn't know, and said "we don't know"

- He called out getting a permit for the relocation (basically moving the water heater supply lines), adding copper to the system, incorret fittings at connection, and more. 

- We had to get a supplemental permit (add $250 to permit costs) for the additional work which ended up requiring a REPIPE of most of the horizontals in the building, adding a pressure regulator, uncovering the plumbing work in stucco, chipping away concrete and wrapping supply lines in tape. 

- 8 blocks away, the same LADBS permitted this:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/17/local/la-me-illegal-housing-20111217

[hg213]

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Adam-la wrote:

My most recent experience:

- LA Housing Department required us to get a permit for changing the water heater in a rental property I bought in July (water heater installed by previous owner)

- Obtained permit from LADBS ($250), had plumber complete installation the right way

- Inspector came, asked who relocated the supply pipes to the water heater.  We didn't know, and said "we don't know"

- He called out getting a permit for the relocation (basically moving the water heater supply lines), adding copper to the system, incorret fittings at connection, and more. 

- We had to get a supplemental permit (add $250 to permit costs) for the additional work which ended up requiring a REPIPE of most of the horizontals in the building, adding a pressure regulator, uncovering the plumbing work in stucco, chipping away concrete and wrapping supply lines in tape. 

- 8 blocks away, the same LADBS permitted this:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/17/local/la-me-illegal-housing-20111217

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Brutal.  No good deed goes unpunished.  What was the total cost of all of that?

Personally, I would have just hired a licensed plumber to change the water heater, period.

It seems that inspectors are more gung-ho these days.  Perhaps, as someone suggested, this is because there is less building going on and so they are trying to create work for themselves for purposes of job security.

[SCGUY]

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GEAH wrote:

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SCGUY wrote:

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GEAH wrote:

My experience with LA Country Building & Safety has been horrendous. They will slow you down as much as possible, as to keep the amount of "work" they can claim to be doing high.

---

My experience was exact opposite, super easy to deal with and very helpful in plan approval stage.  Now that being said, it was a one story addition on flat land so am guessing that helped.

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When was the experiece? Things got ugly in 2008 due to the drastic reduction in building.

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Started work May 2006 (permit was issued in March) and wrapped it all up about a year later

[Adam-la]

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hg213 wrote:

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Personally, I would have just hired a licensed plumber to change the water heater, period.

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Still adding it all up.  Not counting a month's lost rent, my time and the time of my team we put another 5-6 thousand dollars into the property that wasn't planned. 

The work on the water heater was done by a licensed plumber with a permit.  The water heater that they wanted us to permit was at least 6 years old (must have been a used one, no serial numbers on it).  We just used one of the rheem/GE ones from Home Depot.