General Contractor in Altadena, CA

DN Builders Group is a licensed general building contractor based in Burbank. We remodel kitchens and bathrooms, renovate whole houses, build additions and ADUs, and take on ground-up rebuilds in Altadena — permitted through Los Angeles County rather than a city hall, with the water, septic and zoning questions priced before we sign.

What we build in Altadena

There is no Altadena city hall

Altadena is unincorporated, so Los Angeles County is the building department. Plans go to County Public Works Building and Safety, with Regional Planning, Fire and Public Health reviewing alongside — four agencies, not one counter. They now sit together at the Altadena One-Stop Permit Center, 464 W. Woodbury Rd, Suite 210, walk-ins weekdays 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Pasadena, two minutes south, runs its own permit center and its own code, so a contractor fluent in Pasadena is not automatically fluent here. Long version: rebuilding in Altadena after the Eaton Fire.

Before you budget: County permit and plan check fees are deferred rather than billed for owners rebuilding a single-family home they both owned and lived in before January 7, 2025. Primary residences only — not LLC-held property, rentals or second homes — and utility, school and outside-agency fees are excluded.

Your water company sets your schedule

This is the Altadena item almost nobody prices. Five water agencies serve the community — Kinneloa Irrigation District, Las Flores Water Company, Lincoln Avenue Water Company, Pasadena Water & Power and Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association — and which one is yours depends on your street, not your ZIP code. Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena each have one municipal utility; Altadena has five, four of them small private mutuals.

The County asks for a will-serve letter from your agency even on a like-for-like rebuild, because a new one- or two-family dwelling must meet current fire code: interior sprinklers, a minimum hydrant flow, a minimum meter size. That often means a larger service line than the house had. The County says to expect ten business days or more, but turnaround, fees and fire-flow testing genuinely differ by agency, and some require a separate meter for an ADU. We start this the week drawings start, not after plan check.

Septic, not sewer, on about 600 parcels

Altadena has never been fully sewered. County Public Works counts roughly 600 parcels with no sewer connection, running on septic tanks or cesspools, and that shapes an addition, an ADU or a rebuild more than any finish decision does. Keeping an existing system is allowed on a like-for-like rebuild only — add a bedroom, a bathroom, a pool or an ADU and it has to come up to current standards. If a sewer main sits within 200 feet without crossing a neighbour's lot, you cannot permit a septic repair at all. Extending sewer has been costed near $70 million and is unfunded; neighbourhoods are petitioning for county improvement districts repaid by owners over decades. On site the consequence is simple: septic capacity, not square footage, decides how many bathrooms you can add, and water lines must stay ten feet clear of tanks, laterals and leach fields. Where there is sewer, sewer line replacement costs apply as written.

The CSD decides how big you can build

The Altadena Community Standards District is a supplemental layer of the County zoning code, and its R-1 numbers are Altadena's alone. Gross structural area is capped at 0.25 times the net lot area plus 1,000 square feet, with lot coverage capped by the same formula and a ceiling of 9,000 square feet. A 7,500 square foot lot allows 2,875; 10,000 allows 3,500; 15,000 allows 4,750. Height is 30 feet under a 20,000 square foot lot and 35 feet at or above, two stories maximum, and nothing above 23 feet within 15 feet of any property line — which is what usually reshapes a second-storey addition here.

More that catch people: rear yards run 25 feet under a 20,000 square foot lot and 35 feet above it; a one- to four-bedroom house owes two covered parking spaces, so a garage conversion has to replace them; West Altadena sits in an Equestrian District, where equine buildings stand 35 feet from anything habitable; and ridgeline, hillside and oak standards apply on top. The trap worth naming: gross structural area excludes garages and cellars, but lot coverage counts every structure, so a house that clears the first number can still fail the second once the garage is drawn. The City of Los Angeles rules in how much square footage you can add do not apply here — this formula replaces them.

Check your own parcel before you pay for fire hardening

Fire zoning here is parcel by parcel, not community wide. Most of what burned in the Eaton Fire sat outside the state's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, so nobody should bill you for wildfire-resistant construction without showing you your parcel on the County map first. Where it applies, an Eaton rebuild still builds to the 2022 code and its Chapter 7A under the Governor's executive order, while other projects follow the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code that took effect in January 2026. Either way, budget it as a line: what fire hardening costs, roof replacement costs.

Licensed and bonded

DN Builders Group Inc holds an active California General Building license (#1139710), carries a $25,000 surety bond, and is fully insured. Any project over $500 in labor and materials legally requires a licensed contractor in California. Verify the license with the Contractors State License Board before you sign anything — with us or with anyone else. Here is how to check a contractor's license.

How we work

We walk the property, talk honestly about budget, and give you a fixed, itemized scope before anything is demolished. We pull the permits. Change orders are approved in writing, never sprung at the end. Weekly updates, and a detailed walkthrough at the finish. Completed work is on our portfolio page. For reference: bathrooms typically $25,000 to $50,000, kitchens $45,000 to $90,000, whole-home renovation $150 to $400 per square foot — typical Los Angeles market ranges, not a quote.

Questions

Are you a licensed contractor in Altadena?

Yes. DN Builders Group Inc holds an active California General Building contractor license (#1139710), carries a $25,000 surety bond, and is fully insured. The license covers Altadena and all of California, and can be verified with the Contractors State License Board.

Who issues building permits in Altadena?

Los Angeles County, not a city. Altadena is unincorporated, so plans go to County Public Works Building and Safety, with Regional Planning, Fire and Public Health reviewing alongside. Those counters sit together at the Altadena One-Stop Permit Center, 464 W. Woodbury Rd, Suite 210.

Do I need a will-serve letter from my water company?

Usually yes, even on a like-for-like rebuild, because a new house triggers current fire code: interior sprinklers, a minimum hydrant flow and a minimum meter size. Altadena is split among five water agencies, so the answer depends on your street. The County says to expect ten business days or more, but turnaround and fees differ by agency.

How large a house can I build in Altadena?

In the R-1 zone the Altadena Community Standards District caps gross structural area, and separately lot coverage, at 0.25 times the net lot area plus 1,000 square feet, never above 9,000. A 10,000 square foot lot therefore allows 3,500 square feet. Height is 30 feet under a 20,000 square foot lot and 35 feet at or above it.

Where else we work

Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge, Burbank, and Greater Los Angeles.