General Contractor in Northridge, CA

Dn Builders Group Inc Services is a licensed general building contractor based in Burbank, working throughout Northridge — kitchen and bathroom remodels, whole-home renovations, seismic retrofits, additions, ADUs and commercial build-outs. Northridge gave its name to the 1994 earthquake and the collapse that rewrote the city’s retrofit law, plans land use under a 1995 community plan, and includes Sherwood Forest’s estate lots next to CSUN.

What we build in Northridge

Northridge Meadows and the retrofit law it created

The January 17, 1994 earthquake carries the Northridge name even though later refinements placed the epicenter just over the line in Reseda. Its deadliest single failure happened here. The Northridge Meadows apartments at 9565 Reseda Boulevard, a three-story, 120-unit complex with parking tucked under the living floors, collapsed onto its ground level. Sixteen people died there, out of 57 deaths across the region.

That building type — wood frame, open parking below, apartments above — is exactly what Los Angeles later made mandatory to fix. Under Ordinances 183893 and 184081 (2015), a building must be retrofitted if it has two or more wood-frame stories, was built before January 1, 1978, has parking or similar open space on the ground floor, and holds more than three residential units. Owners who receive an Order to Comply get two years to submit plans, three and a half years to pull a permit, and seven years to finish construction.

Northridge has plenty of 1960s and 1970s apartment buildings of that type. If you are renovating units anyway, we coordinate with your structural engineer so the retrofit and remodel share one permit sequence. For single-family homes the rule does not apply, but bolting the house to its foundation and bracing cripple walls while floors are open is still cheap insurance — see our earthquake retrofit guide for the San Fernando Valley and what foundation repair costs in Los Angeles. Many houses were repaired in a hurry in 1994–95, so we inspect foundations and chimneys first.

A community plan written the year after the quake

Land use in Northridge follows the Northridge Community Plan, which the city last updated in 1995 and which covers both Northridge and Sherwood Forest. Most of it is flat postwar tract land, so hillside rules rarely apply. The house matters more: 1950s–60s construction usually means galvanized supply pipe, an original 100-amp service and thin insulation, the same list we cover in what’s behind the walls of a 1950s Valley home. A modern kitchen, heat pump or EV charger usually pushes that panel to 200 amps through LADWP — see the electrical panel upgrade guide.

Permits go through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety at the Van Nuys office, 6262 Van Nuys Blvd. For background, read remodeling in Northridge — what to know.

Sherwood Forest: estate lots next to CSUN

Between Nordhoff Street, Balboa Boulevard, the railroad and Lindley Avenue sits Sherwood Forest, which the Los Angeles City Council formally recognized as a named neighborhood in 2012 on an 11–0 vote. It was laid out as estates of one to a couple of acres, from the era when Northridge billed itself the “Horse Capital of the West,” and holds roughly 1,200 properties today.

Large lots allow projects a standard parcel cannot: a detached ADU with its own yard, a primary-suite addition, a pool house. We pull the zoning on ZIMAS first. If a lot is zoned RA, RE20 or RE40, new habitable space triggers the city’s equine-keeping checklist and site-plan distances under zoning bulletin ZI 2438, whether or not horses live there now. For numbers, see what an ADU costs in Los Angeles in 2026 and how much square footage you can add. A 600–800 sq ft detached ADU typically runs about $150,000–$350,000 — typical Los Angeles market ranges, not a quote.

Licensed and bonded

Dn Builders Group Inc Services holds an active California General Building license (#1139710), carries a $25,000 surety bond, and is fully insured. Any California project over $500 in labor and materials legally requires a licensed contractor. Verify ours, or anyone’s, with the CSLB — here is how to check a contractor’s license in about two minutes.

How we work

We check the soft-story ordinance, the lot’s zoning and what 1994 left in the structure, then walk the space, talk honestly about budget, and give a fixed, itemized scope before anything is demolished. Permits are pulled by us. Change orders are approved in writing, never sprung at the end. You get a weekly update, every week, and a detailed walkthrough when we finish. You can see finished work on our portfolio page.

Questions

Are you a licensed contractor in Northridge?

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

Do permits for Northridge go through LADBS?

Yes. Northridge is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, so plans, permits and inspections run through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, with the Van Nuys office at 6262 Van Nuys Blvd as the working counter for the Valley. Land use follows the Northridge Community Plan, last updated in 1995, which also covers Sherwood Forest.

Does the soft-story retrofit ordinance apply to my Northridge building?

It applies if the building is two or more stories of wood-frame construction, was built before January 1, 1978, has parking or similar open space on the ground floor, and has more than three residential units. Those buildings fall under Los Angeles Ordinances 183893 and 184081. Single-family homes and small buildings of three units or fewer are excluded, though bolting a house to its foundation during a remodel is still worth doing.

What should I check before remodeling a larger Sherwood Forest lot?

Start with the zoning on the city's ZIMAS map. Sherwood Forest was laid out as estates of one to a couple of acres, so many lots still have room for a detached ADU or a large addition. If the lot is zoned RA, RE20 or RE40, new habitable space triggers the city's equine-keeping checklist and site-plan distances under ZI 2438, even if no horses live there today.

Where else we work

Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, and Greater Los Angeles.