Your ADU Contractor in Calabasas

Ask who files the LA County Fire package and the fuel modification plan, because in Calabasas nothing gets a permit without them. A builder who has not run a Fire submittal ahead of city plan review, or who leaves the oaks and their protected zones off the site plan, will learn on your schedule. Then ask about the architectural committee, since most Calabasas neighborhoods add one. Master Construction is licensed and insured, Lic. #1027281, family owned in Ventura since 1994, with electrical, plumbing, concrete, drywall and roofing on our own crews. One contract covers the Zoning Clearance, the building permit, the Fire approvals and the build.

The shape of the unit is the first driver. A garage conversion keeps its walls, roof and slab; a detached guest house pays for a foundation, framing, a WUI-rated exterior and PV; a JADU carved out of the house splits the difference. Size comes next, because impact fees start at 750 sq ft. Then the lot: a flat Calabasas Park yard takes a conventional slab, while a hillside pad asks for a geotechnical read, stepped footings and often a grading permit. Add the utility runs, a possible 200-amp panel upgrade, the fuel modification landscaping, any oak mitigation, and a stock plan versus a custom set. We walk the lot first and put the number in a written fixed-price scope.

Count the approvals before the construction. As of 2026 the city has 15 business days to confirm the application is complete, 60 days from a complete application to approve or deny, and 30 days on a detached unit built from a city pre-approved plan; the city says each pre-approved review round runs about five business days. In front of that sit the LA County Fire plan approval and the Fuel Modification Unit approval, both required before the permit issues, plus an oak tree report wherever the work reaches a protected zone. Construction then runs through foundation, framing, the trades, the WUI exterior and Fire's signature on the certificate of occupancy.

Yes, three of them, free from the city and revised in January 2026: a 554 sq ft studio, a 750 sq ft one-bedroom and a 1,001 sq ft two-bedroom, each in Cottage, Ranch and Spanish elevations. The sets are about 80% complete, all-electric with no gas option, and Plans 2 and 3 carry PV. You still need a site-specific plan showing setbacks, slopes, drainage, the subpanel and every oak with its protected zone, and any change to structure, size or floor plan drops you out of the program. The city reviews in about five business days per round and reduces the building plan-check fee.

Yes, and on a Calabasas Park or Mulwood lot it is usually the least expensive unit available. A unit built entirely inside a legally established existing garage needs no side or rear setback, the city cannot make you replace the parking the garage held, and a conversion counts as an addition under the 2025 Energy Code, so no PV mandate. The unit needs its own exterior entrance with no internal connection to the house, at least 220 sq ft, and the same LA County Fire plan approval and fuel modification plan as any other ADU. The attached garages in the 1970s to 2000s tracts usually need a panel check first.

Yes, on every lot. The city's ADU FAQ states that all properties in Calabasas are in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and that fuel modification is required. Two LA County Fire approvals come before the city permit. First, the Fire plan review: the city wants proof of submittal before its own plan check starts and the approval before the permit issues. Second, a Fuel Modification Plan approved by the Forestry Division's Fuel Modification Unit, which sets three managed zones reaching 200 ft or the lot line, records a covenant and inspects the landscaping. If any part of the unit sits more than 150 ft from the street, Fire requires apparatus access.

Yes, on any term longer than 30 days. Calabasas bans any rental or occupancy of a property or part of one for under 30 days citywide under CMC 17.12.175, and the custom ADU checklist has the owner acknowledge that rule under penalty of perjury. There is no owner-occupancy requirement; the city's FAQ states the owner does not have to live in either home, so a detached ADU can be rented separately from the house by a non-resident owner. What you cannot do is sell the ADU on its own, because the deed restriction keeps it with the primary dwelling. Long-term demand comes from corridor employees, school-district families and downsizers.

No. Civil Code 4751 voids any CC&R provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts an ADU on a single-family lot, and the state ADU handbook adds that an association may set limited objective design standards but nothing stricter than state ADU law. What a Calabasas architectural committee can still do is review color, materials, roof form and visibility against those objective standards, and in the guard-gated communities it also manages worker registration, hours and parking. The Zoning Clearance application does not call for an HOA letter, so the two reviews run on separate clocks. We prepare the committee package and the city package together, matched to the main house.

Yes, and one contract covers all three. We start on the lot: zone, rear-yard coverage, oak protected zones, slope and grading, the street distance that triggers Fire access, panel capacity, sewer or septic, and whether one of the city's three pre-approved plans fits. The drawings are priced as they are produced. We file the Zoning Clearance on the Planning Portal, the building set on the Building and Safety Portal, and the Fire and fuel modification submittals ahead of plan check. Our crews pour, frame, wire, plumb, drywall, roof and finish the WUI exterior, and we carry the file through Fire's signature and the certificate of occupancy. (805) 667-8800 puts the feasibility read on the calendar.