Outdoor Kitchens & California Rooms · Los Angeles County
Outdoor kitchens, patio covers and California rooms in Los Angeles County, with gas, electrical and permits handled by one licensed design-build team.
Tell us about the house. A project manager will call to set up a walk-through.
Prefer to talk? Call (714) 449-9035
Los Angeles County is 88 cities plus a large unincorporated area, and that matters before any outdoor kitchen is drawn. The City of Los Angeles permits through LADBS, unincorporated areas go through LA County Public Works, and the other cities each run their own building departments with their own patio cover setbacks. The housing is just as varied: 1920s and 1930s homes in Pasadena, Glendale and Long Beach, postwar ranch tracts across the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, and hillside lots in the Santa Monica Mountains and San Gabriel foothills.
Climate changes the design too. In the South Bay and along the coast, salt air drives material choices. In the valleys, summer heat and sun push people toward solid covers with fans and away from dark countertops that get too hot to touch. Many hillside and canyon neighborhoods are in mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, where wildland-urban interface rules limit framing and roofing materials for attached covers. Older homes often need a panel or gas check before refrigeration, lights and heaters go on.
Los Angeles County is one of our two primary service areas, and we’ve built there for more than 18 years. We work with LADBS, LA County Public Works and the individual city building departments, and we plan for the differences in their submittals and patio cover rules. Horizon is a licensed Class B general building contractor, bonded and insured. We design the kitchen, cover and utilities as one plan, check the panel and gas capacity on older homes at the first visit, and handle permits and construction under one contract, with one project manager.
Each city page covers who issues the permit there, what the local housing stock looks like and what that means for your project.
In most cities in Los Angeles County, yes. A patio cover is a structure, and the plans have to show footings, framing, the connection to the house and where it sits relative to the property lines. Gas lines, new outdoor circuits and plumbing for an outdoor kitchen need permits too. Each city and the county’s unincorporated areas run their own building departments, so setbacks and submittal requirements vary. We pull the permits on every project.
If your home is in an HOA, probably. Many associations in Los Angeles County have an architectural committee that reviews patio covers, outdoor kitchens and other exterior changes before work starts, and some set their own rules on height, color and placement. HOA review usually comes before the city permit. We prepare drawings for both reviews and build the HOA timeline into the schedule.
It can. Parts of Los Angeles County are in mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zones, which you can look up on the State Fire Marshal’s map. In those areas, construction attached to the house follows the wildland-urban interface rules in Chapter 7A of the California Building Code and Section R337 of the Residential Code, which limits the framing and roofing materials for a patio cover. We check the zone at the first visit.
When it’s enclosed beyond the code’s patio cover rules or heated and cooled as living space. A patio cover has to stay open on the longer side and one more side and can’t be a habitable room. Once it crosses that line, it needs house setbacks, foundations and framing like the rest of the home, and Title 24 energy compliance documents with the permit. We settle which one you’re building during design.
Planning outdoor kitchens and California rooms in Los Angeles County? Schedule a consultation or call (714) 449-9035.
Horizon Construction & Remodeling, Class B General Building Contractor.
