Home design
Most of what determines whether a house works is settled early, on a site plan, before anyone has drawn a kitchen. We start with the constraints — setbacks, height, lot coverage, slope, the neighbours, where the sun is — and design outward from them.
What does home design cover?
Home design covers the work between an idea and a permit: testing what the site and the zoning allow, developing the plan, and producing the construction documents a builder prices and a plan checker approves. M&N Home Design carries a project from feasibility through to permit issue and stays involved during construction.
What you get
- Site and zoning analysis
- What the parcel allows, and where the buildable envelope actually is.
- Schematic design
- Plans, elevations and massing, with options rather than a single proposal.
- Design development
- Materials, openings, sections and the decisions that fix the cost.
- Construction documents
- The permit set: dimensioned plans, elevations, sections, details, schedules.
- Title 24 and code compliance
- Energy, egress, fire separation and accessibility where it applies.
- Construction support
- RFIs, revisions and coordination with the general contractor.
Questions we get asked
- Do I need an architect or a designer for a home addition in Los Angeles?
- California does not require a licensed architect for most single-family residential work; a building designer or engineer may prepare the drawings. What the permit does require is a complete, code-compliant set, and structural work must be designed by a licensed engineer or architect. Ask who is stamping the structural drawings before you engage anyone.
- How long does design take before I can submit for permit?
- For a typical addition or new single-family house, the design and documentation phases usually run several months, driven mainly by how quickly decisions are made and how much survey and geotechnical information the site needs. Plan check then adds its own cycle, which depends on the jurisdiction and on how complete the first submittal is.
- What is a permit set and what does it include?
- A permit set is the drawing package a building department reviews: a site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections, construction details, structural drawings and calculations, and the Title 24 energy documentation. It is not the same as a construction set, which carries more detail than a plan checker needs but a builder does.
Guides on this
When you need a Coastal Development Permit in Malibu
The Coastal Act defines development far more broadly than the word suggests. Grading, vegetation removal and changing a structure's size all count.
Do I need a licensed architect for a home addition in California?
For most single-family work, no — Business & Professions Code § 5537 says so. But subdivision (b) decides the real cases, and almost no guide mentions it.
Do you need a soils or geology report for a hillside project?
In a mapped seismic hazard zone the city must require one before approving your project — unless your addition stays under 50% of value or floor area.
Plan check is taking too long: what AB 253 now lets you do about it
Since October 2025 your city must give you an estimated review time — and if it exceeds 30 business days you may hire your own licensed plan checker.
What "like-for-like" actually means when you rebuild after a fire
In the coastal zone it has a statutory definition: same use, same location, and not more than 10% over the destroyed structure's floor area, height or bulk.
Title 24 explained, and what AB 130 froze until 2031
Title 24 is twelve parts, not one energy rule. The 2025 edition took effect January 2026 — and your city is barred from adding its own residential amendments.
Building in a very high fire hazard severity zone: the two systems you have to satisfy
Defensible space and fire-resistant construction are separate obligations under separate law. Zone 0 is the five feet against the wall.
Who issues your building permit in the west Valley and Conejo Valley
Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Malibu and Thousand Oaks are minutes apart and permitted by five different agencies. Which one reviews your project.
Where we provide this service
- Home design in Agoura Hills
- Home design in Calabasas
- Home design in Westlake Village
- Home design in Thousand Oaks
- Home design in Hidden Hills
- Home design in Malibu
- Home design in Woodland Hills
- Home design in Sherman Oaks
- Home design in Tarzana
- Home design in Encino
- Home design in Beverly Hills
- Home design in Brentwood
- Home design in Bel Air
- Home design in Pacific Palisades
- Home design in Los Angeles
Send us the address.
Tell us the property and roughly what you want to build. We come back with what the zoning allows, the likely permit path, and a fixed fee for the first phase.