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Rebuilding in Altadena after the Eaton fire, with a builder who knows the County's path.
Burned lots, like-for-like rebuilds and new designs on old ground. Addition Building & Design is a family-run design-build firm with forty years as a builder in Los Angeles County, rebuilding after the fires in the Palisades and in Altadena.
Photograph · a rebuild by the firm, framed
After the Eaton fire
The lot is yours. The lot has changed.
In January 2025 the Eaton fire took thousands of Altadena homes in a night, whole blocks of them. The debris has been cleared, and what is left is a lot that is not quite the lot you owned: heat alters soils, the cleanup took out foundations and moved earth, utilities were cut at the street. Before anyone talks about kitchens, someone has to establish what you actually own now. A current survey, a soils report, and a plain read of what the fire did to the ground. That is where we start, and it is the step that rebuilds which stall usually skipped.
From there it is the work we do everywhere: Mike Ross holds the license, signs the contract, settles the design with our design partners, has it engineered by our structural engineers, pulls the permit and walks the site. Christine Ross runs the business and your claim paperwork alongside it. You deal with the two of us, not a rotation of project managers.
Three ways an Altadena lot comes to us
Where you are decides the path, not the standard.
A cleared lot, no plans yet
You own the ground and the insurance file. We survey the lot, order the soils work, read your policy with you, and design a home that fits the County's rebuild path where it can. One team from the first sketch to the keys.
The house you had, brought back
Altadena's craftsman bungalows and Spanish houses can come back as what they were, detailed for embers. Rebuilds that substantially match the original, with a modest allowance for added size, move through the County's review faster than a new design. We keep you inside that envelope where the design allows and tell you plainly when a wish steps out of it.
Plans in hand, builder needed
Your architect has a set at plan check or already approved. We review it for cost and buildability before you commit, price it line by line, pull the permit as contractor of record, and build it.
Rebuilding is what we are doing now
Fire rebuilds across the county, one family on all of them.
Altadena is one of the five fire areas we are working in, with two homes under way here, on West Pentagon Street and West Mariposa Street. The Hollywood Hills rebuild pictured was detailed to the wildfire code before the 2025 fires made it the county's question.
- Altadena, two homesUnder way
- Pacific Palisades, five homesUnder construction
- Malibu, two homesUnder way
- Brentwood, Bundy DriveUnder construction
- Pasadena, Valleylights DriveStarting
- Hollywood Hills, a hillside rebuildComplete
Permits, code and the claim
The three things an Altadena rebuild has to get right early.
The County's rebuild path
Altadena is unincorporated, so the rebuild runs through Los Angeles County: building and safety for the drawings, County fire for access and the wildfire assemblies, public works where the street or the drainage changed. The County runs a dedicated path for Eaton fire lots. We file in the right shape for the right office and answer corrections the same week.
The wildfire code
Every rebuild in the Altadena foothills is detailed to California's wildland-urban interface standard: ignition-resistant assemblies, ember-resistant vents, tempered glazing, decks and porches built for embers. Fast path or standard path, the code is the same, and it is the reason the next house stands. How we build to it.
The insurance scope
Your settlement was written against the house you lost, not the one the code now requires. We separate the code-required upgrades in the scope so your ordinance-and-law coverage can be claimed, and we give your adjuster a line-item document to work from, not a lump sum.
A client's voice
From start to finish, they were a company I could trust, providing high-quality work that was consistently on time and within budget.Rich and Dwight · clients of Addition Building & Design
A family firm
The people whose name is on the firm are on your site.
Four to five new projects a year is the only way a family can stay personally involved in every build. A builder with forty years in Los Angeles, a daughter carrying the firm forward, and one phone number: 310.617.2722.
Questions Altadena families ask us
Before you sign anything.
With the ground. A current survey and a soils report tell us what the fire and the debris removal changed, and they decide the foundation before any drawing is worth paying for. We arrange both, then sit down with you and your policy.
Los Angeles County. Altadena is unincorporated, so the County's building and safety office reviews the drawings, with County fire reviewing the wildfire assemblies and access. The County runs a dedicated rebuild path for lots in the Eaton fire area.
The County's rebuild path favors homes that substantially match what stood before, with a modest allowance for added size. Stay inside that envelope and review is faster. Step outside it and you enter the standard process. We tell you the cost in time before you decide.
Yes. We build a line-item scope your adjuster can work from, separate the code-required upgrades so your ordinance-and-law coverage can be claimed, and stay involved through the claim.
Yes. The wildfire code governs the assemblies, not the style. Deep eaves get enclosed and vented for embers, siding and roofing become ignition-resistant versions of what was there, and the porch is detailed for embers. It reads as the house you had.
Yes. Two Altadena homes are under way with us, on West Pentagon Street and West Mariposa Street, and ten fire rebuilds in all across Altadena, the Palisades, Malibu and Brentwood, with the first in Pasadena starting. We take on four to five new projects a year on purpose, so the family stays on every site.
Elsewhere in the valley and the east
Private Consultation
Begin with a conversation.
We take on a select number of significant projects each year. If you are considering a custom estate, a hillside build, or a full transformation, we would be glad to walk the property with you.