Home/Where we build/Encino
Custom home builder in Encino, a short drive from our own front door.
Ground-up custom homes and tear-downs on the big lots south of the boulevard, second floors and whole-house remodels on the streets north of it, and the hillside above. Addition Building & Design is a family-run design-build firm with its office in Sherman Oaks and forty years as a builder in the valley.
Photograph · a Los Angeles custom home by the firm
Encino
Big lots, old houses, and a hill.
Encino's lots are the most generous in this part of the valley, and that changes the arithmetic. A tear-down and a ground-up custom home make sense here in a way they rarely do a mile east. So does an estate addition, a guest house, or a second floor on a ranch house that has been waiting for one since the sixties. Above the boulevard the streets climb into the City's hillside zone, where the ground and the rules both get harder, and where our hillside work across Los Angeles is the relevant experience.
We have built in Encino and we are based next door. 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. Four to five projects a year, because that is how many the family can personally be present for.
The work
The valley and the Westside, one standard.
Bell Canyon, ground up
A modern farmhouse at the west end of the valley. The kind of house an Encino lot can hold.
Sherman Oaks, next door
A guest house at the back of a family lot. Encino's lots make the same building easier.
Pool house and outdoor room
An accessory building that reads as part of the house, built for the valley summer.
What an Encino project involves
Three things we settle before we price.
Tear down or keep
On a big Encino lot the honest question is whether the existing house is worth saving. We give you the answer with numbers: what a remodel and a second floor would cost against what a ground-up home would, on your lot, under the City's zoning.
The hillside rules
South of the boulevard the streets climb into the City of Los Angeles hillside zone. Height is measured from the slope, grading is reviewed, and access matters. We have run that review across Los Angeles for years and it is in the feasibility work, not a surprise later.
The accessory buildings
Guest houses, pool houses and ADUs work well on Encino's lots. Setbacks and lot coverage decide the size, and the City's ADU rules decide the path. We settle both before the first drawing.
An Encino voice
Mike Ross is the most honest contractor we have ever worked with; he is extremely knowledgeable, and his worker’s craftsmanship is top notch! He is always concerned about our budget and worked extremely hard to stay on budget for us in both of our projects.A client · Encino · two projects in five years
A family firm
The owners of the company, on your site.
You work with the family that owns the company, on site, through every phase. A builder with forty years in Los Angeles, a daughter carrying the firm forward, and one phone number: 310.617.2722.
A valley client, on an addition and whole-house remodel: "Mike Ross, owner of Addition Building & Design, kept all the sub-contractors on time & in budget!" Ken W, Sherman Oaks.
Questions Encino families ask us
The answers before you commit.
Both. Encino's larger lots south of the boulevard suit a ground-up home or a tear-down, and its older houses suit a second floor or a whole-house remodel. The same team does each.
They fall under the City of Los Angeles hillside rules: height measured from the slope, grading review, access. Hillside work is what this firm is known for, and it is in our feasibility review before we price. Our hillside work.
Yes. We have built accessory buildings across the valley and the Westside, and Encino's lot sizes make them work well. Zoning and setbacks decide the size; we settle that first.
On Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, a short drive east on Ventura. A first meeting can be at the office or on your property. How to reach us.
We walk the house or the lot first, then build a line-item, fixed scope, tell you when that price locks, and put every change in writing before it happens. How we build.
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.