Home/Malibu/Fire rebuild contractor
Rebuilding in Malibu after fire, with a builder who has done it here before.
Burned lots on the bluff and up the canyons, 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, a Malibu fire rebuild finished, and four more under way in the Palisades.
After the fire
The lot is yours. The lot has changed.
Malibu has been here before, after Woolsey in 2018 and again after January 2025, and the lesson is the same each time. Before anyone talks about the house, someone has to establish what the fire and the cleanup did to the ground: a current survey, a soils report, the state of the septic system and the utilities. Rebuilds that stall usually skipped one of those.
From there it is custom home building on a harder first chapter. 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 handles the business side, including the paperwork your claim needs from a builder. You deal with the two of us throughout.
Three ways a Malibu lot comes to us
The path depends on where you are. The standard does not.
A burned lot, no plans yet
You own the ground and the insurance file. We survey the lot, order the soils and septic work, read your policy with you, and design a home that fits the rebuild path where it can. One team from the first sketch to the keys.
Like-for-like, or close to it
You want what you had, brought up to the code and to how you live now. Rebuilds that substantially match the original home move through review faster than a new design. We keep you inside that envelope wherever the design allows and say 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.
Permits, code and the claim
Three things a Malibu rebuild has to get right early.
The right office
Inside the city limits your rebuild runs through the City of Malibu, with the coastal zone reviewed alongside it. Lots in the unincorporated canyons run through the County of Los Angeles. The two paths differ in forms, fees and timing, and we confirm which one holds your lot before a line is drawn.
The wildfire code
Every rebuild we build in Malibu is detailed to California's wildland-urban interface standard: ignition-resistant assemblies, ember-resistant vents, tempered glazing, decks built for embers. It is the same standard on the fast path and the standard path, and it is the reason the next house stands.
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 give your adjuster a line-item document rather than a lump sum.
Rebuilding now
Two Malibu rebuilds under way, five more in the Palisades.
Paseo Portola and Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu; the same January 2025 fire, the same wildfire code, the same family on the sites. Street names for now; house numbers on the owners' say-so. Ask and we will walk you through one.
- Paseo Portola, MalibuUnder way
- Pacific Coast Highway, MalibuUnder way
- Pacific Palisades, five homesUnder construction
- Altadena and Brentwood, three homesUnder way
A family firm
The people whose name is on the firm are on your site.
Four to five 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 Malibu families ask us
Before you sign anything.
Yes. A contemporary Malibu home rebuilt after fire is in our portfolio, detailed to the wildfire code and finished as a family home. Four more fire rebuilds are under way with us in Pacific Palisades today.
Inside the city limits, by the City of Malibu, with the coastal zone reviewed alongside. Lots in the unincorporated canyons run through the County of Los Angeles. We confirm which office holds your lot before we design, because the two paths differ.
No, but rebuilding substantially what stood before, with a modest allowance for added size, is the faster path through review. We keep you inside that envelope where the design allows, and tell you the cost in time when a wish steps outside it.
That is one of the first things we have inspected. Fire and cleanup can damage an onsite wastewater system, and its condition and capacity can set the size of the rebuilt house. We have it assessed before the design starts.
Yes. We write a line-item scope your adjuster can work from, separate the code-required upgrades so ordinance-and-law coverage can be claimed, and stay involved through the claim.
Elsewhere on the coast and in the hills
Fire-resistant construction
The four systems we build with, and the code underneath them.
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.