Home/Topanga/Fire rebuild contractor
Rebuilding in Topanga after fire, through the County, with the same team that is rebuilding next door.
Burned canyon 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, a Malibu fire rebuild finished, and ten fire rebuilds under way across Los Angeles, five of them in the Palisades from the same fire.
After the fire
A canyon rebuild starts with the road, the septic and the ground.
The house is gone and the lot has changed. Heat alters soils, cleanup moves earth, and in Topanga two more things sit under the house that a city lot does not have: a septic system that may or may not have survived, and a driveway the fire department will look at again before it signs off. Before anyone talks about the house, those get inspected, along with a current survey and a soils report. Rebuilds that stall usually skipped one of them.
From there it is custom home building on a harder first chapter, through the County's rebuild path rather than the City's. 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.
Three ways a Topanga 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, have the access reviewed, read your policy with you, and design a home that fits the County's rebuild path where it can.
Like-for-like, or close to it
You want what you had, brought up to the code and to how you live now. A home that substantially matches the original moves 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 Topanga rebuild has to get right early.
The County's path
Topanga rebuilds run through the County of Los Angeles: its building and planning departments, its fire department's access and water review, and the coastal plan where the lot falls under it. The County's rebuild path after January 2025 has its own forms and its own sequence, and we file in the right shape for it.
The wildfire code
Every rebuild we build in the canyon is detailed to California's wildland-urban interface standard: ignition-resistant assemblies, ember-resistant vents, tempered glazing, decks built for embers. Fast path or standard path, the code is the same, 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, over the ridge
Five fire rebuilds under way in the Palisades.
The same fire, the same wildfire code, the same family on the sites. Ask and we will walk you through one.
- Paseo Miramar, the hillsideFramed, August 2026
- Paseo Miramar, two more lotsUnder way
- Swarthmore AvenueUnder construction
- Via de la PazUnder construction
A family firm
The people whose name is on the sign 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 Topanga families ask us
Before you sign anything.
The County of Los Angeles, because Topanga is unincorporated. The County set up its own rebuild path after the January 2025 fires, and its fire department reviews access and water alongside the building permit. We confirm the exact path for your lot before we design.
No, but a home that substantially matches what stood before, with a modest allowance for added size, moves through review faster than a new design. We keep you inside that envelope where the design allows and tell you the cost in time when a wish steps out of it.
Both get inspected first. Fire and cleanup can damage a septic system, and the fire department may ask more of a driveway now than it did when the old house was permitted. Their condition can set the size and placement of the rebuilt house.
Yes. A Malibu home rebuilt after fire is finished, a Hollywood Hills hillside rebuild is detailed for fire, and five Palisades rebuilds from the same January 2025 fire are under way with us now. Topanga would be the same team, the same engineers and the same code.
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.