Rebuild Takeover

Inspections stop. Weeks pass with no inspection on the record, or a failed inspection sits with nobody correcting it.

Paperwork goes missing. The stamped plans are not on site, an engineering letter is not where the inspector expects it, or a review the agency opened is still waiting on an answer.

Answers slow down. Your builder reschedules, stops coming, or gives you one date while the record shows another.

Money runs ahead of the work. You are asked to pay for materials that are not on site or for work that is not done.

In unincorporated Los Angeles County, which includes Altadena, a building permit expires if work has not started within 12 months of issuance, or if work lapses for more than 180 days at any time after it starts. After a permit expires, a new application and new plan check and permit fees apply, according to County Public Works.

The permittee can request extensions of 180 days each in writing, and an extension can carry a fee of up to a quarter of the permit fee. Ask before the date on your record, not after it.

In Pacific Palisades and Malibu the City rules apply, and the rebuild page for each area sets them out. Whatever you have heard at a counter, I plan against the date printed on your permit record until the agency confirms another one in writing.

1. The record first. Through your own EPIC-LA or LADBS access we read the permit, its inspection history, and any open reviews together, so we both know what the agency has approved and what it is still waiting for.

2. What your first builder owes you. The plans and engineering, the approvals, the list of subcontractors and suppliers with what each is owed, lien releases for what you have paid, and the product warranties. Subcontractors and suppliers give owners a Preliminary Notice before they start or up to 20 days after; the Contractors State License Board describes those notices as the way to track who has a potential claim against your property.

3. The site, photographed. Two days at the house: what was built against the plans, what passed, what did not, and what needs to be opened to be sure. The Contractors State License Board advises owners to take pictures of defective and incomplete work before hiring a new licensed contractor, and I do that with you on the first day.

4. A written report. What stands, what needs correcting, and what finishing the house takes, in the order the inspector will want to see it.

5. A fixed written scope and agreement. Corrections and completion are priced in writing from that report, with each payment stage tied to a milestone you can verify on site.

A takeover starts with a paid assessment at a fixed fee, agreed in writing before the first site day, and the report is yours whether or not we go on together. Completion is priced by what the report finds and by the plans you already hold. Share the budget range you plan in the build request, and I will tell you early whether the house and the budget agree.