coastal · Services

Design, Planning & Permitting Support in Pacific Palisades

Palisades, Los Angeles

Forma Homes delivers design, planning & permitting support across Pacific Palisades and the surrounding coastal neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Coastal-zone luxury remodeling in the Palisades: Coastal Commission, hillside, salt-air detailing.

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  • License #1140511
  • Licensed & Insured
  • Serving LA's Westside

What makes design, planning & permitting support different in Pacific Palisades

Pacific Palisades sits in California's Coastal Zone, which adds Coastal Commission review on top of LADBS plan check. The Highlands and Castellammare are hillside; the Alphabet Streets sit on flat lots near the Village. Salt air shifts the materials playbook: copper-clad windows over standard aluminum, marine-grade fasteners, and exterior systems that handle UV plus fog cycling. After the 2024 fires, finish-grade restoration is in particular demand here.

Hillside parcels in Pacific Palisades carry their own engineering load. Drainage, retaining-wall design, caissons where pools or major additions are part of the scope, and fire-zone defensible-space requirements all shape how a design, planning & permitting support project gets sequenced. We coordinate hillside engineering at the design phase, not at construction.

Pacific Palisades sits in the California Coastal Zone, which means Coastal Commission review applies on top of standard permitting. We plan around that: typically 8–16 weeks of additional plan-check time depending on scope. Salt-air corrosion also drives material decisions: copper and stainless flashings, marine-grade fasteners, and assemblies engineered for marine exposure are the default rather than the upgrade.

Most Pacific Palisades homes were built before 1980. That means galvanized supply lines, undersized electrical panels, original gas runs, and rough-in plumbing that hasn't been touched in decades. Once walls open during a design, planning & permitting support project, we expect to bring the underlying systems to current code, not as a surprise, as a plan.

Pacific Palisades runs its own permitting through LADBS + Coastal Commission. Plan-check timelines run on a separate clock from LADBS. We've worked through the local department often enough to know what their reviewers flag and what they wave through, so we submit the right drawing set the first time.

Common architecture in Pacific Palisades: Mediterranean, Cape Cod, Spanish Colonial Revival. We design coastal renovations to honor what's already there while bringing systems and finishes up to current code and current standards.

What's Included

  • Space planning built around how you actually use each room
  • Material and finish selection with physical samples in your own light
  • Photorealistic 3D renderings before anything gets ordered
  • Coordinated construction set: floor plans, elevations, MEP layouts, finish schedules
  • LADBS plan check, Title 24 energy docs, and correction cycles handled start to finish
  • Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, hillside, Coastal Commission, and HPOZ coordination
  • HOA submittals, samples, and approval meetings
  • Value engineering and phased plans that hold up structurally and on schedule

Ready to plan your remodel?

Schedule a free consultation and get a transparent estimate for your Pacific Palisades home.

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