Where the building can sit

Setback rules are written city by city, and they are not the same across the county. Some cities are stricter than you would guess and some let a small building sit closer to a line than you would guess. It moves where the building can sit more often than people expect. We measure it at the site visit, before anything is ordered.

Fire hazard areas inland

Parts of inland San Diego County, including Escondido, Ramona, Poway, Alpine, Fallbrook and the back country, fall inside mapped fire hazard severity zones. It gets assigned parcel by parcel rather than city by city, so we look yours up before we quote it. Where a parcel is in one, the city or the county sets what the exterior has to be, and that can reach past siding and roofing into eaves, vents and openings. Our standard build already goes out with cement board siding and an asphalt shingle roof. If your parcel needs more than that, we will tell you what it adds before you sign anything.

The coastal strip

Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar. Close to a bluff, or inside a coastal overlay, a project can pick up a second layer of review on top of the city’s. We will tell you what we know about the timeline going in. How long the review itself takes is not ours to control.

Canyon and hillside lots

North County and the inland valleys are full of lots with real fall across the pad. That is what the pier foundation is for. Treated beams, joists hung in metal hangers, a plywood floor screwed down instead of nailed, and the same price as a slab.

The marine layer

Coastal San Diego runs damp for a good part of the year. A sealed, painted cement-board exterior over house wrap, and a floor that is either a slab on a vapor barrier or a framed floor above grade, is what keeps a building dry through it.