General Contractor in Burbank, CA

What changes about a remodel when the house is in Burbank?

Start with the age of the housing, because it sets the hidden costs. Burbank's townsite opened on May 1, 1887, and the city incorporated in 1911. Lockheed's plant and the film lots pulled population from 16,662 in 1930 to 78,577 in 1950, and the City's own historic context report describes defense worker housing, mostly Minimal Traditional houses in a few repeated plans, filling the west and southwest side. Census Bureau 2024 estimates count 46,928 housing units. About 37 percent were built before 1950, about 70 percent before 1980, and 56.7 percent of occupied units are rented. Houses that old often hide lead paint, original wiring and galvanized pipe, which is why a kitchen remodel or bathroom remodel here usually begins with a look behind the walls, and why a house painting or window replacement job can fall under EPA's lead-safe renovation rule.

Permits run through the Building & Safety Division of Community Development, and the Burbank permit counter page sorts every job into two tiers. Tier 1 is repair and maintenance with no plan check, including reroofing, and many single-family permits of that kind can be pulled online. Tier 2 covers additions, alterations and accessory dwelling units, and it goes through plan check and zoning review. Since January 1, 2026 the city enforces the 2025 California Building Code with local amendments. Anything started without a permit that needed one draws an investigation fee equal to the permit fee, on top of the permit. We tell you which tier your scope lands in before you sign anything, whether it is a room addition, an ADU or a new deck.

The street side of a Burbank lot is more regulated than most owners expect. In R-1 zones a front yard fence tops out at 4 feet and must be open above 2 feet, new chain link is banned in front and street-facing side yards, and only 45 percent of a front setback may be paved, which shapes every fence project and concrete driveway plan. Wood shake and shingle roofs are prohibited citywide, so any roof repair or replacement starts from a noncombustible covering, and a Class A rating is what the City recommends when a roof is replaced. New flooring is the one trade that usually needs no permit at all, because the City's exempt list covers tile and carpet, though a condo association or landlord may still require approval.

The northern edge of the city is a different jurisdiction in practice. Foothill lots north of Sunset Canyon Drive and Bel Aire Drive follow hillside height and view rules, and a Hillside Development Permit comes before the building permit for grading, more than 16 feet of height or more than 3,000 square feet of floor area. The Rancho area near the old equestrian district adds a Rancho Review Board and a ranch-style design standard, and horse-keeping R-1-H lots allow an ADU only as a conversion. The fire map matters on both: a parcel touching more than one hazard zone is treated as the highest one, and Very High parcels owe annual brush clearance. Burbank also lists no historic districts, only 16 individual properties, so the lot's zone and the fire map decide most outcomes, not a preservation overlay. Neighbors compare notes with our pages for Glendale and Los Angeles, which sit on either side of the foothills.