Fast, Reliable Home Addition Contractor Across Hidden Hills
A home addition in Hidden Hills typically runs $250 – $450 per square foot for standard construction, with second-story additions landing closer to $350 – $550 per square foot due to structural work and temporary weatherproofing during the build. Most Hidden Hills additions take 5 – 9 months from permit submission to final inspection, and the Hidden Hills Community Association’s architectural review adds 4 – 10 weeks to that timeline that neighboring cities don’t face. We’ve built additions on Long Valley Road, off Round Meadow, and throughout the gated sections of Hidden Hills, and we plan that HOA review cycle into the schedule before the first wall opens. Call (254) 602-5618 and we’ll give you a written price for your specific lot, not a ballpark.
Hidden Hills is California’s only fully gated, incorporated equestrian city, and nearly every addition here has to clear a dual-approval path: the city building department and the Hidden Hills Community Association’s architectural review committee. California Civil Code §4751 bars the HHCA from outright prohibiting ADUs, but the association still controls design, materials, and aesthetics. That means a Hidden Hills addition can sit in review for months after the city permit is issued, and a contractor who doesn’t plan for that waits until it’s too late to tell you. We price that review cycle into the schedule up front.
Why Lodgewick ADU Builders Is Hidden Hills’s Preferred Home Addition Contractor Company
We’re the ADU company of the Kingswell family, and our Home Addition Contractor team has handled second-story additions, room additions, and garage conversions across Hidden Hills since 2010. Every job operates under The Kingswell Guarantee: a written price before work begins, a defined arrival window, a clean job site, and a written guarantee on every project. If the work isn’t right, we come back and make it right within 365 days. That’s not a slogan. It’s in the contract, signed, before we move a single stud.
Hidden Hills homeowners have told us the same story for years: a contractor gives a verbal number, the crew shows up late, and the price moves once walls open. We don’t build that way. The Kingswell Way means saying the price before the work, showing up in the window we gave you, leaving the property cleaner than we found it, putting the guarantee in writing, and coming back if anything fails. Russ Delmar leads our crews, and every technician on your Hidden Hills property is background-checked and uniformed, so you always know who’s walking your lot.
Second Story Addition Contractor in Hidden Hills
A Second Story Addition Contractor in Hidden Hills is handling a different job than the same square footage in a flat part of the Valley. Second-story work means temporarily opening the roof, carrying load down through walls that were designed for a single story, and tying new framing into 1950s – 80s ranch construction that may not have been built to modern lateral-load standards. On Hidden Hills’s large equestrian lots, we also coordinate with detached stables and barns so your addition doesn’t block barn access or the hose-out paths that keep a horse property functional. Expect $350 – $550 per square foot depending on whether the lower floor needs structural upgrades.
Structural upgrades before the second story goes up
Most Hidden Hills ranch homes from the 1950s through the 1980s were framed with 2×4 walls on 16-inch centers and may carry undersized headers over wide living-room openings. Before adding a second story, we inspect the existing load path and write any header, footing, or shear-wall work into the contract as a line-item allowance. If we find more than the allowance covers, you approve a written change order before we proceed. No surprise price at the door.
HVAC and weatherproofing at height
Hidden Hills summers routinely top 100°F, and a second story with western exposure picks up radiant heat that a single-story addition never sees. We size HVAC for the added volume plus the heat load, and we spec Class A roofing and ember-resistant vents to meet the Cal Fire WUI requirements that apply to this part of the western San Fernando Valley. The second story has to work in August, not just look right in March.
Garage Addition Contractors in Hidden Hills
Garage Addition Contractors in Hidden Hills are usually working on two very different situations. Some homeowners want a finished garage as living space without converting the structure itself, adding square footage off the back or side of the existing garage. Others are converting the garage footprint into an ADU, which is a separate conversation under California law. A garage addition in Hidden Hills runs $180 – $300 per square foot for ground-level work, and that assumes the existing slab and foundation are in good shape. On older equestrian properties, we often find the garage slab was poured thinner than modern residential code requires, which adds a new slab pour to the scope.
When the garage becomes living space
If the addition makes the garage habitable, California building code triggers insulation, drywall, electrical, and sometimes plumbing requirements that a storage-grade garage never met. Hidden Hills’s WUI zone also requires ember-resistant vents and ignition-resistant siding on the new work. We write those code upgrades into the price before we start, not as a conversation after demolition.
Garage additions that keep the horse property working
On Hidden Hills lots with stables and tack rooms, a garage addition has to respect the barn circulation. We sequence delivery and staging so hay deliveries, farrier visits, and trailer access aren’t blocked during the build. That’s a small detail until you’ve lost a morning to a blocked paddock gate, and it’s the kind of thing a contractor who only builds in flat suburban tracts doesn’t think about.
Trusted Brands We Service in Hidden Hills
We work hands-on with leading ADU and addition brands so Hidden Hills homeowners can choose the fit that matches their lot, timeline, and budget. That includes prefab systems from Abodu, Cover, Dvele, and Mighty Buildings, which work well on tight Hidden Hills build windows because the panels arrive pre-cut and pre-finished. We also stock James Hardie siding and Tuff Shed structures for accessory buildings that don’t require the full residential code path. Our crews know what those systems need on a Hidden Hills lot with WUI fire requirements and horse-property setbacks.
Common Home Addition Contractor Problems We See in Hidden Hills Homes
- The HHCA review gets treated as a formality. Homeowners get the city permit issued, then the Hidden Hills Community Association rejects the design or materials. The build stalls for months, and the contractor who never planned for it starts billing for the delay. We price the HOA review cycle into the schedule before demo day.
- Opening a 1950s – 80s ranch wall reveals what the old inspection missed. Cloth-wrapped wiring, undersized framing, failed waterproofing, termite damage in the sill plate. A fixed-bid contract never budgeted for it, so the signed quote turns into a dispute. We write framing and electrical allowances into the contract so the surprise is a line item, not a lawsuit.
- Barn conversions get priced as cheaper, then trigger full residential code. A legally non-conforming stable or tack room was never built to residential standard. Converting it means Title 24 energy compliance, fire separation, and plumbing stub-outs from scratch. Owners who expected a cheaper barn-to-ADU path get a bill that matches new construction, and often more, because the existing shell fights the upgrade.
- HVAC gets sized for square footage, not Hidden Hills heat. A detached addition set back from the main house on a one-acre Hidden Hills lot bakes in the western San Fernando Valley sun. Undersized cooling fails by July, and retrofitting ducting after drywall goes up costs more than the original system. We size for the radiant load, not the brochure number.
We’ve seen all of this on Hidden Hills jobs. On a 1960s ranch-style equestrian property off Long Valley Road, we opened an interior wall for a second-story addition and found cloth-wrapped wiring and undersized framing the homeowner’s old inspection report had never surfaced. We had written framing and electrical allowances into the contract up front, so our tech paused, documented the run in photos, and priced the replacement in a written change order the owner approved before we touched another stud. The addition closed out with the new second story tied into upgraded framing and Title 24-compliant systems.
Pricing for Home Addition Contractor in Hidden Hills, CA
A room addition in Hidden Hills typically runs $250 – $450 per square foot. A second-story addition runs $350 – $550 per square foot. A garage addition runs $180 – $300 per square foot, with a separate allowance for slab replacement if the existing pour fails. Bathroom additions run $400 – $700 per square foot if they need sewer rerouting on an equestrian lot where drain lines run long distances. Sunrooms and bump-outs land between $200 – $350 per square foot. The HHCA architectural review adds design and materials costs that a Calabasas addition doesn’t face, and WUI fire requirements add $4 – $8 per square foot for Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents, and ignition-resistant siding. Call (254) 602-5618 for a written line-item price on your specific addition. The estimate is free, and it’s a real number, not a range we revise later.
We Also Serve Cities Near Hidden Hills
Lodgewick crews work throughout the western San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles area. We serve Hidden Hills and the surrounding communities including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Anaheim, and Riverside. If your property sits in Home Addition Contractor in Hidden Hills territory or just beyond the gate, call and ask for our dispatch window in your area. Scheduling is coordinated from our Los Angeles office, and crews serve Hidden Hills locally.
Serving Hidden Hills, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Hidden Hills area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Home Addition Contractor in Hidden Hills
A Hidden Hills addition runs roughly 8 – 15% higher than the same square footage in Calabasas because of two structural differences: the Hidden Hills Community Association’s architectural review adds design fees, material restrictions, and 4 – 10 weeks of schedule; and the city’s WUI fire zone requires Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents, and ignition-resistant siding on detached structures. The dual-approval path means two sets of fees, two review cycles, and more engineering coordination. Calabasas has city review only. Hidden Hills has city review plus the HHCA gate. Call (254) 602-5618 and we’ll show you exactly where the Hidden Hills line items sit in the written estimate.
You get a written change order with photos, a scope of the replacement work, and a specific price, and you approve it before we proceed. Our contracts include framing and electrical allowances sized for the known age and construction style of Hidden Hills ranch homes. The allowance covers the most common findings – undersized headers, cloth-wrapped wiring, rotted sill plates. If the actual condition exceeds the allowance, the overage is priced in writing, documented, and approved before we touch another stud. No surprise price at the door.
Yes, and many Hidden Hills homeowners do exactly that. But it’s rarely the cheaper path. A legally non-conforming barn or stable was never built to residential code, so the conversion triggers full Title 24 energy compliance, residential fire separation from the main house, and plumbing stub-outs from scratch. The existing shell often fights the upgrade: undersized footings, non-residential framing, no vapor barrier. By the time the barn meets code, the cost typically lands within 10% of new construction, and sometimes above it. We’ll give you an honest comparison of convert-versus-build before you commit, with real numbers for both.
The Hidden Hills Community Association cannot prohibit an ADU outright – California Civil Code §4751 takes that off the table. But the HHCA retains authority over design, materials, and aesthetics, and that authority is real. They can reject roof styles, siding materials, window placements, and color palettes. A rejection after the city permit is issued means redesign, re-review, and months of delay. We write the HHCA review cycle and a reasonable allowance for committee-requested changes into the schedule and price from the first estimate.
We run a Manual J calculation on the new space using the actual orientation, glazing, and roof assembly of your Hidden Hills lot, then add capacity for the radiant heat load that comes with a detached structure set back from the main house. We don’t size by square footage alone – a west-facing addition with large windows on a one-acre lot bakes harder than a north-facing bump-out. The WUI zone also affects venting choices, since ember-resistant vents change airflow characteristics. Call (254) 602-5618 and we’ll include the HVAC sizing in your written estimate.
Written by Russ Delmar, Owner at Lodgewick ADU Builders, serving Hidden Hills since 2010.