Whole House Remodeling in Los Angeles

When a Whole-House Remodel Makes Sense

Many of the homes we work on in Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades and Encino were built between the 1920s and the 1970s. They sit on wonderful lots in established neighborhoods, but they were designed for a different way of living. Kitchens are closed off, bedrooms are small, bathrooms are dated, and the electrical, plumbing and heating systems are well past the end of their useful lives.

You can update those homes one room at a time, but piecemeal remodeling has hidden costs. Each project opens walls, triggers its own permit and code upgrades, and disrupts the household again. When three or more major areas of the home need work, a single, coordinated whole-house remodel is often faster, less disruptive overall and better value, because structure, systems and design are solved once and solved together.

What a Whole-House Remodel Includes

Every home is different, but most of our whole-house projects combine the following scopes under one plan and one contract:

• Design and space planning. We rethink how rooms connect, where natural light enters and how the house opens to the garden, working with our in-house design team or your architect.
• Structural work. Removing load-bearing walls, installing steel or engineered beams, adding shear walls and correcting older framing so the new layout is safe and solid.
• Seismic strengthening. Foundation bolting, hold-downs and cripple-wall bracing are far easier and less expensive while the walls are already open.
• New systems. Upgraded electrical service and panel, re-piped plumbing, high-efficiency heat-pump heating and cooling, and modern low-voltage and smart-home wiring.
• Building envelope. New windows and doors, insulation, roofing and exterior finishes designed to meet California’s current energy code.
• Interior finishes. Kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, custom millwork, lighting design and paint, all coordinated so the home reads as one cohesive design rather than a collection of separate projects.

What Los Angeles Homes Need That Others Don’t

Earthquake resilience

Many older Los Angeles homes have foundations that are not bolted to the framing, or short cripple walls in the crawlspace that can fail in a strong earthquake. A whole-house remodel is the ideal time to address these weaknesses. Once floors and walls are open, adding anchor bolts, hold-down hardware and plywood bracing is a relatively small part of the overall budget, and it significantly improves how the home will perform in the next major quake.

The 2025 Energy Code

California updated its building and energy codes on January 1, 2026. Because a whole-house remodel touches nearly every system in the home, you should expect the new energy standards to apply broadly. In practice, that usually means heat-pump water heating, efficient heat-pump heating and cooling, high-efficacy lighting with proper controls, and correctly sized ventilation. We plan these items into the design and the budget from the very first meeting, so there are no surprises at plan check.

Weather and scheduling

If the roof or exterior walls will be opened, timing matters. Los Angeles receives most of its rainfall between late November and March, and a single strong winter storm can drop several inches of rain in a couple of days. We aim to start demolition in spring so the house is framed, roofed and weathertight before the rainy season. When a schedule does carry into winter, we sequence exterior work around the forecast and protect every opening with temporary weatherproofing.

Coastal and canyon conditions

A whole-house remodel near the coast should be detailed for salt air and marine-layer moisture, with corrosion-resistant fasteners and carefully flashed windows. A remodel in a canyon or hillside neighborhood may need to meet wildfire-resistant Chapter 7A construction standards, including ember-resistant vents and Class A roofing. We confirm your property’s fire hazard zone and coastal-zone status before design begins.

How the Process Works

1. Discovery and feasibility. We walk the home, review existing plans and permits, check zoning and floor-area limits, and talk through goals, budget and timing.
2. Design and engineering. Floor plans, structural engineering, energy calculations and material selections come together into a permit-ready set.
3. Fixed-price proposal. You receive a line-item proposal with clear allowances and a realistic schedule.
4. Permits and ordering. While plans are in review, we order long-lead items such as windows, appliances and stone so they arrive when needed.
5. Construction. Your project manager coordinates every trade, sends regular photo updates and walks the site with you at key milestones.
6. Completion and warranty. Final inspections, a detailed punch list, as-built documentation and our written workmanship warranty.

What Affects the Cost of a Whole-House Remodel

Whole-house remodels vary widely in cost, and the biggest variables are not always obvious. The amount of structural change, the number of systems being replaced, the condition of the foundation, site access, permitting requirements and the level of finishes all play a major role. A home that keeps its existing layout and focuses on systems and finishes will cost far less than one that removes walls and adds structural steel throughout.

As a general guide, a whole-house remodel in Los Angeles typically ranges from about $150,000 to $600,000 or more, and luxury renovations in areas such as Beverly Hills and Malibu often exceed that range.

During your consultation, we walk the home with you and give you a realistic budget range based on the projects we have completed, then refine it into a fixed-price proposal once design is complete.

Related Project

Our modern staircase and interior renovation in Pacific Palisades is a good example of how structural changes, new circulation and refined finishes can transform the way an older home feels without changing its footprint.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last reviewed: November 2026 by the Elliott Construction Group team. Building codes and permit rules change often; we confirm current requirements for your property before design begins.