Sunrooms in Los Angeles: LADBS permits, HPOZs and installers

Quick answer: in Los Angeles a sunroom, patio enclosure or glass room is permitted by the Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). The city’s published fee table puts the building permit for $20,000–$50,000 of work at $170 plus $6 per $1,000 of valuation (about $410 on a $40,000 job), with plan check at 90% of that on top. If you live in one of the city’s 35 Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, the addition also needs HPOZ review before any permit is signed off. The contractor must hold a CSLB licence for any job of $1,000 or more.

A note on words: most US contractors say sunroom. A three-season room is glazed but usually unheated and uninsulated; a four-season (or all-season) room is insulated and heated or cooled like the rest of the house; a solarium or conservatory has a glass roof as well as glass walls. A patio enclosure or screen room encloses an existing patio or deck. The permit questions are much the same for all of them, and our guide to sunroom permits in the USA lists what to ask the building department.

Who decides: LADBS and City Planning

In the City of Los Angeles, building permits and plan check are handled by LADBS, and zoning and historic review by Los Angeles City Planning. If you live in an unincorporated area or a separate city such as Santa Monica, Pasadena or Burbank, that jurisdiction’s own building department applies instead, with its own fees. A sunroom that adds enclosed floor area is an addition: it needs structural plans, energy compliance forms and separate electrical permits if you add circuits.

LADBS permit and plan check fees

LADBS works out the building permit fee from the valuation of the work, using Table 1-A of the Municipal Code, then adds plan check at 90% of the permit fee. The table below is from the city’s own summary of building permit fees published with its 2021–2029 Housing Element (fees effective 16 July 2018):

Valuation of the work	Building permit fee	Example
$2,000.01–$20,000	$40 plus $1.25 per $100 of total valuation	$15,000 patio enclosure: $227.50
$20,000.01–$50,000	$170 plus $6.00 per $1,000 of total valuation	$40,000 sunroom: $410
$50,000.01–$100,000	$195 plus $5.50 per $1,000 of total valuation	$80,000 sunroom: $635
Plan check	90% of the building permit fee	$40,000 sunroom: $369

Source: City of Los Angeles Housing Element 2021–2029, Appendix 2.4, Summary of case filing and building permitting fees (planning.lacity.gov), citing LAMC 91.107 and Table 1-A. Examples are our arithmetic. City and state surcharges, electrical permits and, for new floor area, other development fees are extra, and fees may have been adjusted since; LADBS’s online fee calculator gives the current figure.

Historic Preservation Overlay Zones

City Planning’s Office of Historic Resources oversees 35 historic districts, called Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs), covering more than 21,000 properties. Inside an HPOZ, additions and any other exterior changes need HPOZ review, including some work that needs no building permit at all, such as landscaping or paint. Work done without it can lead to LADBS enforcement and fines.

Your project will go through one of four procedures depending on what it is and whether the building is a contributing structure: a Certificate of Appropriateness, a Certificate of Compatibility, or a Conforming Work sign-off on a contributing or non-contributing structure. Certificates of Appropriateness and Compatibility have a 15-day appeal period after the decision. Each HPOZ has its own preservation plan with design guidelines for additions. The city’s Housing Element fee summary lists $1,336 for an HPOZ Certificate of Appropriateness or Compatibility for new accessory building construction (2018 figure).

Energy code: Title 24 and California climate zones

California does not use the IECC for homes. Its Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6) apply, and energy compliance documents are part of the permit. The California Energy Commission divides the state into 16 building climate zones, and the city of Los Angeles spans more than one of them: the coast, the basin and the San Fernando Valley are in different zones, so check the full address with the Commission’s climate zone tool. A glass room in the Valley faces very different summer heat from one near the ocean; see shading, orientation and ventilation.

Typical private prices

We have not found a reliable sunroom price survey for Los Angeles alone, so use the national ranges in our US sunroom and conservatory costs guide. HomeGuide puts a custom three-season room at $15,000–$50,000, a four-season room at $20,000–$80,000 and a glass conservatory addition at $50,000–$150,000, and notes that high-cost states such as New York and California can push prices up by as much as 50%. Permit, plan review and any historic-district fees above are extra unless your quote says they are included. Our guide to what to include in a realistic budget lists the other items that catch people out.

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How to choose an installer in Los Angeles

Check the CSLB licence. In California, any job worth $1,000 or more in labour and materials needs a Contractors State License Board (CSLB) licence; the old $500 limit rose to $1,000 on 1 January 2025. The small-job exemption never applies if the work needs a building permit, which a sunroom does. Check the licence number on CSLB’s website and make sure the business name matches.
Keep the deposit small. CSLB says a down payment on a home improvement job should never exceed 10% of the contract price or $1,000, whichever is less, unless the contractor has a blanket performance and payment bond on file.
Ask who pulls the permit. Confirm in writing that the contractor obtains the LADBS permit and any HPOZ clearance, and that the price includes engineering and Title 24 energy forms.
Enclosure or addition? Many LA firms mainly build aluminium patio covers. Ask whether the quote is for an open cover, an enclosed patio room or a fully insulated room, because each is permitted and priced differently.

Sunroom, patio enclosure and conservatory firms serving Los Angeles

These businesses appear in public business listings for the Los Angeles area. We have not checked their work, prices, licences or insurance, and they have not paid to appear. Services are summarised from each firm’s own website, so ask exactly what it builds and who pulls the permit. Most firms serving the city specialise in aluminium patio covers and patio rooms; full sunroom dealers are spread across the wider region.