Sharing our expertise

Every new home going up in Altadena after the Eaton Fire has to meet Chapter 7A, the section of the California Building Code written for construction in wildfire-prone areas. It sets the standard for the roof, the vents, the siding, the windows, and the ground right around the house. Understanding what it asks for before you finalize plans keeps those requirements from arriving as expensive surprises during plan check.

The Army Corps cleared the debris and scraped several inches of soil from most Eaton Fire lots, and many Altadena homeowners took that to mean the ground was clean. The testing that has happened since tells a more complicated story. Before you pour a foundation or replant a yard, it helps to understand what soil testing can tell you and what the County now offers.

When you set out to rebuild after the Eaton Fire, one of the first structural decisions you make is not about your house. It is about how you hire the people who will design and build it. The two main paths, design-build and the traditional architect-then-bid model, behave very differently under the pressure of a fire rebuild.

A large share of Altadena homeowners are opening rebuild estimates and realizing their dwelling coverage will not cover a full reconstruction at current prices. Before you start trimming bedrooms, dropping the second story, or walking away from the lot, there are several places to look first.

For Eaton Fire survivors, "like-for-like" is the fast lane through LA County permitting. But the definition is narrower than it sounds, and the square footage you remember from your house may not be the square footage the County will let you rebuild. This guide walks through what the program actually allows, what tends to push projects out of it, and how to keep your Altadena rebuild on the streamlined track.

The combination of an urgent rebuild timeline, insurance checks moving through escrow, and a crush of homeowners all looking for the same crews has turned the Eaton Fire recovery into a target-rich environment for bad actors. The good news is that almost every scam aimed at fire survivors has obvious tells if you know where to look.