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Permit & Development
Consulting
Not every project starts with drawings ready to submit. Sometimes you need to know what's possible before you commit — what you can build, what it takes to get approved, and where the real risks are.
Ocean Permits & Development advises property owners, architects, contractors, and developers in Los Angeles on the permitting and entitlement side of a project — before and during construction. We research the regulatory environment, map the approval path, identify entitlement exposures, and review drawings for compliance issues before they reach a plan checker.
The goal is simple: fewer surprises, fewer corrections, and a clear path to approval before you spend money building the wrong thing. Consulting pairs naturally with our $999 Preliminary Property Feasibility Study for owners still evaluating a purchase, and with full tenant improvement or ADU permit expediting once drawings are ready to submit.
Consulting Fees
Consulting is billed separately from permit expediting and scoped to the question you need answered. Typical ranges for Los Angeles engagements:
How a Feasibility or Pre-Submittal Review Works
A typical engagement follows a defined sequence rather than an open-ended research process:
A full feasibility-through-findings-memo engagement typically completes in 1–3 weeks, depending on whether a discretionary approval requires coordination with LA City Planning's Zoning Information counter. If your project instead needs help preparing and submitting a complete application, see our permit expediting service, or read our guide on permit expediting vs. going it alone.
What Consulting Includes
- 01
Feasibility Review
Before you commission drawings, we research what your property allows under current zoning, any applicable overlays (Coastal, Historic, Fire Hazard Severity Zone, Hillside), and what approvals your proposed project would trigger. You get a clear picture of what's possible — and what it costs in time and money to get there — before spending anything on design.
- 02
Permit Strategy & Sequencing
Complex projects require multiple permits from multiple agencies, and the order matters. We map every permit your project needs — building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, grading, health, signage, coastal — and the sequence in which to pursue them. This prevents the common mistake of getting one approval that triggers a conflict with another review.
- 03
Entitlement Guidance
When your project requires discretionary approvals — variances, conditional use permits (CUPs), zone changes, or general plan amendments — we advise on the strategy, likelihood of success, community notification requirements, and hearing timelines. We help you decide whether to pursue entitlements or redesign to avoid them, and where the line falls between our scope and a land-use attorney's.
- 04
Zoning & Code Analysis
We research the specific zoning designation, applicable land-use regulations, development standards, and any specific or area plans affecting your property. For development projects, we calculate allowable floor area ratio (FAR), maximum height, required setbacks, and parking. Written zoning reports available on request.
- 05
Pre-Submittal Plan Review
Before your architect submits drawings to the city, we review them against jurisdiction-specific requirements, local plan-check checklists, and common corrections for your project type. We identify problems before they reach a plan checker — preventing the correction cycles that cost weeks and force redesigns.
- 06
Risk & Timeline Assessment
We give you realistic expectations on three things: how long the permit process will take, what the most likely corrections and delays are, and what it would cost to accelerate. No sugar-coating. If a project has a difficult entitlement path, you'll hear it from us before you've committed resources, not after.
Who Needs Consulting
Owners Evaluating a Purchase or Remodel
Before you buy a property or commit to a renovation budget, you need to know what the city will allow and how long it takes to get there. Our pre-purchase feasibility reviews answer those questions with real research — not assumptions.
Architects & Designers
An architect may be expert in design but less familiar with how a specific local jurisdiction interprets code, which overlays apply to a given parcel, or how a particular plan checker is reading a provision. We provide the jurisdiction-specific permit strategy that complements the design process.
General Contractors Bidding Full Scope
A GC who can offer permit management as part of their scope wins more work. We partner with contractors to provide the permit strategy, submittal management, and agency coordination that turns a construction bid into a turnkey delivery.
Developers Evaluating Sites
For development projects, the entitlement risk is often the difference between a viable project and a costly mistake. We research the regulatory environment before you invest in design, and help structure projects to minimize entitlement exposure.
Coastal, Hillside & Overlay-Specific Review
A standard zoning pull only tells part of the story for a property sitting inside a special overlay. A parcel in the California Coastal Zone typically needs a Coastal Development Permit alongside the base building permit — we cover this in more depth in our Coastal Development Permit guide and apply the same analysis to waterfront marina and boatyard projects. A hillside or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone parcel brings its own grading, retaining-wall, and ignition-resistant construction review, while a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone property adds design-compatibility review before a standard building permit can be filed.
Confirming which overlays apply — and what each one actually requires, rather than relying on a general sense of the parcel's history — is one of the most consistently valuable outputs of a feasibility engagement, since an overlay missed at the outset tends to surface as a stalled plan-check cycle months later rather than a quick correction.
When to Engage a Permit Consultant
The earlier you engage, the more value consulting delivers. The stages where it matters most:
A usable feasibility review ends with a decision record
A parcel report is not a permit approval. A useful consultation connects the proposed scope to the lawful existing building, applicable zoning and the department that owns each unresolved question. We separate verified records from owner assumptions, identify missing information and document the next action. This prevents an attractive concept drawing from being mistaken for a construction-ready project.
| Question | Evidence or deliverable | Agency or professional input |
|---|---|---|
| Is this LADBS jurisdiction? | Address, APN, jurisdiction boundary and permit-history record | City building department or County/independent-city equivalent |
| Is the proposed use allowed? | ZIMAS zoning, conditions, specific-plan map and use analysis | City Planning, with the current application and clearance procedure |
| Does the existing building support the concept? | Approved plans, Certificate of Occupancy and documented field discrepancies | Architect and structural engineer; LADBS code and structural review |
| What changes outside the building? | Site access, drainage, utilities and mapped coastal, hillside or fire conditions | Relevant building, Planning, Fire, Public Works or utility reviewer |
| What is the permit sequence? | Application matrix, deliverables, dependencies and correction responsibilities | Separate building, trade and any required discretionary approvals |
| What can be budgeted now? | Agency fee basis plus separate design and coordination proposals | Current fee schedules, scope assumptions and explicit exclusions |
From consultation to a coordinated LADBS package
- Define one reviewable scope. Record the proposed use, floor area, stories, equipment and site work. Distinguish a maintenance item from an alteration, addition or change of occupancy. Identify which existing documents are missing before quoting a filing date.
- Check parcel-specific planning layers. Read ZIMAS and the actual ordinance and applicability matrix, not only the neighborhood label. LAMC Section 11.5.7 appears in many older specific-plan texts; current procedures may instead reference Chapter 1A, including Section 13B.4. Confirm the applicable current pathway rather than applying one section to every property.
- Resolve technical questions with the right professional. A roof deck requires structural and access review; a new commercial air-conditioning unit can add roof loads and mechanical plan check. We coordinate the roof deck permit questions or commercial HVAC review requirements, but licensed professionals supply design and calculations. Consulting does not replace an engineer's certification or an attorney's legal opinion.
- Prepare the application and clearance matrix. Confirm Express, Counter or Regular Plan Check eligibility with LADBS. Assemble the appropriate ePlanLA package, track assigned correction comments and identify required agency clearances. An informational conversation or preliminary review does not authorize construction.
- Budget issuance and completion separately. Applications, plan-check payments, issued permits, trade permits and final inspections are different milestones. The owner and design team should understand which consultant is responsible for each, including construction-stage revisions.
| Scope | Initial planning allowance | Cost basis and limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Record and zoning desktop screen | About 1–3 weeks after receiving complete intake information | Private professional scope; archived records or an unclear boundary may add time |
| Coordinated pre-submittal assessment | About 2–6+ weeks with the needed design-team input | Number of agencies, existing-plan gaps and technical questions; no included entitlement approval |
| Discretionary or overlay interpretation | Agency-specific; may take months | Current case/application fee and professional work, not a fixed consultation turnaround |
| Building permit following consulting | Separate scope and schedule | LADBS valuation-based fees under LABC Section 91.107 plus trade and other required charges |
Ask for a proposal that separates our research and coordination fee from the architect, engineer, survey, soil report and government charges. A low initial consultation price is not a total permit budget. For a property in Valley Village, for example, the Specific Plan applicability and state ADU rules may matter before choosing an addition or garage-conversion layout; that decision should precede detailed drawing production.
Official starting points: ZIMAS parcel research, LADBS plan review and permitting, current LADBS fee schedules, Valley Village Specific Plan resources.
Common Questions
What written deliverables should a permit consultation provide?
Ask for a record of the jurisdiction, zoning and mapped overlays, existing permits and occupancy, proposed scope, unresolved technical questions, agency responsibilities and next application steps. Verified records should be distinguished from assumptions. A useful consultation identifies who must resolve each missing item rather than promising approval before the design team or agency has reviewed it.
Does the consulting fee include government fees and engineering?
Only if the written proposal expressly includes those items. Our coordination scope, architect and engineer work, survey or soils reports, and government application, plan-check and permit charges are separate budget categories. LADBS building charges are generally valuation-based under LABC Section 91.107, with additional scope-specific fees. Confirm current schedules and exclusions rather than using a consultation price as the total project budget.
What is a pre-submittal feasibility review?
A pre-submittal feasibility review is an assessment of a property's regulatory environment before any drawings are prepared or submitted. We research the zoning designation, applicable overlays, development standards, required approvals, and likely permit timelines for your proposed project. The output is a clear picture of what's possible, what it requires, and what the realistic path to approval looks like — so you can make informed decisions before committing to design costs.
What is a conditional use permit (CUP) and do I need one?
A Conditional Use Permit (CUP), governed by LAMC Section 12.24, is a discretionary land-use approval required for certain uses that are allowed in a zone only under specific conditions — such as alcohol service, late-night hours, drive-throughs, or certain commercial uses in mixed-use zones. CUPs require a public hearing before a Zoning Administrator, community notification, and environmental review under CEQA. They typically add 4–12 months to a project's approval timeline. We identify CUP triggers before you commit to a space and advise on whether the project scope can be adjusted to avoid one.
What is a variance and when is it needed?
A variance, authorized under LAMC Section 12.27, is a discretionary approval that allows a property owner to deviate from standard zoning requirements — typically for setbacks, height, or lot coverage — due to a unique property characteristic that makes strict compliance an unusual hardship. Variances require the Zoning Administrator to make specific legal findings and are not available simply because code makes a preferred design inconvenient. We assess whether a variance is genuinely viable for your situation, prepare the findings needed to support it, and manage the hearing process.
How does consulting differ from permit expediting?
Consulting is the upfront, strategic phase: we research what's allowed, map the approval path, review plans for compliance issues before submission, and advise on entitlement strategy. Permit expediting is the execution phase: we prepare and submit applications, track them through agency review, respond to corrections, and coordinate inspections. Many clients engage us for consulting during design and then transition directly to full permit expediting once drawings are complete.
Can you help with a project that's already been rejected?
Yes. If a permit application has been rejected or received significant corrections, we review the agency's comments, assess what's needed to address them, and develop a resubmittal strategy. In many cases, corrections reflect either a missing document or a code interpretation issue that can be resolved with the right response — not a fundamental redesign. We've salvaged projects that were stalled for months with a single targeted correction response.
Do you provide written reports?
Yes. For clients who need documentation of their zoning research, entitlement strategy, or pre-submittal review findings, we provide written reports suitable for sharing with lenders, investors, partners, or design teams. Report scope and format are agreed upon at engagement.
How much does permit consulting cost in Los Angeles?
A single-property zoning and feasibility snapshot typically runs $450–$900. Pre-submittal plan review, which checks architect-prepared drawings against LADBS requirements before first submittal, runs $750–$1,800. Entitlement strategy work for a CUP, variance, or zone change ranges from $1,500–$5,000 depending on complexity, with hearing representation billed hourly. Full development consulting for multi-permit commercial or multifamily projects typically runs $3,000–$12,000 or more, scoped to the number of discretionary approvals involved.
Which LADBS division reviews a feasibility or pre-submittal question?
Zoning and code-compliance questions are typically handled by LADBS's Zoning Plan Check counter (or Metro/Valley/West LA District Offices) alongside LA City Planning's Zoning Information staff for discretionary-approval questions. Structural and building-code feasibility questions route through LADBS Plan Check Engineering. We identify which division and counter apply to your specific parcel and scope before you file anything, so your questions reach the reviewer who actually owns the answer.
Can consulting cover a property in the Coastal Zone or a hillside overlay?
Yes, and these properties are where a feasibility review pays for itself most clearly. A parcel in the California Coastal Zone may need a Coastal Development Permit in addition to the base building permit, and a hillside or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone parcel carries its own grading, retaining-wall, and ignition-resistant construction requirements. We confirm which overlays apply to the specific parcel and what each one adds to scope and timeline before design work begins, rather than letting an overlay surface for the first time during plan check.
Do you review projects outside the City of Los Angeles?
Yes. We provide feasibility and pre-submittal consulting for properties across Los Angeles County, including independently incorporated cities with their own building departments, such as Culver City, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Carson, as well as unincorporated county areas reviewed by LA County Building and Safety. Each jurisdiction applies its own forms, fee schedule, and review sequence, so confirming the correct agency is one of the first steps in any engagement outside LADBS's direct jurisdiction.
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