Two things are usually true of a North Hollywood project. The lot will take a real ADU, because most of the single-family stock here sits on 5,000 to 8,000 square feet and a detached unit can run to 1,200. And somewhere on the property there is work nobody ever permitted, because this was a working-class neighborhood where garages quietly became bedrooms. Burbank Remodeling Contractor handles both, and on plenty of North Hollywood, California jobs we are handling both at once.
Our crews come over from Burbank, ten minutes away on Magnolia, which is part of why this is one of our most frequent work areas. Five generations of the family have built in Los Angeles County, better than 120 years, and Matt, who runs the company, is an Air Force veteran with more than 30 years on job sites. The practical benefit is a crew that has taken this exact problem through LADBS before and does not treat unpermitted work as a reason to walk away from the job.
Call (747) 330-0305 and tell us what is on the property, permitted or otherwise. We will tell you what can be legalized and what has to come out, what an ADU realistically costs on your lot, and which order to do them in so you are not paying for the same inspection twice.
Remodeling Postwar Houses Around Tujunga Ave and Magnolia
The core North Hollywood stock is late-1940s to early-1970s single-family homes on lots of roughly 5,500 to 7,500 square feet, and the blocks around Tujunga Ave and Magnolia are the classic version: stucco-and-siding houses laid out with small closed rooms, one bathroom, and a kitchen walled off from everything else.
These houses are now at the age where everything comes due at once. The panel is undersized, the supply lines are galvanized, the single bathroom is failing, and the floor plan does not work for anyone who has cooked a meal since 1985. The efficient move is one project that handles the systems, opens the plan and adds a second bathroom, rather than five separate jobs across a decade.
Why North Hollywood Is One of the Valley's Best ADU Markets
This is genuinely one of the strongest ADU markets in the San Fernando Valley. Lots of 5,000 to 8,000 square feet leave real backyard room, and the zoning supports detached units up to 1,200 square feet on many parcels. Detached builds in this area currently run somewhere between $175,000 and $470,000 depending on size and finish, and finished one-bedroom units around here have been renting in the range of roughly $1,500 to $2,400 a month.
Run those numbers against your own lot rather than against a general figure. What decides whether it pencils is usually the sewer lateral depth and the panel capacity, not the square footage.
The NoHo Arts District and What It Did to the Surrounding Blocks
The NoHo Arts District around Lankershim and Magnolia, anchored by the Metro B Line terminus, has pushed values and renovation activity outward into the surrounding bungalow streets over the past two decades. Vintage courtyard apartments and mid-century dingbat buildings sit mixed in with single-family houses, which makes this an area where we do both homeowner remodels and small multifamily work.
For owners of income property here, the pattern is consistent: buildings from the fifties and sixties still on original systems, with a soft-story tuck-under parking configuration and turnovers that have been done cheaply for thirty years.
Legalizing Unpermitted Work in North Hollywood
This is the single most common thing we get called about in North Hollywood. The area's historically working-class housing means a high rate of unpermitted garage conversions and add-ons, done by owners or by uninsured crews over the decades, and it surfaces during an appraisal or an inspection.
The path is an as-built permit through LADBS: documenting what exists, opening concealed work for inspection, correcting what fails and taking it to a legal final. It is worth starting well before you list the house, since doing it under escrow pressure costs more and gives you fewer options.
Where We Work in North Hollywood
Talk to a contractor who has legalized these garages before
Tell us what is on the lot and what you want to add. We will give you a straight read on the permit path, the cost and the right order to do it in.
Call (747) 330-0305Frequently asked questions
Who issues permits in North Hollywood?
The City of Los Angeles, through LADBS. The Van Nuys office serves this part of the Valley for over-the-counter work and submittals. It is a different process from Burbank's own building department, with different timelines and fees, and the difference matters when we are scheduling a project.
How big an ADU can I build in North Hollywood?
On typical lots of 5,000 to 8,000 square feet, detached units up to 1,200 square feet are often achievable, subject to setbacks and coverage. Smaller lots and unusual parcel shapes reduce it. We check the specific limits against your address before any design work begins.
The previous owner converted the garage without permits. What now?
You have three options: legalize it through an as-built permit, restore it to a garage, or leave it and take the hit at sale. Legalizing is usually the right answer, since California's ADU laws have made it far easier than it used to be to bring an existing unpermitted conversion into compliance.
Do you work on apartment buildings in North Hollywood?
Yes. There is a lot of small multifamily here, mostly 1950s and 1960s courtyard buildings and dingbats, and we do unit turnovers, building systems work, common area renovation and soft-story seismic retrofits. We schedule around occupied units rather than assuming an empty building.