Remodeling & ADU Contractor in Orange County

IA Builders is a licensed California general contractor (CSLB #1124696) based in Culver City, and we remodel homes across north and central Orange County. We remodel kitchens, bathrooms and whole homes, build room additions and create ADUs in cities from Brea and Yorba Linda to Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach. Each city has its own rules, so the first part of every project is figuring out which ones apply to your home.

Every city has its own building department

Orange County is not one permitting jurisdiction. Each incorporated city runs its own building and planning departments, with its own submittal requirements, plan check process and local rules on top of the state building code. A few examples of how much that varies:

• Anaheim's historic preservation staff review building permits for historic properties, including homes in the Anaheim Colony, the city's original townsite and its first historic district.
• Tustin requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for work in the Old Town Cultural Resources District.
• In Buena Park, a room addition larger than half of the home's existing living area needs Planning Commission approval.
• Fountain Valley generally requires a geotechnical report for residential projects because of seismic and soil conditions.
• In La Habra, an ADU application on a lot with a Southern California Edison easement stays incomplete until Edison approves an encroachment agreement.

We prepare plans, submit them, respond to plan check comments and schedule inspections with whichever city your home is in.

Hillside and fire-zone rules in the northeast

The hills of Yorba Linda, Brea and Anaheim Hills meet open wildland, and that changes how homes there are built. The 2008 Freeway Complex Fire destroyed 187 homes in Yorba Linda alone, and the state's 2025 fire hazard maps placed more than 4,700 acres of the city in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Brea's Carbon Canyon area and parts of Anaheim Hills were also affected by the updated maps. In these zones, additions and new ADUs have to meet the state's wildland-urban interface building standards, which cover roofing, vents, siding, windows and decks. Sloped lots can also need soils and grading work before an addition is designed.

Coastal homes in Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach is the one city in our Orange County area with ocean frontage. Homes near the beach, Huntington Harbour and the wetlands can sit inside the California coastal zone, where development generally needs a Coastal Development Permit in addition to a building permit, issued under the city's Local Coastal Program. Inland cities like Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Tustin usually skip this step. Coastal homes also face salt air and moisture, so we choose exterior materials, hardware and flashing details with corrosion and water intrusion in mind.

HOAs are part of many projects

Large parts of Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda and Tustin Ranch were built as planned communities, and many homes there belong to homeowners associations with architectural guidelines. Association approval is a separate step from the city permit, so we plan for both approvals from the beginning and build the review time into the schedule.

The homes and projects we see

Much of north and central Orange County was built out after World War II. Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa have many single-story tract homes from the 1950s through the 1970s that are ready for a kitchen remodel, updated electrical and plumbing, or an added bedroom through a room addition. Brea and La Habra mix older homes from their early oil and citrus years with later tracts, and the hills of Yorba Linda, Brea and Anaheim Hills have larger homes from the 1970s onward where owners want to rework builder floor plans with a home remodel.

ADUs are one of the most common requests across the county. State law has made them possible on most single-family lots, and several cities now offer pre-approved plans: Anaheim's ADU Express process, Brea's pre-approved ADU plans, Yorba Linda's pre-approved ADU program, Cypress's pre-approved ADU plans and Huntington Beach's free program. Each has its own limits on which lots qualify. We help homeowners compare a new detached unit with an ADU, junior ADU or garage conversion of existing space.

To talk through a project anywhere in Orange County, call (213) 816-6465 or use the form on this page.

Frequently asked questions

Do Orange County cities share one building department?

No. Each city issues its own permits, with its own process and local rules. We work with the department for the city your home is in.

My home is in a fire hazard zone. What changes?

New construction, including additions and ADUs, has to meet the state's wildland-urban interface standards for fire-resistant materials and construction. We check your parcel against the current maps before design starts.

Will my project need a coastal permit?

Only if your home is in the coastal zone. In our Orange County area that mainly means parts of Huntington Beach near the ocean, the harbor and the wetlands.

Can my HOA stop me from building an ADU?

On single-family lots, state law says CC&Rs cannot prohibit or unreasonably restrict an ADU. Associations may still have reasonable design standards.

Last reviewed October 2026