All Forum Posts by: Reza Tashakori

Hi to all in south Florida! specially Miami. Which company/law firm do you recommend for evictions in South Florida? 1. I'm purchasing a bank-owned house in Pinecrest, Fl and need to evict occupants as soon as closing end of the month if they don't move.

Hi Atta

I'm an architect and building 4 houses in LA Ive got the permits but contractors are giving me rip off bids to build it for 600 per sf for a normal house. do you know where I can find affordable contractors in socal?

I'm TRYING TO BUILD 4 HOUSES (1400 SF EACH) IN LA AND MY BIDS ARE COMING AS 2 MIL!!

@sam I don't have  a budget yet for foundation. as  

@Manolo D. said you need soil report and a survey to see how much excavation, cut and fill, concrete and re bar you need. this could be tremendously expensive. however I saw small projects on hillside has been built for $175 per SF but there was not much regrading there. I was looking more at $450 per sf for my hillside project. I'm doing the survey and soils report now to get an estimate afterward from contractors that I know 

@Colin L. yes when I was reading the hillside ordinate it was saying the exceptions and basement was one of them. there are a few more loopholes. I was just curious because I saw some new construction hillside developments in LA that has enormous FAR compare to their lot size. When I saw the slope I could tell that it is steep. I was wondering how they could pull the permits and was surprised that this ordinate limits new hillside development to such a low FAR.

@Connor Wingfield I read in the hillside ordinate that was saying 5000 cubic plus 5 percent of the the lot size I think also Bel Air has its own hauling limits on top of this. can you explain more about the houses that terrace down the hill? can I have terrace for the basement? 

I was wondering if this hillside ordinate is something new because I see lots of hillside houses that are enormous compare to their lot size.

I decided to start this discussion to share and collaborate my progress in Single Family dwelling development in Los Angeles area.

My Background:

As a Designer and a project Architect through the years, I had the experience of working on several mid to large scale projects. I was involved in schematic design, design development, construction documentation, entitlement, obtaining building clearances, construction admin, answering RFIs from contractors and etc. Projects that I worked on were mostly commercial for privately funded projects and some for department of states as the entitlement process is different for those ones.

Currently I created the project schedule and steps that clearly delineate steps needed to be taken for my SFR investment development. I currently have two lots under escrow. Both are in hillside area so I'm doing the due diligence too see what are the additional necessary clearances that I need to obtain. 

Per Zimas report in LA county both lots are in hillside area. Per "Baseline Hillside Ordinance" there are many restrictions on hillside lots since 2011. Aside from the set back requirements that are fair the biggest disadvantage of hillside land is the floor area that you can build. 

The ordinance’s proposed FAR (building size to lot size ratio) that is based on lot size, zone, and steepness of slopes on the property. The portion of the lot slope (Slope Band interval) zero percent to 14.99 percent (14.99 ft. rise for each 100 ft. length) would be treated the same as the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance. The other Slope Band intervals are 15-29.99%, 30-44.99%, 45-59.99%, 60-99.99%, and 100+%, which gradually reduces the FAR based on the steepness of the lot.   A survey is currently required for a hillside lot. 

For RE15 zoning the build able area for less than 60 percent slope is 20 percent and for 60 plus slope is 15 percent of the total lot size . Per my knowledge floor area means any floor that is covered from outside and has a ceiling so floor area is the total square footage of the building. This means if I close on my 15,000 SF lot in Bell Air I can build only a 2,500 SF house. I'm open to hear any comments on this.