Los Angeles 110% Rebuild Rule: Palisades Guide

The 110 percent rebuild rule in Los Angeles is often summarized as permission to rebuild a fire-damaged home “10% larger,” but that description leaves out the most important detail. For qualifying Pacific Palisades projects under Emergency Executive Order 1, the City evaluates the replacement primary structure against the legally recognized pre-fire building footprint and height, not a simple 110% cap on total interior square footage. Establishing that baseline during the first meeting with your design and permitting services team can prevent the replacement home from being designed around the wrong envelope.

EO1 also provides more design freedom than the phrase “like-for-like” suggests. A qualifying rebuild does not need to reproduce the exact room arrangement or footprint shape of the destroyed house. Depending on the parcel and design, owners may be able to reshape the footprint, move portions of the building, add a basement, revise the story configuration, change a garage and add an ADU while remaining within the applicable rebuilding rules.

Key Takeaways

The City of Los Angeles EO1 test is based primarily on pre-fire building footprint and height. It is not a simple 10% increase in total interior floor area.

The footprint shape can change, and limited relocation on the lot may be possible as long as the project remains within EO1’s location, setback and dimensional requirements.

Basements, certain second-story configurations, garage changes and ADUs can create additional flexibility without being treated in exactly the same way as ordinary expansion of the main house.

A project that exceeds EO1’s 110% envelope may still qualify for a streamlined EO8 path when the proposed single-family residence is zoning compliant and meets the applicable requirements.

What the 110% rebuild rule actually means

For an EO1 primary structure, the replacement building must generally remain in substantially the same location and cannot exceed 110% of the footprint or height of the primary structure that legally existed immediately before the wildfire.

The City’s current recovery guidance specifically distinguishes that calculation from total square footage. A 2,000-square-foot pre-fire building footprint may therefore support an EO1 footprint of up to 2,200 square feet, subject to the other applicable requirements, but that does not mean a two-story home’s total floor area is calculated by multiplying its interior square footage by 1.10.

Footprint, floor area, stories, building height, residential floor area and setbacks are different measurements. Treating them as one number can cause the architect to under-design or over-design the available rebuilding envelope.

What can change under EO1?

Design element	General EO1 treatment
Building footprint	Potentially up to 110% of the legally recognized pre-fire footprint
Building height	Potentially up to 110% of the pre-fire height
Interior layout	Can be redesigned, subject to applicable building requirements
Footprint shape	Can change if the project remains within the permitted footprint and location rules
Building location	Limited movement may be permitted under the substantially-same-location standard
Second story	Potentially allowed when the resulting building remains within the applicable height envelope
Basement	New or enlarged basement may be possible within the applicable footprint limit
Garage	Certain detached-to-attached garage changes receive separate treatment
ADU	Subject to separate state and local ADU rules rather than ordinary primary-house expansion
Beyond 110%	May require EO8 or another applicable permitting pathway

How does the City determine the pre-fire baseline?

Every 110% calculation depends on establishing what legally existed before the fire. Building permits, Certificates of Occupancy, County Assessor records, archived plans and Coastal Commission information can all contribute to the City’s determination.

Where records are incomplete or inconsistent, other evidence may help establish the former structure. The important point is that a real-estate listing, insurance document or owner’s recollection should not automatically be treated as the controlling measurement for the permit design.

Resolving the pre-fire baseline before substantial design work begins is considerably easier than redesigning the replacement house after plan check establishes a different footprint or height.

The footprint shape can change

EO1 does not require the new house to reproduce every exterior wall of the former structure. The replacement footprint can be reorganized while remaining within the applicable footprint and location limits.

That can allow an owner to improve circulation, enlarge important living areas, remove inefficient recesses, reorganize bedrooms or create a better connection between the kitchen and outdoor spaces without treating the project as a literal room-for-room reconstruction.

Owners considering a much larger departure from the former design should compare that strategy with the issues discussed in AGC’s knockdown rebuild vs remodel guide.

How far can the rebuilt house move on the lot?

The “substantially the same location” standard does not necessarily require the new structure to occupy the exact same coordinates as the pre-fire building. Current LADBS guidance allows limited movement based on a percentage of the lot width and lot depth.

Setback rules still matter. A qualifying legally nonconforming yard may be retained in appropriate circumstances, but a new portion of the structure cannot simply make the previous nonconformity more restrictive.

Relocation should also be evaluated structurally. Moving a house across a hillside parcel can change grading, drainage, retaining systems, utilities, driveway access and foundation requirements even when the planning rules allow the move.

Can you add a second story?

Potentially. A second-story configuration may remain eligible when the resulting building fits within the permitted height envelope and satisfies the other EO1 requirements.

For many formerly one-story homes, a conventional new second story would exceed 110% of the pre-fire height. Where the former house already had taller portions, however, the design may have more vertical flexibility than the owner initially expects.

The decision should therefore be based on the actual pre-fire height and proposed building mass rather than the assumption that EO1 either always permits or always prohibits an additional story.

Can you add a basement?

A new basement or enlargement of an existing basement may be permitted under EO1 when it remains within the applicable building-footprint limit. Below-grade space can therefore create additional usable area without increasing above-grade height in the same way as another story.

The design advantage has to be weighed against excavation, shoring, waterproofing, drainage, retaining structures and soils conditions. A basement on a hillside property can become one of the most technically demanding parts of the rebuild.

AGC’s Los Angeles hillside construction guide explains why geology, excavation, retaining walls and foundation systems should be considered before below-grade space is treated as an easy way to increase usable area.

How do garage changes affect the 110% calculation?

The emergency rebuilding guidance gives certain garage configurations separate treatment. An existing detached garage may be relocated and incorporated into the main residence as an attached garage under specified conditions.

That flexibility can be valuable on older Palisades lots where the detached garage occupies a large part of the rear yard or conflicts with the replacement home’s preferred layout.

The garage strategy should be established early because it can affect the main footprint, driveway, structural system, second-floor layout and exterior architecture.

How do ADUs fit into the rebuild?

ADUs are governed separately from ordinary enlargement of the primary residence. New and rebuilt attached or detached ADUs may be possible under the applicable state and local ADU rules even when the principal house is using the EO1 pathway.

This makes an ADU one of the most important options to evaluate when the homeowner needs guest space, caregiver housing, an office or another independent living area but does not want to push the main residence beyond the preferred rebuild envelope.

Setbacks, bluff conditions and other parcel-specific requirements still apply. AGC’s complete Los Angeles ADU guide covers the broader citywide requirements.

What happens to legally nonconforming conditions?

EO1 can preserve certain conditions that legally existed before the fire even when the same design would not be approved as a completely new project under today’s zoning standards.

That protection can involve setbacks, height, stories, floor area, density, parking or other legally existing conditions. It is one of the reasons the EO1 pathway can be particularly valuable on older Palisades lots.

However, restoring an existing nonconforming condition is different from creating a new nonconformity. Portions of the replacement structure that extend outside the former envelope generally have to satisfy the applicable current requirements.

What if you want to build more than 110%?

Going beyond EO1 does not automatically mean the project has to enter the longest possible approval process. Emergency Executive Order 8 created an additional pathway for certain zoning-compliant single-family rebuilds.

A qualifying EO8 project can exceed the EO1 dimensional envelope while retaining streamlined treatment under the conditions established by the order. That makes 110% a permit-path threshold rather than an absolute maximum size for every Palisades rebuild.

EO8 does not eliminate parcel-specific constraints. Bluff conditions, biological-resource considerations, current zoning, hillside regulations and engineering requirements can still influence the practical design.

How should a homeowner decide between EO1 and a larger rebuild?

The comparison should begin with the legally documented pre-fire condition. Establish the footprint, height, location, setbacks, stories, garage and nonconforming rights first, then design a credible EO1 option.

If that option does not meet the household’s long-term needs, compare it with the zoning-compliant larger alternative before major architectural and structural work is complete. That makes the difference in construction cost, engineering complexity and permit path visible before the project becomes committed to either scheme.

Owners can coordinate those decisions with a Pacific Palisades general contractor while the architecture is still flexible enough to respond to the cost and site implications.

Conclusion

The Los Angeles 110% rebuild rule gives Pacific Palisades homeowners considerably more flexibility than its name suggests. The critical EO1 measurements are the legally recognized pre-fire building footprint and height, not a simple percentage increase in total interior square footage.

Within the applicable rules, the footprint can be reorganized, the interior redesigned, limited relocation may be possible, and basements, garages, story changes and ADUs create additional options. If the desired residence exceeds the EO1 envelope, a zoning-compliant EO8 path may still provide a streamlined alternative.

The safest sequence is to document the pre-fire home first, identify the correct permit path second and finalize the replacement design third.