Licensed General Contractor in walnut creek Since 2007

Change almost anything on the outside of a building and you need design review before the city will issue a permit. That covers big landscape and hardscape changes too. Staff handle simple projects. Bigger or touchier ones go to the Design Review Commission at a public meeting, where neighbors can speak. ADUs and SB9 units skip it altogether. The city also offers a free first review for single-family homes, and it's worth taking.

Official info: Walnut Creek design review

Walnut Creek runs its own planning, engineering and building divisions, plus a City Arborist. You can file the encroachment, site development and building applications together and they'll be reviewed at the same time. But they come out in a set order: encroachment, then site development, then building. Engineering also signs off the final inspection before you can move in.

Official info: Walnut Creek permits

A state-exempt ADU is a detached unit of 800 square feet or less, 16 feet tall or less, set back at least four feet from the side and rear. Hit those numbers and you skip the city's design standards. Height goes up to 18 feet within half a mile of BART. No parking is required, and converting a garage doesn't cost you replacement spaces. The city hands out free pre-reviewed plans and runs a rebate program. Since January 2025 you can also get a permit for an ADU that was built without one.

Official info: Walnut Creek ADU rules

The rule is wider than people think: if you want to take out one or more trees, you apply to the city and an arborist comes out to look. Small trees are usually fine, so check rather than guess. If the removal is part of a building project, the city wants to agree which trees stay before you start drawing, and your tree application goes in with the first development application. Near a highly protected tree, you can't grade at all within one and a half times the trunk-to-dripline distance.

Official info: Walnut Creek tree removal permit

These only apply to homes on land averaging 15 percent slope or steeper, and downtown and Rossmoor are left out. Where they do apply, you can't build on ground steeper than 30 percent, or within a 100-foot drop below a prominent ridgeline, though there are three narrow exceptions for tight lots. Nothing can sit within 50 feet of a fault line or the top of a creek bank. Small additions, ADUs, lot splits and SB9 units are exempt.

Official info: Walnut Creek hillside standards

This one catches most remodels. You need a waste management plan if the job costs $50,000 or more, if you're demolishing 300 square feet or more of sloped surface, if you're adding conditioned space, or if you're building or renovating 1,000 square feet or more. Any commercial work counts too. At least 65 percent of the debris has to be recycled, tracked through Green Halo. No permit until the plan is approved, and no certificate of occupancy either. Skip it and the penalty is $1,000 or one percent of the job, whichever is bigger.

Official info: Walnut Creek waste management

Rossmoor manors sit under a mutual, and you need an approved alteration application and permit before work starts, sometimes before the city permit. Your contractor has to meet Mutual Operations Division requirements and file paperwork with your application. Mutuals limit hard flooring in upstairs manors because of noise, and work hours are usually weekdays only. None of this shows up on the city's website.

Official info: Rossmoor alterations