Burbank Remodeling Contractor works throughout La Crescenta-Montrose, California, a foothill community of roughly 20,000 people seven miles northeast of Burbank up the 2 and along Foothill Boulevard. It is one of the most pleasant places we build and one of the most confusing to permit in.
The confusion is jurisdictional. Most of La Crescenta-Montrose is unincorporated Los Angeles County territory despite carrying Glendale mailing addresses, and the boundary genuinely flips street by street in places. Call (747) 330-0305 and we will establish which authority your parcel answers to before anything else happens.
County Jurisdiction, Not Glendale
This catches almost everybody. The community is unincorporated Los Angeles County, which means permits go through County Public Works Building and Safety and County Regional Planning, with county fees, county inspectors and county ADU standards. Meanwhile the adjacent Montrose Shopping Park blocks are City of Glendale, so two properties a few hundred feet apart can answer to entirely different agencies.
Most homeowners here do not know which one they are in, and a contractor who assumes wrong loses weeks. We verify the jurisdiction from the parcel record at the start of every project, and we work in both systems regularly enough to know how each one behaves.
Remodeling a Housing Stock That Is Almost Entirely Pre-1979
The numbers here are striking: 83 percent of the housing stock predates 1979 and under 1 percent was built after 2010. In practical terms that means historic bungalows, mid-century ranches and foothill two-stories with original systems that are now anywhere from fifty to a hundred years old.
It also means the work is predictable in a useful way. Panels are undersized. Supply lines are galvanized on the older houses. Raised foundations are frequently unbolted. Pre-1978 construction carries lead paint and often asbestos in flooring, mastic and duct wrap, which requires testing and licensed handling before demolition rather than after. All of that belongs in the budget from day one.
The 1920s Village Core in Montrose and the Slopes Above
Montrose, south of the 210, is a planned subdivision laid out in the early 1920s with a walkable village core along Honolulu Avenue, and the housing near it reflects that period. La Crescenta's grid runs diagonally up the Crescenta Valley slope toward the San Gabriels, and the character shifts as you climb.
On the upper avenues the sloped lots bring retaining walls and step-down foundations into ordinary remodel scope. An addition on a sloping lot is not simply framing: it is a stepped foundation, retaining where the grade is cut, and drainage designed to move water around the structure. That is a meaningful cost difference from the same addition on a flat parcel and it should be in the number you are given.
ADUs on Generous Foothill Lots
The community is 76.5 percent single-family with generous yards by regional standards, which makes it a genuinely good ADU market. County ADU standards govern rather than city ones, and they differ enough from Glendale's and Los Angeles's to matter in design.
The site variables that decide feasibility are the same ones as everywhere: where the sewer lateral runs and at what depth, whether the panel can carry a second dwelling, and whether a truck can reach the back of the lot. On a sloped parcel add grading and drainage to that list, since a backyard that steps down needs a pad before it needs a building.
Talk to a Burbank general contractor about your project
Tell us what you have in mind and we will give you a straight answer on scope, permits, timeline and price.
Call (747) 330-0305Frequently asked questions
Am I in Glendale or in Los Angeles County?
Most of La Crescenta-Montrose is unincorporated county territory even though the mailing address says Glendale. The blocks around the Montrose Shopping Park are actually City of Glendale. It flips street by street in places, so we confirm it from the parcel record rather than the address before quoting or designing anything.
Does county permitting take longer than city permitting?
It is different rather than uniformly slower. County plan check has its own submittal process, fee schedule and inspection scheduling, and the ADU standards differ from the surrounding cities. What costs people time is assuming the wrong agency at the start and having to redo a submittal.
My house is from the 1950s. What should I expect when you open the walls?
In this community, given how much of the stock predates 1979, the common findings are an undersized panel, galvanized supply lines, an unbolted raised foundation, and asbestos or lead in pre-1978 materials requiring testing and licensed abatement. None of it is unusual and all of it should be in the budget rather than discovered in week three.
Can I build an ADU on a sloped lot here?
Frequently yes, and the added cost is in the site work rather than the building. A sloping back yard needs a graded pad, retaining where the grade is cut, and drainage taken to an approved point. We price that separately and honestly, since it is the part that varies most from lot to lot.