Palisades Fire Rebuild.
Forty years of California residential design, in service of Pacific Palisades families rebuilding after palisades fire.
Forty years of California residential design, in service of Pacific Palisades families rebuilding after palisades fire.
In January 2025, the Palisades Fire moved through Pacific Palisades and destroyed over 6,800 homes across 23,448 acres. Families who had lived in the same house for decades lost the structure in one afternoon. We have spent the year since then helping those families navigate the rebuild.
The rebuild process is unlike new construction. Insurance timelines, debris removal schedules, expedited permit programs, fire hazard severity overlays, and the collective trauma of a neighborhood rebuilding together all add layers that a standard custom home project does not face. We know this territory. David Foote has guided families through every major Southern California fire since the 1993 Laguna Beach fire: Thomas in 2017, Woolsey in 2018, Mountain in 2024, and now Palisades Fire in 2025.
What follows is not a sales pitch. It is a working map of everything Pacific Palisades families are navigating right now, drawn from the actual projects currently on David's desk.
Our role is the residential design and permit documentation side of the rebuild. We draw the plans, manage the permit process, coordinate with your structural engineer, and stay with you through construction for questions that come up in the field. We do not build the home ourselves. We work with builders you hire and trust, and we have working relationships with several Pacific Palisades general contractors who have proven themselves across past rebuilds.
On every rebuild project we deliver: a site analysis that accounts for the post fire condition, schematic design that respects your budget and your insurance coverage limits, design development with material and finish specifications, full construction documents (architectural, structural coordination, Title 24 energy compliance, CALGreen documentation), permit submittal and plan check correction work, and construction administration for the duration of the build.
For Pacific Palisades rebuilds specifically, we have an expedited LADBS (Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety) track and templates that have already cleared plan check for post fire rebuilds. That saves roughly three to six weeks in the permit phase.
Most Pacific Palisades families are telling themselves the rebuild will take twelve months. The honest range, from debris clearance to move in, is twenty four to thirty six months. Here is why the longer timeline is normal:
Families who try to compress this timeline tend to make expensive mid project changes. Families who understand the full timeline up front and plan their temporary housing, their insurance ALE (Additional Living Expenses) coverage, and their financing around that realistic window come through the rebuild with fewer surprises and better homes.
David is Associate AIA with forty years of practice and 1,532 completed homes. He draws every project himself. There is no junior designer sketching your home while he reviews at the end of the week. He is in the room for every client meeting, every site walk, and every consequential design decision.
For fire rebuild projects specifically, the first hour of the first meeting is about listening. Not about showing you precedents or asking about square footage. About the house you lost, what worked, what you always wished it did better, what you want to carry forward, and what you will be grateful to leave behind in the ashes. The design work follows from that conversation, not from a predetermined template.
Published hourly rate is $350. We quote most rebuild projects as a fixed design fee once we understand scope, or on a percent of construction cost basis for larger rebuilds. Insurance reimbursable. We are transparent about fees and do not run the hidden markup model most firms use.
Sooner than you think. Even while debris removal is happening on your lot, we can begin site analysis from public records and the surrounding context. Early design work identifies issues (setback changes, new WUI requirements, updated code items) that affect your budget and your insurance negotiations. Most families we are working with started design engagement six to ten months before debris was fully cleared.
No. Your insurance may value the claim based on "like for like" replacement of what you lost, but you are not obligated to rebuild that specific floor plan. Most Pacific Palisades families we work with use the rebuild as an opportunity to correct things that never quite worked in the original. The key is documenting the scope of loss carefully so your carrier reimburses the full value, then applying that reimbursement toward the new design.
We produce the drawings and documentation that support the carrier negotiation. Your public adjuster or attorney handles the dollar conversation directly with the carrier. Our job is to make sure the drawings reflect the actual scope of what was lost (fixtures, finishes, built ins, structural details) so the carrier cannot low ball based on missing information.
Your rebuild is reviewed under the 2025 California code package. If your home was built in 1978 or 1995 or 2008, the current code is materially different. WUI requirements, Title 24 energy standards, seismic bracing, and CALGreen compliance have all evolved. We handle all of this without you having to read any of the code yourself.
In Pacific Palisades specifically, rebuild costs in 2026 are running $550 to $900 per square foot for typical custom home quality, higher for hillside lots or coastal exposures. Fire rebuilds sit on the higher side of market rate because of WUI material requirements, temporary site access, contractor saturation, and upgraded foundations. We can prepare a realistic budget after our initial consultation.
David Foote holds the Associate AIA designation and practices under the California Business and Professions Code 5537 residential exemption, which covers single family dwellings, two family dwellings, and farm buildings of woodframe construction up to two stories. For projects that fall outside that scope, we partner with a licensed California architect or structural engineer who stamps the drawings. For a standard Pacific Palisades rebuild, 5537 covers the work.
Ninety minute consultation, no fee. We meet at our Camarillo office, your temporary housing, or your Pacific Palisades lot. From there, we decide together whether we are the right match for your rebuild.
David C. Foote, Principal Designer, Associate AIA. 40 years practicing residential design. 1,532 completed homes since 1986.