Sustainable rebuild options.
Your rebuild happens under the 2025 energy code. Net zero and passive house are easier than they were five years ago.
Your rebuild happens under the 2025 energy code. Net zero and passive house are easier than they were five years ago.
Your rebuild is built under the 2025 California energy code, the most performance oriented code in the country. Net zero, passive house, and high performance design are all achievable within typical rebuild budgets. The economics changed materially when all electric construction dropped in cost and solar became essentially free at utility scale.
The sustainable rebuilds we are designing include: high performance building envelope (R23 walls, R38 roofs, triple pane windows where oriented), heat pump HVAC and heat pump water heating, induction cooking, rooftop solar sized to annual electrical load, and battery storage for resilience during PSPS events.
Many of these features are code required anyway under Title 24 Part 6 2025. The incremental cost to go from code minimum to passive house performance on a rebuild is 4 to 8 percent of construction cost, with payback in 7 to 12 years through avoided energy costs.
All electric construction is now the baseline. Heat pumps for HVAC and water heating, induction cooking, electric vehicle charging circuits. Gas line to the home becomes optional. Most of our Pacific Palisades rebuilds are all electric by choice.
Solar array sizing: we size to annual electrical load, typically 6 to 12 kW DC for a single family home. Roof orientation on the new rebuild can be optimized to southern exposure during design. Net metering 3.0 changes the export economics but self consumption still pencils.
Battery storage: 13 to 27 kWh typical. Provides resilience during PSPS events (the neighborhood still uses PSPS during fire weather), load shifting for TOU rates, and backup for essential circuits. Cost runs $14k to $28k installed.
Passive house pathway: if you want the full passive house certification, plan on 6 to 10 percent additional construction cost and specific detailing through construction. Worth it if you want extreme indoor comfort and quiet.
Our role on Pacific Palisades rebuild projects covers design, permit documentation, and construction administration. David Foote, Associate AIA, draws every project personally. No junior designer intermediaries. Forty years of California residential design, 1,532 completed homes.
We accept new Palisades Fire rebuild clients on a limited basis to preserve project quality. If your rebuild lot is in Pacific Palisades and you want to explore working with us, the next step is a free 90 minute consultation. Call (805) 444 1230 or email dcfoote@dcfoote.com. We respond within one business day.
Published hourly rate $350. Most rebuild projects quoted as fixed fee or percent of construction cost after initial scope is clear. Insurance often reimburses the design fee as a covered claim expense.
Yes. The 2025 Title 24 code gets the envelope most of the way there. Adding solar and battery closes the gap. Many of our Pacific Palisades rebuilds are net zero by design, annual electricity balance approximately zero.
For some families yes. Passive house adds 6 to 10 percent to construction cost and produces a home with near zero operating cost, extreme indoor comfort, and quiet. Payback runs 10 to 15 years on energy savings alone. Non monetary benefits are substantial.
Battery storage addresses this. Sized correctly (13 to 27 kWh), battery storage covers essential circuits (refrigerator, lighting, internet) for 24 to 48 hours during outages, longer with solar recharge during the day.
Very little in 2026. All electric, high performance envelope, and integrated solar all work across modern, traditional, and contemporary aesthetics. The technology is no longer visible as compromise.
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.