“This project was for a client that I had done many projects with in the past.  I  previously told him that if he bought  something on the land side of Malibu,  as opposed to the ocean side, which  was his usual preference, we could  do a larger, more expansive project.  For an addition to a beach house to  be exempt from needing to get a  Coastal Development Permit, the  project is limited to an addition no  more than 10% of the existing  structure.  However, there is no such  restriction on a house on the landside  if the existing septic system can  accomodate the addition.  Granted,  you also need to stay under the  allowable gross structural area but the  review process can be significantly  less.” “The client didn’t consult me when he  bought the house - he was trying to  beat the time limits of a 1031  exchange.  Anyhow, he ended up  buying this house which was on an  active landslide. which once again  meant that we were limited to another  10% maximum addition. “He was upset when he found out that  he was severly restricted in what he  could do with the property....   Reminding me that I was the one who  was telling him to buy something on  the landside of the highway.  I’m  sorry, but I couldn’t resist the  response; ‘I said buy a property on  the “land-side, not a landslide!”’”  “A friend of mine had a client who had  previously been in escrow to  purchase the house, but backed out  when they determined that they  couldn’t do what they wanted to the  house because of the extent of the  poor geologic conditions.  At any rate,  my friend gave me the as-built CADD  file, which saved my client quite a bit  of time and money.”

“We really opened up the house -  gave it multislide doors to take full  advantage of indoor/outdoor living  and the spectacular ocean views.   We blew out almost all of the interior  walls on the first floor that were also  inhibiting the views. “The original house really did not take  full advantage of the views.  The  Master Bathroom was in the back of  the house.  The window in the Master  Bathroom faced the rear neighbor.   The wardrobe was on the exterior  wall closest to the ocean view - buit  there was no window because the  pitch of the roof below was up high  enough to encumber any possibility  of having a window.  We lowered the  roof pitch below without compromising  the ceiling.  This enabled us to swap  the wardrobe and the bathroom, and  now give the bathtub this spectacular  view of Surfrider Beach and the pier.”  There was an organically shaped  jacuzzi that the City geologist  wouldn’t let us replace with a larger  pool because of the landslide, but he  would let us remodel it to be the  same dimensions with the corners  straightened out.  We gave it an  infinity edge on two sides to make it  more scuptural and bring the ocean  up the canyon.”