How Long to Rebuild in Altadena: Real Timeline & Costs (2025)
TL;DR – The Real Numbers
| Total Timeline | ~2.5 years (fire to move-in) |
| Construction Cost | $400–550 per square foot |
| Insurance Coverage | ~50% of actual costs (CA Fair Plan) |
| Permit Timeline | 2–4 weeks zoning + 2–4 weeks construction |
These aren't estimates. They're real numbers from Rudy Manning, an East Altadena homeowner who's living this right now.
Part of the Altadena Fire Recovery Hub — your complete guide to navigating property values, rebuild decisions, and insurance claims.
The Night Everything Changed
January 7, 2025. Around 6:30 PM.
Rudy Manning's father texted from Texas: "Hey, we're hearing news here, there's a fire close to you."
Rudy didn't smell smoke. There were no alerts. He searched Google, found nothing official. His family hadn't seen anything either.
Then Rudy found a random ABC News livestream on YouTube. Someone was talking about evacuations.
"We turned the corner, basically half a block past our house. We looked to the left and the fire was basically right behind us. Right there. There's a mountain that kind of ends maybe a quarter mile behind us. I was like, wow, this is crazy. It's right there."
They grabbed what they could. Got in one car. Drove to his in-laws' house.
The next afternoon at 2 PM, a neighbor texted: "Hey Rudy, our houses are gone."
That was it. Four years in that home. A kitchen they'd just finished remodeling. An attic renovation in progress—the electrician was supposed to come that morning.
All of it, gone.
The Decision Nobody Wants to Make
For the first two weeks, Rudy's gut said rebuild. Within seven days of the fire, he'd already sketched floor plans in Illustrator. Mood boards. A rough site plan.
Then the emotional fog lifted, and the real questions started.
Rudy runs a design agency. He's built his career solving complex problems. So he treated this like a design problem—analyzing every option with the same rigor he'd bring to a client project.
"I'm a designer, so I like to see problems even like this as design problems. And so I put my sort of designer critical thinking hat on."
The Four Options He Evaluated
Rudy built financial models for each scenario—projecting 10 years out, including appreciation, taxes, rental income, and insurance gaps. He used ChatGPT and Claude to help crunch numbers and research precedents from other fire recoveries.
| Option | Timeline | Rudy's Take |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rent + Rebuild Bigger | 3+ years | "I didn't want to feel like we're in transition for three years" |
| 2. Buy Smaller + Rebuild Later | 3+ years | Still too long in limbo |
| 3. Rebuild + ADU + Buy New | 1–2 years | ✓ CHOSEN |
| 4. Sell the Lot | Immediate | "Off the table" |
Why He Chose Option 3
Rudy's business is his family's primary asset. Three years of distraction could hurt it. He needed to time-box this.
"I knew I needed to time-box this. If I focused intensely for one year, I could move forward without letting the process distract from running my business."
The plan: Rebuild the original footprint plus an ADU on the Altadena lot (for rental income), while simultaneously buying a larger house for his family to live in. One intense year of work, then a rental property generating income for decades.
"It felt like being in a slow-motion emergency—everything chaotic, but decisions needed to be made quickly."
Looking back, he wishes he'd committed faster.
"Move your emotion and just say, buy another house and rebuild. That would have helped me save two months of figuring that part out."
Assembling the Team
Rudy didn't go in blind. He had relationships—some going back 30 years.
The Architect
A longtime friend helped Rudy establish the initial concept and design direction. This early vision work was crucial for defining scope before engaging the detailed planning team.
A second architect, Shushan, handled the detailed implementation—translating the vision into permit-ready plans and navigating the county's online portal.
The Contractor
Rudy's contractor has known him for 30 years. He'd done Rudy's kitchen, his office renovation, countless projects. During the decision phase, he provided rough estimates so Rudy could build accurate financial models.
"Having someone I trust who could gut-check the numbers I was getting from everywhere else was invaluable."
The Engineer
CalCivic, a firm right in Altadena, handled structural, civil, and grading plans. They'd worked with Rudy before and walked him through what was actually required—more than just structural plans. Civil engineering, grading, Title 24 energy reports.
Key lesson: Build your team with people who have fire-zone experience. The terminology and requirements are different from standard construction.
The Research That Changed Everything
Here's where Rudy's story diverges from most Altadena homeowners.
He didn't just hand things off to professionals and wait. He researched the regulations himself—exhaustively—before submitting anything.
"I have to know it. I can't rely on just other people to tell me and there's always something missing."
His architect had worked in the City of LA. But Altadena is County of LA—slightly different regulations. Rudy caught this because he did his own homework.
What He Learned About "Like for Like"
"Like for like" means rebuilding the permittable square footage—which might not match what you think you have.
- County records can differ from your measurements
- Documents go back nearly 100 years—things change
- Setbacks can be grandfathered (Rudy had 2.5–3 feet in one area vs. standard 5 feet)
- There's a 10% flexibility: over OR under 200 sq ft rounds up
What He Learned About Permits
Two separate processes—not one:
Phase 1: Zoning/Planning
- Is your footprint acceptable for the lot?
- Submit to LA County Public Works
- Portal is NOT intuitive—look for the "Attachment" button
Phase 2: Construction Permits
- How will the house actually be built?
- Requires: architectural plans, structural/engineering plans, civil plans (grading), Title 24 energy report
What He Learned About Requirements
Conflicting information is everywhere. Everyone told Rudy he needed a geotech soil report. Some said he needed a full survey.
"Everybody's telling me I do, this person says no. I decided to try without it—and it worked."
Lesson: Don't assume. Verify directly with LA County.
The Permit Result
Rudy submitted his zoning plans.
Two weeks later: Approved. Zero changes.
"I feel like a lot of it happened because I was able to do a lot of that research and take my time to really understand it firsthand."
In December 2025, he submitted his final construction plans. He's expecting approval within two weeks, with ground breaking in early 2026 and an 18-month construction timeline.
Target completion: June 2027.
The Real Costs
When Rudy started getting contractor quotes, he created three budget tiers:
| Tier | Per Sq Ft | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Minimal | $400 | Basic finishes, standard materials |
| Target | $450 | What he's hoping for |
| Acceptable | $550 | Still workable |
His architect works on $1,000+/sq ft luxury homes. This isn't that kind of build. But it's not going to be cheap either.
What's NOT in Those Numbers
The per-square-foot estimate covers construction. But Rudy discovered a lot of costs that add up separately:
- Landscaping (unexpectedly expensive)
- Driveway
- Doors and windows
- Metal roof
- Siding
- Appliances
- Interior finishes
"You're thinking about what's it cost to build the house back? But the driveway, the landscaping—everything is not included in that. Landscaping turns out to be another unexpectedly expensive part of rebuilding."
The Insurance Reality
This is the part nobody wants to hear.
Two years before the fire, State Farm canceled Rudy's policy. In September 2024—just months before the Eaton Fire—Mercury canceled too.
They searched everywhere. Nobody would insure them.
Finally: Bamboo, but only with California Fair Plan for fire coverage. It was the only option.
The Coverage Gap
"Roughly, I would say [California Fair Plan] is probably going to cover about 50% of our construction costs."
Half. That's the gap most Altadena families are facing.
What Rudy Wishes He'd Done
"Had I looked back, I would have gone, wait, we should call them and give them information about the new kitchen that we just finished. And all the updates—the new roof, new stucco, new paint. We needed to figure out exactly what to up it."
The lesson: If you've done ANY renovations, update your insurance policy immediately. Your payout is based on what's documented, not what you actually had.
The Build
Rudy's not rebuilding a replica of what he lost. He's building something new:
- Main house: Like-for-like footprint
- ADU: For rental income
- Basement: 280 sq ft (laundry room, game room, 8-foot ceilings)
- Metal roof: For energy efficiency (helps with Title 24)
The lot is crescent-shaped, about 6,500–6,800 sq ft. Not huge, but workable. The original house had some non-standard setbacks that are being grandfathered in.
What Keeps Him Going
Rudy could have sold. Taken the insurance money and walked away. A lot of people are.
But that was never an option for him.
"I want to give back a beautiful house to Altadena. I don't want this to be a renter build. I want a house that I can feel proud of, that we've lost something, but we've built something that's substantial and beautiful. This house stays in our family. It's kind of a symbol."
He's watching the neighborhood. Talking to other homeowners. Seeing designs come through in community groups.
"I'm seeing designs, following up with probably 50 people in certain groups. A lot of people are rebuilding. The media story that is sticky is 'Pasadena is for sale, everybody's selling.' But I think there's gonna be some really beautiful architecture in Altadena. I'd love to see an Altadena architectural tour in three years."
That's the vision. Not a neighborhood defined by loss, but by what rose from it.
"I never wanted this to define us. I wanted—how can I leverage this and have it be something positive at the end?"
Rudy's Timeline
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Fire | January 7, 2025 |
| Learned house was gone | January 8, 2025 |
| First floor plans sketched | Within 7 days |
| Decision finalized | ~2 months post-fire |
| Zoning approved | ~2 weeks, zero changes |
| Construction plans submitted | December 2025 |
| Expected ground break | Early 2026 |
| Expected completion | June 2027 |
Total: ~2.5 years from fire to move-in ready.
What Rudy Would Tell You
If you're an Altadena homeowner facing the same decisions, here's what Rudy learned:
1. Do your own research. Don't assume your architect or contractor knows the County of LA regulations. City and County are different. Verify everything yourself.
2. Time-box it. Don't let this drag on for three years. Commit to a plan and execute. The longer you wait, the more it affects everything else in your life.
3. Build your team with people you trust. Rudy's 30-year relationship with his contractor was invaluable. Find people who can gut-check your numbers.
4. Use AI tools. ChatGPT, Claude—they can help you build financial models, research precedents, and think through scenarios. Rudy used them extensively.
5. Update your insurance after every renovation. Your payout is based on documentation. If you upgraded your kitchen and didn't tell your insurer, that upgrade doesn't exist to them.
6. Move past the emotion. The first two weeks are grief. That's okay. But then put your analytical hat on and make the decision that makes sense for your family's future.
"Move your emotion and just say, buy another house and rebuild. That would have helped me save two months of figuring that part out."
The Bigger Picture
The Eaton Fire scorched 14,021 acres. It destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,071 more. Cultural landmarks like the Andrew McNally House and the Theosophical Library Center—gone.
LA County data shows permits gradually catching up:
| Period | Applications | Permits Issued |
|---|---|---|
| Jan – Mar 2025 | ~300 | 4 |
| Apr – Sep 2025 | ~1,207 | 90 |
| Forecast Q2 2026 | — | ≈200 |
The county is trying to help: One-Stop Permit Centers, pre-approved plan catalogs, streamlined like-for-like approvals, state executive orders suspending CEQA review.
But for individual families, it still comes down to doing the work. Rudy's proof that it can be done—and done efficiently.
Resources
Permits & Recovery
- LA County Rebuilding Portal: recovery.lacounty.gov
- LA County Public Works: Woodbury & Lincoln location for in-person help
- Pre-Approved Plan Catalog: Available through county portal
Financial Assistance
- Altadena Builds Back Foundation: $4.55M distributed via Pasadena Community Foundation
- SGV Habitat for Humanity: Free rebuild assistance
- SBA Disaster Loans: Long-term, low-interest financing
Community Support
- Altadena Town Council: Weekly rebuild updates
- United Policyholders: Free insurance advocacy
- Bet Tzedek Legal Services: Free legal assistance
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does it take to rebuild a house in Altadena?
A: Approximately 2 to 2.5 years from fire to move-in ready. Rudy Manning's breakdown: 2–3 months for decisions, ~2 weeks for zoning (if prepared), 2–4 weeks for construction permits, 18 months for construction.
Q: How much does it cost per square foot?
A: $400–550 per square foot for construction, with most targeting $450. This doesn't include landscaping, driveway, or many finishes.
Q: Does insurance cover the rebuild?
A: California Fair Plan typically covers about 50% of actual costs. The gap is significant for most families.
Q: How long do permits take?
A: Zoning: ~2 weeks (if thoroughly prepared). Construction permits: 2–4 weeks. Rudy's zoning was approved with zero changes because he researched regulations before submitting.
Q: Should I rebuild or sell?
A: Depends on your situation. Rudy recommends building 10-year financial models for each scenario using AI tools, then committing quickly once you decide.
Q: Is Altadena actually rebuilding?
A: Yes. Despite media focus on sales, many families are rebuilding. Rudy sees progress from ~50 neighbors in community groups.
Get Your Personalized Analysis
Email justin@theborgesrealestateteam.com to receive:
- Altadena Rebuild Tracker Map – Active, pending, and completed rebuilds
- Lot Value & Rebuild Calculator – Customized to your property
- Insurance Settlement Review – Complimentary analysis
- 15-Minute Consultation – Free strategy session
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