Do You Need a Permit to Pour Concrete in Los Angeles?

Short answer: some concrete needs a permit in Los Angeles and some does not, and the line is not about size - it is about whether the work is structural, whether it is in the public right-of-way, or whether it holds back soil. Replacing a backyard patio slab on the same footprint usually does not need a building permit. A new foundation, a structural slab, a driveway apron at the street, or a retaining wall over four feet almost always does. Here is how the lines actually fall.

Work that generally needs a permit

• New foundations and structural slabs. Anything that supports a structure - a house foundation, an ADU or addition slab, footings - is engineered, permitted, and inspected work through LA Department of Building and Safety. This is the category where the permit is not paperwork; the pre-pour steel inspection is what guarantees the reinforcement is actually there.
• Driveway aprons in the public right-of-way. The apron where your driveway meets the street is City property, and cutting a new curb or pouring a new apron needs a permit from the LA Bureau of Engineering. This one surprises homeowners constantly.
• Retaining walls over four feet. A wall retaining more than four feet of soil, measured from the bottom of the footing, needs an engineered design and a building permit. Even shorter walls need proper drainage, and a wall supporting a surcharge (like a driveway above it) can trip the requirement at a lower height.
• Work in a hillside or special hazard area. On hillside lots and in methane, flood, or fault zones, the thresholds are stricter and more work is pulled into permitting.

Work that usually does not

Straight replacement of a non-structural flatwork slab - a patio, a walkway, a small pad - on the same footprint and grade is generally maintenance and does not need a building permit. But two caveats: the surrounding cities (Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, Glendale, Burbank, and Torrance each run their own building departments) set their own thresholds, so the answer in the City of LA is not automatically the answer in Pasadena; and a public sidewalk repair out front, while your responsibility as the fronting owner, has its own City spec to meet.

Why unpermitted concrete costs more, not less

The fee you skip is small. The cost of skipping it is not. Unpermitted structural concrete is an unpermitted structure, and it surfaces at the worst possible moment - when you sell and it shows up in inspection, when you refinance, or when you file an insurance claim on a wall or foundation that failed. At that point the city can require you to expose finished work for inspection or tear it out and re-do it to code. A permitted pour, inspected at the right stages, is documented and clean, and it is the version a buyer's agent and an insurer both want to see.

Who pulls the permit?

A licensed concrete contractor pulls the permits for the work they do and builds to the inspections - that is part of what separates a licensed crew from a cash pour. When we quote a foundation, apron, or retaining wall, the permit is in the bid and the inspection milestones are in the schedule.

Not sure whether your project needs a permit? Our Los Angeles concrete team will tell you straight during the site visit and handle the permitting for the work that needs it.