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General Contracting & Property Maintenance in Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica, Los Angeles County — population about 93,000. Residential and multifamily repair, maintenance and renovation, owner-managed, with 40 years of construction and project-management experience behind it.
Santa Monica is the most multifamily city on our list by a wide margin. Only twenty-three percent of its housing is single-unit; thirty-nine percent sits in buildings of five to nineteen units, and seventy-two percent of households rent. It is also the most regulated construction environment we work in.
Nousland is based in Santa Monica as well as Escondido, so this is home ground. If you own apartment property here, three things shape every project: rent control, the seismic retrofit ordinance, and the fact that coastal permits do not come from the city.
Nousland’s CSLB General Building (B) contractor license and bonding are currently in process. We are not yet licensed under Chapter 9 of the California Business and Professions Code, and we say so on every page of this site.
What we do in Santa Monica
- Ongoing property maintenance programs for residential and multifamily buildings
- Exterior repair and waterproofing — decks, balconies, walkways, stairs and stucco
- Unit turnovers and interior renovation
- Dry rot and water-intrusion repair
- Project management, scheduling and vendor coordination
- Written estimates and pre-purchase condition consultation
The housing stock in Santa Monica
The defining Santa Monica building is the 1950s to 1970s stucco walk-up with tuck-under parking — the classic soft-story configuration — alongside 1920s to 1940s courtyard and Spanish apartment buildings. Thirty-seven percent of the stock predates 1960 and another thirty-seven percent is from the 1960s and 1970s.
What that stock needs is consistent and substantial: stucco and deck or balcony waterproofing repair, dry rot remediation in exterior stairs and open-corridor walkways, corroded balcony railings and connections, and seismic strengthening at the parking level.
Coastal conditions in Santa Monica
Ocean Park and the beachfront blocks take direct salt spray. Sunset Park and the eastern neighborhoods sit one and a half to three miles inland with a much lighter load.
The dominant environmental factor citywide is not dramatic weather — it is the persistent marine layer. Assemblies dry slowly and stay damp, which is why dry rot in exterior stairs, open walkways and deck framing is so common in the walk-up stock. Slow chronic moisture does more damage here over twenty years than any single storm does.
Permits and local requirements in Santa Monica
Santa Monica’s Building & Safety Division runs permits through its ePermits citizen portal. Three local realities matter more than the portal.
First, rent control here is a City Charter law with an elected Rent Control Board — not the state’s AB 1482 — and it constrains renovation, tenant relocation and unit-removal work in ways that need to be understood before work is scheduled. Second, the mandatory seismic retrofit program is the broadest in California, covering unreinforced masonry, concrete tilt-up, soft-story, non-ductile concrete and steel moment frame across several municipal code chapters. Third, and most consequential for schedule: as of 2026 Santa Monica has no certified Local Coastal Program, so the California Coastal Commission issues coastal development permits directly. The city adopted a Land Use Plan in 2018 and is working toward certification, targeted for the end of 2027 — but until that happens, coastal-zone work here goes through the state, and it takes materially longer than in Newport Beach or Long Beach.
Multifamily, HOAs and California’s balcony inspection laws
Santa Monica’s 1950s to 1970s walk-ups are the single largest concentration of SB 721–relevant buildings we work with. Rental buildings of three or more units required a first inspection of balconies, decks, elevated walkways and exterior stairs by January 1, 2026, repeating every six years, with identified repairs due within 120 days. Condominium associations fall under SB 326 on a nine-year cycle. In Santa Monica, that repair work frequently overlaps with the mandatory seismic retrofit program, and sequencing the two together rather than separately saves both money and tenant disruption.
Two laws govern this. SB 721 covers rental buildings with three or more units: the first inspection of exterior elevated elements was due 1 January 2026, it repeats every six years, and repairs identified must be completed within 120 days. SB 326 covers condominium associations: first inspection was due 1 January 2025 and repeats every nine years. The inspections themselves must be performed by a qualified licensed architect, engineer or contractor — Nousland does the repair work that follows, not the statutory inspection.
Neighborhoods we serve in Santa Monica
We work throughout Santa Monica, including:
Ocean Park
Downtown
Mid-City
Sunset Park
Pico Neighborhood
North of Montana
Wilshire-Montana
Questions we get about Santa Monica
Why is coastal permitting slower in Santa Monica than in Newport Beach?
Because Santa Monica has no certified Local Coastal Program, so the California Coastal Commission issues coastal development permits directly rather than the city. Newport Beach and Long Beach issue their own. That difference is worth weeks or months.
Can balcony repair and seismic retrofit be done together?
Often yes, and it usually should be. Both involve opening up the same areas and disrupting the same tenants. Sequencing them as one project rather than two is cheaper and shorter.
Does rent control affect renovation work?
It can, significantly — particularly anything involving tenant relocation or changes to units. Santa Monica’s is a City Charter law with its own board, not the state framework, and it should be understood before work is scheduled.
Talk to us about your Santa Monica property
Tell us what the building is doing and we will tell you what it needs. Written estimates, no obligation. Call (310) 424-5065 or email info@nousland.com.
Nearby cities we serve
See all of our Southern California service areas.