Permits · Zoning · Entitlements
Want to Change Your Zoning,
Add a Unit, or Split a Lot?
California cities are full of rules — and full of exceptions, overlays, and quietly-approved variances most owners never hear about. We help homeowners and investors figure out what their property can actually become, then handle the permits, hearings, and paperwork to get it approved. Our job is to make city hall feel less like a wall and more like a checklist.
What we handle
Permits, Zoning, and Entitlements
From a quick feasibility check to a multi-year rezone, we run the project or hand-pick the team that does. You stay in the loop. We do the chasing.
Zoning Feasibility Review
Before you spend a dollar on plans, we pull the current zoning, overlays, setbacks, height limits, parking ratios, and recent precedent in your jurisdiction so you know what the city will actually approve.
Rezoning Applications
Help with general plan amendments, zone changes, and specific plan amendments. We coordinate the planner, the application packet, the neighbor outreach, and the hearing schedule.
Conditional Use Permits & Variances
For uses that are allowed only with a permit — daycare, short-term rental, home business, second unit in a single-family zone — or when you need relief from a setback or height rule.
ADU & JADU Permits
California makes ADUs easier every year. We help confirm eligibility, choose a path (detached, attached, garage conversion, junior ADU), and run the permit through to final inspection.
Building Permits & Plan Review
Additions, remodels, new construction. We coordinate licensed architects and engineers, submit the plan set, and shepherd it through plan check, corrections, and approval.
Lot Splits & Subdivisions
SB 9 lot splits, parcel maps, tentative tract maps. We confirm your lot qualifies, sequence the entitlements, and line up the survey and civil engineering work.
Code Compliance & Permit Resolution
Unpermitted addition or unit on title? We work with the city to legalize what is salvageable, draw a path forward on what is not, and protect your value before listing.
Hearings & Neighbor Outreach
Discretionary approvals usually need a hearing. We handle the filings, manage neighbor outreach, and represent your project before the board — you do not need to attend or prepare a thing.
How it works
A Clear Path Through the City
Permits are not magic — they are a sequence. Done in the right order, with the right team, most projects get approved on the first or second submittal.
- 1
Step 1
You tell us the address and what you want to do. We pull the zoning, parcel data, and any prior permits on file.
- 2
Step 2
We give you a written feasibility opinion — what the city will likely approve, what it will cost, and roughly how long it will take.
- 3
Step 3
If you move forward, we assemble the team: planner, architect, civil engineer, surveyor, expediter — only what your project actually needs.
- 4
Step 4
We file the application, manage corrections, coordinate hearings, and keep the project moving until the permit issues.
- 5
Step 5
Once approved, you build. We can also list, sell, or refinance the property post-entitlement — that is the broker side of our business.
Request a feasibility review
Tell us what you want to build.
The more specific you are, the more useful our first call will be. The conversation is free and you are not committing to anything by filling this out.
A note on what we do and do not do
Henry David Real Estate is a licensed brokerage. We coordinate permitting projects — we do not draw plans or sign as a licensed architect or engineer ourselves. For projects that need stamped drawings, structural design, or civil work, we bring in the right licensed professional and manage them so you do not have to. We will tell you up front who is doing what and what each step costs.