Masonry Contractor in Walnut Creek, CA - Brick and Stone Fixed at the Cause

The city requires a building permit whenever you add a structure to your property or physically change it, so plenty of masonry jobs need one, and the Community Development Department issues them. Its list of examples names kitchen remodels, re-roofing and new windows rather than masonry, so for a chimney, foundation or new wall I check with the city before we start. When a job needs a permit, we handle the application and the inspections.

The city says a retaining wall needs no building permit if it's 4 feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing, holds back 3 feet of soil or less and carries no surcharge, like a driveway or a slope pressing on the soil behind it. Past any of those limits, plan on a permit. For fences, the city requires a minor use permit above 6 feet, or above 36 inches inside a required front yard setback, the open strip it keeps along the street, so I measure a tall brick or block wall on the property line against that too.

You apply through the Online Permit Portal on the city's building permits page, because the city no longer takes paper or emailed applications. The permit is issued only with the signature of the legal property owner or a California licensed contractor. When your job needs one, we put in the application and handle the inspections, so you're not chasing the city yourself.

Only with an after-hours permit, which the city requires for construction on Saturdays and city holidays. No construction is allowed at all on national holidays such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. I plan our work days around that and tell you up front if a Saturday would help.

The city says concrete flatwork on private property, like a patio, a replaced driveway or a path, needs no permit. Replacing the driveway approach, the piece that meets the street, or the sidewalk in front of your house does, and that one takes an Encroachment Permit. If you're going with pavers, brick or stone instead of concrete, I'll confirm with the city before we start.

There's no flat rate, so I price each job in writing after I've seen it. The biggest drivers are how much brick or block is damaged and why, how high and hard to reach the work is, whether old brick has to be matched, how much digging a new wall or footing takes and whether a permit is involved. Patching only the joints you can see costs less today, but if water is still getting in I'll tell you, because you'd end up paying for the same repair twice.