Sunroom Contractor in Irvine - Patio Rooms Built to Fit Your Neighborhood

Call the City of Irvine's Community Development Department at (949) 724-6313. They answer questions about whether a permit is required, and they issue permits for most construction and repair work the building code covers. You can also read the city's permit page yourself. We pull the permits our jobs need, and new online applications now go through the city's PermitsDIRECT! system, which we take care of.

Yes, the city says patio covers need a permit no matter how small they are. The size exemption on its list is for a one-story detached shed or playhouse up to 120 square feet on a single family lot. Even work on that list still needs its own electrical permit if you add lights, outlets or a fan, unless that work is exempted too.

Almost always, yes. The Contractors State License Board requires a license when a project needs a building permit, uses employee labor or totals $1,000 or more in labor and materials, and a sunroom usually meets all three. The board also caps the down payment on a home improvement job at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. Irvine separately requires any business working in the city to hold a city business license. We're licensed and insured, and you're welcome to ask to see it.

Every new roof in Irvine needs Class A roofing material, which is the highest fire rating. A repair that replaces less than half of a roof within a year needs Class A too, unless the roofing that stays is rated Class B or lower, in which case the patch can be Class B. That matters when a sunroom roof ties into your house roof and we have to open part of it, so we settle the roof material at the plan stage instead of at inspection.

The price comes down mostly to the kind of room you want and what it has to sit on, so I can't give you an honest number until I've seen your patio. A screen room on a sound slab costs far less than an insulated four season room that needs new footings, and the glass, the roof tie-in, any wiring and any drawings the city asks for all add to it. After the visit I put everything in a written estimate so you can see where the money goes.

Most of the wait is usually in the approvals, not the building, because association sign-off, any drawings the city asks for and the city's plan review all have to happen before our crew starts. Once a permit is issued for a house, it's good for 18 months unless the city's building official extends it in writing, so we schedule the build well inside that window.