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AMN Construction · Santa Barbara

General contractor in Santa Barbara.

The Riviera, the Mesa, San Roque, the Upper East. Inside the City, we know which board your address answers to before anything is drawn.

License 802739 (opens in a new tab)InsuredTwo-year written warranty5.0 on Google, 4 reviews (opens in a new tab)Read the warranty wording

The short answer

Who permits and reviews a house in Santa Barbara?

Inside the City of Santa Barbara, the City issues permits. Most single-family houses go to the Single Family Design Board, commercial and multi-family work to the Architectural Board of Review, and anything in El Pueblo Viejo or a historic designation to the Historic Landmarks Commission. Coastal Zone parcels also follow the City’s Coastal Land Use Plan, certified in August 2019. Some Santa Barbara addresses, such as Mission Canyon, are County land.

Checked against official sources, November 2026. Sources: Single Family Design Board (opens in a new tab) · City Local Coastal Program (opens in a new tab)

Compare all five towns: who permits and reviews, with sources

The road in Santa Barbara

Three stops. Then we build.

  1. Stop 1Single Family Design Board
  2. Stop 2Coastal permit, where it applies
  3. Stop 3City Building and Safety
  4. ThenWe build
Which stops apply depends on the parcel and the work. We name them for your address before design starts. The file on Santa Barbara

Services in Santa Barbara

Custom homes in Santa BarbaraRenovations in Santa BarbaraAccessory dwellings in Santa BarbaraKitchen remodels in Santa BarbaraFinish carpentry in Santa BarbaraOwner’s rep in Santa BarbaraProject management in Santa Barbara

Four ways AMN works in Santa Barbara.

General contractor

AMN builds it: custom homes, renovations, kitchens and accessory dwellings, for one fixed contract sum. This page is the detail.

Project management

Older houses hide things. We open walls on purpose before the price is fixed, then run the Single Family Design Board dates and the trades on one schedule. Project management in Santa Barbara

Owner’s representative

For an owner who has a builder and wants the City path, the bills and the schedule checked. Owner’s rep in Santa Barbara

Finish carpentry

Trim, doors and built-ins matched to Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival houses. Finish carpentry in Santa Barbara

The ground

Same drawings, two different projects. A steep Riviera lot and a level Mesa lot part ways in site work, not finishes: on the hillside, access and drainage drive cost more than area does.

The RivieraThe MesaSan RoqueUpper EastLower RivieraSamarkandOak Park

Mission Canyon and parts of the foothills have Santa Barbara addresses but are County land, reviewed by the County. We check which side first.

The Loureyro PropertyMissionSan RoqueWestside
Santa Barbara and its neighbors, from our map of the South Coast. Select a photograph to see the project. The whole coast

Our work in Santa Barbara.

3 projects here, photographed.

A living room with a vaulted, white-painted board ceiling and exposed trusses, wide-plank wood floors, a long picture window to the garden, a stacked stone fireplace, and sliding glass doors

2026 · Mission area, Santa Barbara

Mission

Full remodel

A full remodel near the Mission in Santa Barbara, around the original vaulted ceilings and trusses: wide-plank floors, a walk-in pantry, a green quartzite vanity.

See the project
A kitchen range under a curved hand-finished plaster hood, with a full-height veined stone slab backsplash and ledge, cream Shaker cabinets, a black steel window, and walnut panel cabinetry with brass pulls

2026 · San Roque, Santa Barbara

San Roque

Full remodel

A full remodel in San Roque, Santa Barbara: walnut paneling, a hand-troweled plaster hood over a marble slab backsplash, and baths in glazed tile and terracotta.

See the project
A kitchen with pale blue-gray Shaker cabinets, black honed stone counters and backsplash, an undermount black sink below a pair of windows, a stainless range and chimney hood, a skylight in a raised ceiling, and stained oak floors

2026 · Westside, Santa Barbara

Westside

Full remodel

A full remodel on Santa Barbara's Westside: a new floor plan with an added home office, new skylights, custom cabinets and new tile baths.

See the project

The map of where we build

Authority

Three City boards. Which one is yours?

The City runs its own building and planning, separate from the County. Most houses go to the Single Family Design Board; in El Pueblo Viejo, to the Historic Landmarks Commission, where new work follows “the adobe, Spanish Colonial Revival or Mediterranean tradition.” Commercial and multi-family go to the Architectural Board of Review. Each board has its own hearing calendar. We sequence around it.

Assess your parcel

The file on Santa Barbara

Which City board, then the permit.

  1. Design review

    Single Family Design Board

    Most exterior changes to a house, judged on fit with the neighborhood in size and design. Downtown, in El Pueblo Viejo, the Historic Landmarks Commission reviews instead. City of Santa Barbara (opens in a new tab)

  2. Coastal

    Coastal permit, where it applies

    Coastal Zone parcels answer to the City’s Coastal Land Use Plan, certified August 2019.

  3. Building

    City Building & Safety

    Plan check, then inspections to final.

  4. Then

    We build

    Seven phases, three exits, and a price that holds. The process.

Worth knowing

1925June 29

The earthquake. The city rebuilt in Spanish Colonial Revival; an Architectural Board of Review formed in 1925. City of Santa Barbara (opens in a new tab)

6–12inches a year

How fast the City’s bluffs have historically retreated. City LCP, coastal hazards (PDF) (opens in a new tab)

2025April

New CAL FIRE maps add fire hazard zones inside the city: parts of the Mesa near Cliff Drive, northern San Roque and La Cumbre. City of Santa Barbara (opens in a new tab)

18.98inches of rain

An average year downtown, about 80% of it December through March. That is why the building year matters. NOAA 1991–2020 normals (opens in a new tab)

6Title 24 climate zone

The state energy code lists Santa Barbara in Climate Zone 6. Confirm by ZIP for current work. California Energy Commission (opens in a new tab)

Checked September 2026 against the sources linked. Boards, plans and maps change, and parcels differ; we tell you where your parcel appears to stand in the assessment.

Finish carpentry in Santa Barbara

Cabinets, trim and built-ins we have made in Santa Barbara.

Tom and Nic build the cabinetry and trim in our small shop in Carpinteria and fit it on site. These are photographed jobs, each with the full story on the past-projects page.

Range wall with a plaster hood, walnut cabinet and stone backsplash
Range wall with a plaster hood, walnut cabinet and stone backsplash
Butler's pantry with white open shelving, patterned backsplash, butcher-block counter and sage-green base cabinets
Butler's pantry with white open shelving, patterned backsplash, butcher-block counter and sage-green base cabinets
Kitchen with blue-gray shaker cabinets, a dark-topped island and oak floors
Kitchen with blue-gray shaker cabinets, a dark-topped island and oak floors
Long new deck with a tall slatted railing and mountain view
Long new deck with a tall slatted railing and mountain view

All finish carpentry in Santa Barbara, with notes on each job

Questions

Which board, how long, what it costs.

Which design board will review my house?
Usually the Single Family Design Board. Interior-only work, generally none. What each style asks of a renovation.
How long does a City permit take?
Interior-only work without design review moves fastest. A board or a variance puts you on that board’s hearing calendar.
Can you work on a designated historic property?
Yes. A Structure of Merit or a house in a historic district goes to the Historic Landmarks Commission. Materials and details are chosen with that in view.
What does a Santa Barbara renovation cost?
Our renovations run $250,000 to $2,000,000. Hillside sites, historic review and older structures push toward the top.
Does my Santa Barbara project need Historic Landmarks review?
If the house is in El Pueblo Viejo or is a designated Structure of Merit, exterior alterations go to the Historic Landmarks Commission; the Commission does not review interiors. Most other single-family houses go to the Single Family Design Board.
Did the 2025 fire hazard maps change anything in the City?
CAL FIRE released updated maps on March 10, 2025. The City adopted them July 1, 2025, effective July 31, 2025. Projects in newly mapped areas that did not have an issued building permit by then must meet High Fire Hazard Area rules. The City provides a parcel lookup.
Can Matt act as my owner’s representative in Santa Barbara?
Yes. If another firm is building, Matt can work for you instead: drawings, bids, payment requests and the schedule, checked and reported in writing. Owner’s rep in Santa Barbara.
Who manages my project in Santa Barbara?
Matt Newman, the principal. He carries the schedule, the budget, the permits and the trades himself and writes to you every Friday. Project management in Santa Barbara.

Further reading

→What a renovation costs, by division→Building for fire on the South Coast→Finish carpentry in Santa Barbara

Matt and team did a great job on our project. Good with communication and timelines and of course a high quality finish and product overall.

★★★★★Yishai Horowitz · Google review, October 2025 · Read all four on Google (opens in a new tab)

Built by Matt Newman. Licensed since 2001. Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, twenty years on this coast, and on every AMN site himself. One name on the contract. His story

Inquiries

Send the Santa Barbara address. We’ll tell you which board reviews it.

Write to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt replies in writing within two business days.

Email Matt about your parcelOr call Matt · 805 886 0988Or leave your number: three short steps
  1. Same dayMatt confirms he has it, and flags anything obvious that is missing.
  2. Within two business daysA written reading of your parcel: jurisdiction, review bodies, an order of cost and the permit path.
  3. Then nothing, unless you askNo follow-up sequence, no call from anyone else. The reading is yours to keep.

CSLB 802739 · Class B General Building · Licensed and insured · Two-year workmanship warranty, in writing

Updated November 2026