AXE CONSTRUCTION INC · CSLB Lic #1069232 · Class B General Building · Licensed and insured since 2020 · Verify our license
Axe Construction is a licensed Class B general building contractor that rebuilds Altadena homes destroyed in the Eaton Fire. Altadena is unincorporated Los Angeles County, so the rebuild runs through the County’s Disaster Recovery Permit, and we handle it end to end: design, engineering, permitting, insurance-scope coordination and construction, under one contract.
AXE CONSTRUCTION INC · CSLB Lic #1069232 · Class B General Building
LA County. Altadena is an unincorporated community, which means Eaton Fire rebuilding permits are issued by the County, through Regional Planning and the Building and Safety Division of Public Works, not by the City of Los Angeles and not by Pasadena. The County runs a One-Stop Permit Center for fire survivors at the Altadena Community Center on Altadena Drive, where rebuild consultations can be booked and the Disaster Recovery Permit application can be submitted in person.
That boundary matters because the rules differ. Pasadena, next door, has its own ordinance and fee waiver, covered on our Pasadena page. The City of Los Angeles rules apply to Pacific Palisades, not here. Everything below is the County process for Altadena residents.
The post fire recovery in the Altadena community has moved through the same stages for every family, whatever the house looked like before. The loss was heaviest in West Altadena, where Catalyst California’s tracking report found more than half of the single-family homes were destroyed, and the steps below apply street by street:
The County’s Disaster Recovery Ordinance created a streamlined Disaster Recovery Permit and a like-for-like path that skips discretionary zoning review. For the Eaton Fire area, the published rules are:
Anything beyond those limits is a non-like-for-like rebuild. It is reviewed under current County zoning (Title 22), including the Altadena Community Standards District, with a 20-foot minimum front yard setback. It is allowed, it just takes longer. Like-for-like structures are exempt from current zoning, but every rebuild must meet the current County Building Code, Fire Code and Health and Safety Code.
Founder
For qualifying owners, yes. On June 17, 2025 the LA County Board of Supervisors approved deferring and refunding permit fees for property owners rebuilding single-family homes in unincorporated areas destroyed by the Eaton and Palisades fires. The County describes the fees as deferred on its side, because it is pursuing other ways to recover its costs, and waived on the owner’s side, because the owner never pays them.
What the program covers: building permit and inspection fees, plan review fees, and Fire Department plan review and inspection fees. Who qualifies: the owner of a property in unincorporated LA County that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, who lived in a residence on that property on or before January 7, 2025. Owners who already paid fees for a qualifying rebuild can request a refund. The request form goes to Regional Planning by email or in person at the Altadena One-Stop Permit Center. We prepare it with the permit application so nothing is paid that should not be.
LA County has committed to expedited review for fire rebuilds. Regional Planning’s goal is an initial review of like-for-like projects within 10 business days and rechecks within 5 business days. Actual averages, from application to permit issued, are published on the County’s Permitting Progress Dashboard and repeated on the State of California’s Rebuilding LA page, updated at least weekly.
Four things move a project through faster:
Yes. LA County Regional Planning generally requires applications for like-for-like rebuilds and temporary housing to be submitted within two years of the emergency declaration of January 7, 2025. A complete Disaster Recovery Permit application filed before that date protects your like-for-like eligibility even if construction starts later. For families still deciding, this is the one date that should not slip, and it is the first thing we confirm.
Most of Altadena sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, and the like-for-like rules do not relax the building code. Every rebuild is built to the code in effect when the permit issues. Since January 1, 2026 that includes the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, Title 24 Part 7, which absorbed the requirements that used to sit in Chapter 7A. In plain terms: a Class A fire-rated roof assembly, ember-resistant vents listed by the State Fire Marshal, ignition-resistant or noncombustible exterior walls, enclosed eaves, tempered multi-pane windows, and defensible space around the house. These are the main reason the rebuilt home performs differently from the one that was lost, and we design to them from the first sketch. See the full list on our Los Angeles fire rebuild page.
An insurance-funded rebuild has two sets of numbers: what the policy pays and what the rebuild costs. In Altadena the gap is real: Catalyst California’s report found average home insurance coverage of about $607,000 in 2023 against rebuild costs that can pass $750,000 for a 1,500-square-foot house. We put the two numbers side by side before design starts, compare the scope of loss with the current building code and the wildfire code, identify items that ordinance-or-law coverage may fund, and flag gaps so you can take them to your carrier early. Throughout construction we coordinate directly with your adjuster to keep the scope aligned. We are contractors, not public adjusters or attorneys for your claim, and we cannot change what your policy covers; what we can do is make sure nobody is surprised by the difference.
An insurance scope is a contract too. I read it against the lot and the building code before anyone picks a floor plan, so the homeowner knows where the numbers land before they commit.
Founder Tomer Fedida is a licensed California attorney and the qualifying general contractor on CSLB License #1069232. He earned his law degree at Loyola Law School and spent 14 years in Los Angeles real estate development before leading Axe Construction. In Altadena that background shows up in three places most builders leave to chance: the contract you sign, the County ordinance and Community Standards District rules your permit depends on, and the insurance scope that funds the work. Axe Construction does not provide legal services; it builds with the fine print already read.
Most construction disputes start in the contract, not on the job site. I went to law school before I became a contractor, so every agreement we write spells out scope, allowances, change orders and the schedule in plain terms. When nothing is left vague, there is nothing to argue about later.
Learn more about Axe Construction
Lost your Altadena home in the Eaton Fire? Call (323) 729-3140 or Schedule a rebuild consultation through our contact page. Bring your insurance scope and your lot’s status. We will walk the site, confirm your like-for-like eligibility and the filing date, and show you where the numbers land before you commit to anything.
AXE CONSTRUCTION INC · CSLB Lic #1069232 · Class B General Building 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 363, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 · (323) 729-3140
Whether you’re just beginning the insurance process or ready to break ground, Axe Construction is here to help you rebuild with confidence. We streamline every phase from permits to construction with expert legal support, design excellence, and total transparency.
"A rebuild ordinance is a legal document first. I read it the way I was trained to, line by line, before we draw anything. That is how we know what a lot allows and what it does not, and it is why our plan checks run with fewer surprises.”