01
Every home a detached house
Hidden Hills holds about 740 homes, and every one is a detached single family house. About 92 percent are owner occupied. The median year built is 1970, with a wide margin because the city is small, and about half the homes date from the 1950s and 1960s. Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, table B25034, Hidden Hills city
With every home a detached house, many projects reach the exterior as well as the interior, from additions to outdoor rooms, and that is exactly where the association comes in. A house of that age also tends to need its systems updated during any major remodel, which we price into the scope from the start.
Large projects also need space on the lot for staging, deliveries and parking, which is planned with the gate rules in mind. Grading, drainage and utility runs join the scope before the floor plan is final.
02
Two approvals, in order
The Hidden Hills Architectural Committee must approve all exterior modifications before they start. The association names painting, windows, doors, roofs, remodeling, landscaping, driveways, hardscape, retaining walls and concrete among them, and says most work that needs a City permit also needs its approval.
The City's building, planning and engineering services are provided under contract by Transtech, which handles plan check, permits and inspections for new construction, additions and remodels. We line up the association approval first, so the City submittal is not held up waiting for it, and the two sets of drawings match.
Keep the committee's approval with your permit set, so it is on hand whenever the City or an inspector asks about it. If the design changes after approval, we check with the association before the new version goes to the City.
Sources: Hidden Hills Community Association, Building Rules. City of Hidden Hills, Building and Safety and Planning
03
Construction hours and the gate
Approved construction runs Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday work is limited, and properties with Architectural Committee approved work are held to weekdays only. No construction is allowed on Sundays or holidays, apart from emergency repairs.
Access runs through the gates. Each Friday the association gives the gate officers a list of properties with approved work, and work vehicles are not admitted to those properties on Saturday. Crews, deliveries and inspections are scheduled around those rules, which is part of why a Hidden Hills schedule is planned in detail before day one.
Emergency repairs are the one exception to the weekend limits, and even those start with a call to the gate so the vendor is expected. Routine work waits for the weekday window, and our schedule is written around that from the first week.
Source: Hidden Hills Community Association, Building Rules, construction hours
04
Fire class and where to start
On CAL FIRE's 2025 map, points we checked on Long Valley Road and Jed Smith Road are Very High, a point on Round Meadow Road is High, and the points at City Hall and at the west end of Long Valley Road sit outside the wildland classes.
That mix decides exterior materials lot by lot. We check the class, prepare the drawings for the Architectural Committee, and then submit to the City. Driveways and hardscape and exterior painting both need the committee's approval first, so even a repaint starts with paperwork, and the scope says so plainly.
Defensible space counts on the Very High lots, and the committee reviews landscaping too, so planting plans are prepared with both in view. A driveway or wall near the property line is also drawn to keep road and gate access clear.
Source: CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones, Local Responsibility Area map dated March 24, 2025
