If you lost your home in the Eaton or Palisades fire, time is not on your side. Rebuilding isn’t just about finding a contractor—it’s about securing a team that can take you from design to completion without unnecessary delays, cost overruns, or stress. Every day you wait puts you further behind in the queue. The unfortunate reality is that the firm you want to work with may not have space for your project if you don’t act now.
When rebuilding after a disaster like the Eaton or Palisades fires, homeowners are often misled into thinking they should start with either an architect or a contractor. While this approach might seem logical, it is actually the worst way to begin your rebuild. It leads to costly mistakes, delays, and a final project that often doesn’t match your budget or vision. The reality is that neither an independent architect nor a standalone contractor is equipped to guide your project from start to finish in a way that ensures cost control, quality, and efficiency. Look at their contracts; look for what is included and what is not. Also, look at what role you’re required to play. Do you want to be the project manager and deal with all the coordination between all teams involved? The solution? Letter Four and our Design-Build process
At Letter Four we create beautiful, functional custom homes—many firms do. But what sets us apart is how we make the process enjoyable and collaborative, not the nightmare you’ve heard about from friends and family around the dinner table. Building a home shouldn’t be a story of stress, delays, and finger-pointing. It should be a seamless experience where you feel confident every step of the way. We’re licensed architects, contractors, and interior designers who work together, under one roof with a truly collaborative Design-Build process that you won’t find anywhere else. Letter Four = All Design, All Build, All the Time.
Take a look at what Letter Four’s CLEAR 4-Step Process is all about before making the mistake of following the antiquated Design-Bid-Build model and hiring a stand alone architect.
The Pitfalls of Hiring an Architect First
Many homeowners believe that starting with an architect is the best way to ensure a well-designed home. While architects are essential to great design, they work in a vacuum when not paired with a construction team from the start.
Don’t sign on with just an architect and then struggle to find a contractor to build your project. Do you have a budget you need to stay within? An architect alone can’t guarantee that. You may think waiting will lead to more competitive bidding once permits are ready, but in reality, you’ll end up paying far more than you ever expected. Given the demand for contractors in Los Angeles, it’s more likely that your architect will have trouble even finding a contractor to take your project. At Letter Four, our Design-Build process ensures cost alignment from the start. If you sign on with us, we guarantee that we will build your project when we have permits in hand. This saves you time, money, and stress.
Here’s why hiring a stand-alone architect isn’t a good idea:
1. Architects Don’t Prepare All-In Project Budgets
Architects focus on design aesthetics and space planning and often prepare project drawings that are just enough detail to get you a permit, but they are not construction cost experts. They may create a beautiful vision, but they don’t have the tools or processes to ensure that vision aligns with your budget. The result? Homeowners often find themselves with a set of plans for a home they cannot afford to build. If this happens, you will need to pay the architect to update the plans, resubmit to the city, and then rebid the project. This is a huge waste of time and money.
2. Architects Often Ignore Construction Feasibility
When architects work without contractor input, they design without considering real-world building challenges. This leads to designs that require expensive structural work, complex engineering, or materials that drive up costs. By the time you bring in a contractor, you may find that a significant redesign is necessary, adding more costs and delays.
3. No Accountability for the Final Build
Once an architect hands off your plans, their job is done. If the project runs over budget or faces issues during construction, they have no stake in fixing those problems. The burden falls on you to resolve conflicts between the architect and contractor, leading to delays and unexpected expenses.
4. You’re Not Guaranteed to Start Construction Once Permits Are Approved
Even if your architect successfully secures permit approvals, you are not guaranteed to start construction immediately. The bidding process to find a contractor is long and highly competitive—especially in Los Angeles, where more than 13,000 homes need to be rebuilt. With a shortage of available builders, you could be left waiting months or even years before finding a contractor willing to take on your project, often at an inflated price. The traditional Design-Bid-Build model is old-fashioned and leaves you, as the homeowner, with little control over the quality of your home, the timeline, or the cost.
The Pitfalls of Hiring a Contractor First
Many homeowners assume that hiring a contractor first ensures they will get the best price for their rebuild. Unfortunately, this approach is filled with hidden risks that can end up costing you far more in the long run.
1. Contractors Provide Incomplete and Misleading Bids
Contractors often lowball their initial estimates to win your business. Since they don’t have a completed design to price from, their numbers are based on assumptions. Once construction starts, you’ll be hit with costly change orders as the actual costs become clear. What seemed like a great deal in the beginning turns into a financial nightmare.
2. Contractors Claim They Have an Architect or Designer—But It’s a Cost-Cutting Gimmick
Some contractors advertise that they have an architect or designer “on board.” In reality, most of these contractors simply hire the cheapest option available to maximize their own profits. This means your home’s design isn’t driven by your vision or long-term quality—it’s driven by what’s cheapest for the contractor to build. Often, without the homeowner's knowledge, these plans also lack the level of detail or specifications needed to provide a realistic budget.
3. A Contractor’s Priority is Profit, Not Design
Contractors are builders, not designers. If you care about the aesthetics, flow, and functionality of your home, why would you trust a builder to handle the design? Their main goal is to increase profit margins by cutting corners wherever possible. This can result in cheap finishes, subpar materials, and a final product that lacks the design integrity you hoped for.
Why is Design-Build the best option for fire rebuild clients?
Many projects suffer because multiple firms—architects, contractors, interior designers, and engineers—operate at odds with each other, leading to costly mistakes and endless frustration. At Letter Four, that’s not how we work. We’re one team with a shared goal: delivering your dream home with zero compromise on quality and zero shortcuts for profit. When you work with us, you’re investing in a team that saves you stress and money by getting it right the first time.
The CSLB recommends getting pricing from three contractors, but that advice is outdated and certainly doesn’t consider what homeowners who need to rebuild are going through. Here’s why:
- A contractor can’t give you a real bid without a design. Design always comes first.
- Design-Build means total cost control from the start. With us, your design and budget align from day one. We guarantee an all-in project cost, so there are no surprises. We stand behind the budgets we provide.
- We competitively bid every trade for quality and value. We get quotes from at least three subcontractors for each trade, ensuring you get the best balance of price, quality, and reliability.
If you lost your home in the Palisades or Eaton fire, now is the time to start design work. No one can begin construction without a design and permits, and that process takes time. If you wait, the firm you want to work with may already be at capacity. Whether that’s Letter Four, or another firm, you need to ensure they have the bandwidth to take on your project and provide the level of service and communication you deserve.
Why Letter Four is the Right Choice for Your Rebuild
While many firms claim to offer Design-Build services, not all Design-Build firms are created equal. Here’s why Letter Four stands out:
1. We Guarantee All-In Project Budgets. Unlike other firms, we don’t just estimate—we guarantee the all-in cost before construction starts. Our clients know exactly what to expect, eliminating budget uncertainty.
2. We Bid Out Every Trade to Ensure Quality and Value. We get competitive bids from at least three subcontractors per trade, balancing cost, quality, and schedule to deliver the best value—not just the cheapest option.
3. We Align Design and Construction from Day One. Our in-house team ensures that every design choice aligns with both budget and buildability. This means no costly redesigns and no wasted time.
4. We Take Ownership of the Entire Process. At Letter Four, we don’t pass the buck. From initial concept through final construction, we take full responsibility for every aspect of your home’s rebuild.
5. We Prioritize Communication and Transparency. Many firms leave clients in the dark, causing frustration and stress. We provide clear timelines, detailed updates, and proactive problem-solving to keep your project on track.
6. We Have a Proven Track Record. With over 14+ years of experience and a portfolio of successfully completed homes and businesses, we know what it takes to deliver exceptional results—even under challenging conditions.
Why We Can’t and Will Not Skip Steps In Our Process - We Must Start with Step 1, Our Action Plan
Your project involves custom design work, city approvals, engineering requirements, and coordination with various consultants. If we handed out estimates and timelines off the cuff like other contractors, we might be more likely to sign you on with a lowball number like theirs, but that’s frankly not ethical. Without following our structured approach, we can’t stand by budget and schedule. That’s why we take the time to do it right.
Think of it like a surgeon preparing for an operation. A good surgeon doesn’t walk into the operating room and start cutting based on assumptions—they review scans, run tests, and understand every aspect of the patient’s condition before making a single incision. If they skip these steps, they risk unnecessary complications. The same applies to us. Our Action Plan is a critical step in diagnosing the unique needs of your project before moving forward. We need to fully assess your site, permits, regulations, and requirements before providing accurate numbers, timelines, and recommendations. Skipping this process would mean making guesses rather than informed decisions, and we simply don’t work that way.
It’s also important to note that you pay a surgeon for their diagnosis—for their expertise in understanding what needs to be done before any operation takes place. Getting you the information you need to make the most informed decision about your new home costs money. Paying for our Action Plan is an investment that pays dividends and sets you up for success. It ensures that every dollar you spend on your home is planned, purposeful, and allocated correctly. Rushing into design or construction without this foundation only leads to unexpected costs, delays, and compromises. While the numbers that other contractors give you for free might sound like a better “deal”, without any due diligence or design, it’s like getting a diagnosis from that guy in front of you in line at the coffee shop, not the surgeon whose experience you can believe in.
The Action Plan = Your Diagnosis.
Let the Surgeon Perform the Surgery, Technical Phases through Construction
Imagine needing a critical surgery. You wouldn’t walk into the operating room and tell the surgeon how to perform the procedure based on something you read online. You wouldn’t insist on skipping the diagnostic tests or suggest a faster, cheaper way to get it done. You trust the surgeon and their team because they have the expertise, experience, and a proven system to ensure the best outcome for your health and wellbeing.
We’ve developed and refined our process over the last 14+ years because it works. Your project will only succeed if you trust us to follow that process. You might not think building a house is a life-or-death matter, but it directly affects your quality of life. Why take chances with that?
We’re Here to Help—Not to Hoard Our Expertise
We wholeheartedly believe that we can help you navigate this journey. Keeping our expertise to ourselves would be like hoarding an essential resource from those who need it most. We’re here to guide you through this process, ensuring that the home you build isn’t just a structure—but a space where you truly feel at home. If you’re serious about rebuilding the right way, don’t wait. Book a call with us today to secure your spot before we reach capacity.
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