Malibu, for builders and architects
New construction electrical in Malibu.
Malibu custom homes are big, spread across the lot and full of systems, and they are permitted by a city that takes the Coastal Zone seriously. County Line Electric has been the electrical sub on Malibu builds for years: SCE service, City of Malibu permits, generators on propane where there is no gas, and Lutron and automation designed in from the start.
Call (805) 499-0823. CA Lic. #949580.
The job
Its own city, the Coastal Zone, and houses that run on propane.
Malibu permits its own construction through the city's building department, and nearly every lot is inside the California Coastal Zone, where exterior equipment and site changes can draw an additional review. Power is Southern California Edison, with the most aggressive shutoff pattern in the county, and large parts of the city have no natural gas main, so the generator, the pool heater and the kitchen may all run on propane. Many lots are on wells or booster pumps. An electrical plan for a Malibu house accounts for all of that before the first trench is dug.
The houses themselves are estates: main house, guest house, pool and spa, gates and cameras, outdoor living, landscape lighting, Lutron control throughout, a generator and often solar and batteries. County Line carries the electrical scope on those builds for Malibu general contractors and architects, and since the Franklin and Palisades fires, on rebuilds along the coast as well.
Scope on a Malibu build
What County Line carries.
- SCE application, temporary power, service entrance and panels sized for generator, EV, pumps and electrification
- Coastal Zone and city coordination on the location of exterior electrical equipment and the generator pad
- Complete rough-in to the current California Electrical Code
- Lutron HomeWorks lighting control, Ketra, motorized shades
- Low-voltage backbone across a large site: network to the guest house, cameras at the gate, outdoor audio
- Generac standby generator on natural gas or propane, with the tank coordinated
- Pool and spa equipment, well and booster pumps, gate, landscape lighting
- Finish, programming, the city final and the owner walkthrough
- 30 yrsIn the electrical tradeJeff Tucker has run County Line Electric in the Conejo Valley since the 1990s.
- #949580California contractor licenseLicensed, bonded and insured. Check it on the CSLB site any time.
- 24 hrsGenerator estimatesA written standby generator estimate within a day of the site visit.
- $600Twice-yearly generator serviceBoth visits, for the year. Jeff's comparison: the large installers quote the same service at about $1,000.
Questions from Malibu builders
Does County Line Electric work as an electrical sub on new homes in Malibu?
Yes. County Line Electric works for general contractors, builders and architects as the electrical subcontractor on ground-up custom homes and rebuilds in Malibu, from the SCE application and temporary power through the City of Malibu final, with Lutron lighting control, automation and the standby generator installed by the same crew.
Does the Coastal Zone affect the electrical on a Malibu house?
It can. Most of Malibu is inside the California Coastal Zone, and exterior changes such as a generator pad, exterior panels or site lighting may be reviewed as part of the coastal development permit. County Line Electric plans the location of exterior electrical equipment with that review in mind and provides the drawings the city asks for.
Can a Malibu generator run on propane?
Yes, and on many Malibu lots it has to, because there is no natural gas main. County Line Electric installs propane-fueled Generac standby generators and coordinates the tank and line with the propane supplier as part of the electrical plan.
Related
Inspections
Passing the first time is the schedule.
On a custom home the electrical inspections are the rough, sometimes a service inspection, and the final, and each one that fails costs the builder a week. County Line schedules its own inspections, walks the house before the inspector arrives, and has worked with the inspectors in the City of Los Angeles, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Beverly Hills and the three counties long enough to know what each one looks for. The company keeps the correction list short by doing the work to the code as written, not to the code as remembered.
As-builts and a labeled panel go to the builder at the end, because the next electrician to open that panel, in ten years, should not have to guess.
Change orders
Where they come from, and how County Line keeps them rare.
Most electrical change orders on a custom home come from three places: a lighting plan that does not match the framing, an owner who decides at trim that there should be a keypad by the bed after all, and a service that was sized for the house in the drawings rather than the house being built, with its generator, its two EV chargers and its induction range. County Line prices from the full set to catch the first, captures the owner's decisions in writing before finish to catch the second, and sizes the service from a real load calculation to catch the third.
When a change is genuinely the owner's, it is priced in writing before the work is done. A change order that arrives after the fact is a bill, not a change order.
Official references
Where the facts on this page come from.
County Line links to the authorities rather than restating them. Rules change; these pages are current.
- City of Malibu: permits
- California Coastal Commission: the Coastal Zone
- SCE Public Safety Power Shutoffs: why Malibu goes dark
- Generac: propane-ready units
- CSLB license check: license #949580
Next step
Send the project. We will tell you straight if it fits.
Site city, project type, phase and a few lines of scope. Jeff reads every one and calls back on the ones where County Line is the right electrical sub. No plans on the public form, please.
Or call (805) 499-0823. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.