General Contractor in Saratoga

Saratoga is large-lot and heavily wooded, which means tree protection and grading are usually part of the conversation. Larger parcels give real room for additions and ground-up work — with site work that has to be priced honestly.

In Saratoga the trees do not just sit near the job, they define where the job can happen. Arborist review and a written arborist report are required any time construction is proposed under, or within five feet of, the canopy dripline of a protected tree — and that expressly includes trees on your neighbour's property. You hire the arborist, the report goes to the City, and you pay a deposit for the City's own review of it. It applies to building permits and to residential design review alike.

The detail that catches crews out is what counts as construction. The City's definition includes grading, parking vehicles, and storing materials or equipment inside a protected root zone. On a wooded Saratoga lot that can remove the obvious place to put the dumpster, the lumber drop and the crew trucks — which is a site logistics problem, and it is cheaper to solve on paper than on day one. Tree protection fencing has to be up before any equipment comes on site and inspected by the project arborist. Even paving within five feet of a dripline needs its own tree encroachment permit from the City Arborist.

Slope quietly shrinks how much house you are allowed. Floor area, lot coverage and density are all calculated from net site area, not the gross number on the deed. Easements come off it, a surveyor has to establish average slope on any lot over 8%, and average slope above 10% reduces the net site area used for the floor area allowance. So on a sloping wooded parcel the buildable number can land well under what the lot size suggests. Establish it before design, not after.

One recent change worth knowing. Saratoga's updated tree ordinance, effective 6 March 2026, lets homeowners citywide remove a tree whose trunk sits within five feet of the house to reduce wildfire risk, without the public notification and appeal process, provided a non-flammable zone within that five feet is established and maintained. A City tree removal permit is still required. In the Wildland-Urban Interface it also eases replacement requirements on development projects, and permit fees are waived for dead or fallen trees and for Monterey pine and blue gum eucalyptus in the WUI when you submit photos. The City Arborist is at 408-868-1276 and is worth a call before a plan is drawn.

We work throughout Saratoga — whether you're in Saratoga Village on Big Basin Way, the Saratoga foothills, the Hakone Gardens area, or the Argonaut neighborhood, the build is the same standard.

Permits. Work in Saratoga is permitted through the City of Saratoga's building department. We carry the submittal and the plan-check corrections — that is our job, not yours.

Saratoga takes building permit submittals by email to its Building Department, and its pre-approved ADU program was set up specifically to comply with AB 1332.

Pre-approved ADU plans. Saratoga publishes a gallery of pre-approved ADU plans that homeowners can build from. Since AB 1332 took effect on January 1, 2025, California cities have had to run a pre-approved ADU plan program and post the approved plans publicly. Where a usable plan exists it can take real time and design cost out of a project, because the design has already been reviewed and only the site-specific work is left.