Decks and outdoor living in Rancho Santa Fe

What is different about Rancho Santa Fe

• Rancho Santa Fe is unincorporated, so building permits come from the County of San Diego Planning & Development Services.Source: County of San Diego Planning & Development Services (PDS)
• The Rancho Santa Fe Association's building permit rules say the Association issues its building permit once the applicant satisfies all of the Art Jury's conditions of approval.Source: Rancho Santa Fe Association, Regulatory Code Chapter 30 (Building Permits)
• About 55% of the roughly 4,600 housing units in ZIPs 92067 and 92091 were built before 1990; the Census median home value there is $1,933,000.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25034 and B25003 (via Census Reporter)

Rancho Santa Fe projects follow a two-track path. The County handles the building permit, and inside the Covenant the Association adds its own design review through the Art Jury. The Association's rules say its permit is issued only after the Art Jury's conditions are met, so a pergola or outdoor kitchen is designed for approval first and built second. We plan for that order: site visit, a scope and sketch for the Art Jury package, the County plan check, and then construction.

Outdoor living here tends to be large, with covered terraces, built-in cooking areas and long pergolas that connect to the house. Larger structures raise structural, fire and utility questions that a small deck does not, and we name them in the quote. Where an outdoor kitchen needs gas, electrical or plumbing work that requires a specialty license, we use licensed trade partners and list them in the scope. We do not guess at Art Jury timing; the Association sets its schedule, and we tell you what it has published.