A custom Los Angeles home at dusk — plaster walls, oak detailing and steel framing caught in low warm light.

Concept imagery

Architect-led design-build · Los Angeles

Plaster, oak, light — and the time to get it right.

One team carries architecture and construction from first feasibility to final closeout. No handoff between firms. No drift between drawing and detail.

Selected Work Three of many
Hillside residence in the Hollywood Hills — a renovated home stepping down a canyon slope. Concept imagery
01 / Canyon Residence

Canyon Residence

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles

ScopeMajor renovation
Completed2025
SettingHillside
Courtyard house in Silver Lake — a custom home arranged around an open interior courtyard. Concept imagery
02 / Courtyard House

Courtyard House

Silver Lake, Los Angeles

ScopeCustom home
Completed2025
SettingEastside
Westside remodel in Brentwood — a renovated residence with restrained, material-driven interiors. Concept imagery
03 / Westside Remodel

Westside Remodel

Brentwood, Los Angeles

ScopeRenovation
Completed2024
SettingWestside

The Modus way

Where the steel meets the plaster, someone has to be in the room who drew it and who is building it.

Modus is an architect-led design-build practice. The principal is a licensed California architect, and the same studio carries a project from feasibility through to closeout — design and construction under one responsibility.

That continuity is the point. Intent set in the drawings is protected in the field. Budget, schedule and procurement are held by the people who will execute them. The result is a quieter process and a more honest building.

Based in Pasadena, working across greater Los Angeles — the Westside, the hillsides, and the eastside.

What we carry,
end to end.

One team, one accountability — from the first study of what a site will allow to the last detail of a finished room.

01

Custom Homes

Ground-up residences designed and built by one studio, for clients commissioning a home meant to last.

02

Major Renovations

Substantial reworking of existing homes — structure, plan and material — without losing what was worth keeping.

03

Pre-construction

Budgeting, scheduling, procurement and constructability resolved before the first crew arrives.

04

Design Coordination

Holding the architectural intent across consultants, trades and approvals so nothing drifts in translation.

05

Interiors Coordination

Finishes, millwork and fixtures detailed with the same discipline as the shell — inside and out as one.

06

Outdoor Living

Courtyards, terraces and grounds treated as rooms — continuous with the architecture, not appended to it.

07

Fire Rebuilds / Resilience

Rebuilding after loss, and building to withstand it — resilient detailing for Los Angeles conditions.

A method,
not a handoff.

Four stages, one team. The same people who set the intent see it through the field.

Stage 01

Feasibility

Understand the site, the program and what is truly possible — before commitments are made.

Stage 02

Pre-construction

Design resolved against real cost, schedule and procurement, so the build holds no surprises.

Stage 03

Build

Field execution led by the studio that drew it — discipline over drama, detail over noise.

Stage 04

Closeout

Finished, documented and handed over clean — a home that reads exactly as intended.

The Modus studio — material samples, drawings and references on a work surface. The studio, Pasadena · Concept imagery

What we hold to

Three commitments that decide every choice — before taste enters the room.

i.

Design literacy

We build to protect the architect's intent. The drawing is a promise; the field keeps it.

ii.

Construction discipline

Budget, schedule, procurement and field execution — handled without drama, start to finish.

iii.

Material honesty

Plaster, oak, stone, steel — durable and true, used as themselves and never as decorative noise.

Begin a project

Tell us about the home you have in mind.

We take on a small number of projects each year so each receives the attention it asks for. If yours is one of them, we would like to hear from you.

Telephone +1 (626) 399-9036
Studio 90 S Roosevelt Ave #110
Pasadena, CA 91107
Instagram @modus.build