Building a New Home in Burlingame: Design Review, Hillside Rules and the City Permit Path

Planning guide · updated November 2026

Burlingame is a Peninsula city between the Bay and the hills, next to Hillsborough and Millbrae. Its Neighborhood Design Guidebook was written to keep new houses compatible with the character of established streets, and every new house goes to the Planning Commission for design review before the Building Division will take a Residential New submittal. Much of the custom building we see here is replacement: an older house comes down and a new one is designed for the same lot. Below is how we plan new homes in Burlingame so the design, the site and the construction schedule are understood before the drawings are locked.

Harrod Built takes on new custom homes and whole-home rebuilds on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, including Burlingame. Have a Burlingame lot, a tear-down or a plan set ready for an estimate? Phone 805-712-8993 or use the form at the bottom of this page.

The short answer

In the City of Burlingame, a new house needs residential design review from the Planning Commission, judged against the Neighborhood Design Guidebook and the R-1 zoning standards, before the Building Division accepts a Residential New building permit through eTRAKiT. Lots in the Hillside Overlay Zone also need a hillside area construction permit with neighbor notice. Taking down the old house needs its own demolition path with an air district job number, PG&E release, City water and sewer disconnects and a recycling plan. Central County Fire reviews new construction for fire and life safety, and the City applies its reach codes to new single-family projects. (we confirm per lot)

1. Who reviews what

A city with Planning, Building and Central County Fire

Burlingame’s Community Development Department houses Planning and Building, according to its Community Development page, and works with other agencies for the rest:

Summarized from City of Burlingame Community Development, Building, Planning and permits pages and from Central County Fire, read November 5, 2026.

The Building Division page accepts new building submittals once Planning Commission approval is in hand, or when a project does not need that approval. We confirm the city limits and pull the City’s records for the lot before anything else. Our Atherton and Peninsula custom home page describes the kind of homes we take on nearby. Next door, our Hillsborough permit guide covers Hillsborough’s Architecture and Design Review Board under the same fire department. (we confirm per lot)

3. Neighborhood Design Guidebook and zoning

What “compatible” means on a Burlingame street

The design guidelines page point to the Neighborhood Design Guidebook as the reference for residential design review. The Guidebook, prepared by a Planning Commission subcommittee, is meant to keep new work informative about neighborhood character rather than forcing a single style. In practice we read:

• Street character. How the house faces the street, the rhythm of porches and entries nearby, and whether the mass reads as one house or as a stack of floors.
• Roof and wall forms. Roof pitch and plate heights that fit the block, with wall planes broken up so a new house does not dominate its neighbors.
• Materials. Exterior materials and colors that relate to the houses around the lot, called out on the elevations.
• Landscape. Planting that joins the house to the ground and softens taller walls; the City’s private-property tree list lists trees that grow well on private lots and notes that smaller trees suit hillside plantings where views matter.
• The measurable envelope. The zoning code and maps page carries the R-1 development standards for setbacks, coverage, height and floor area that the design review package has to meet.

Where a lot may be historic, the historic preservation page explains the City’s preservation path; we check that early so a survey or review is not a surprise mid-design. (we confirm per lot)

5. Taking down the old house

The demolition path before a rebuild

On the online permitting portal and submittal instructions, demolition of a single-family house is filed as a Residential Demo permit. The demolition supplemental permit application lists what has to be in hand before the City will issue it:

• Air district job number. A demolition permit from the Bay Area Air District, with the job number and a copy of that permit in the City file.
• PG&E release. A written letter confirming electric and gas service have been disconnected.
• City water and sewer disconnects. Sign-offs from City departments, which first need an encroachment permit from Public Works.
• Recycling plan. A construction and demolition recycling plan reviewed before demolition, as the City’s construction and demolition recycling requirements explain.
• One permit per structure. Each building on the parcel that is coming down needs its own demolition permit for census reporting.

Demolition is often tied to the main building permit, though a standalone demolition permit can be issued in some cases at the Building Official’s discretion. We line up the air district number, the utility letters and the City disconnects early, because they often take longer than the tear-down itself.

7. Fire, wildfire and energy

Central County Fire and the City reach codes

Burlingame is served by the Central County Fire Department, which also covers Hillsborough and Millbrae, as the about Central County Fire explains. The Fire Prevention Division page provides fire and life-safety plan review for new building construction, fire suppression and fire alarm systems, plus construction inspections. Construction-related fire permits are summarized on the construction permits page.

• Mapped fire hazard zones. The wildland-urban interface page explains that new Local Responsibility Area maps from the State Fire Marshal identify hazard severity zones inside Burlingame. Check the address on the State Fire Marshal’s fire hazard severity zone maps as well; a mapped lot brings in wildfire construction and defensible-space expectations, which our fire hazard severity zone guide explains.
• Home hardening and vegetation. Central County Fire publishes defensible-space and home-hardening guidance for wildland-urban interface lots; we treat those as design inputs, not finish-out extras.
• City reach codes. The reach codes page explains that Burlingame amended its reach code for new construction after a federal court decision on natural-gas bans. New single-family projects filed in the current window must beat the state energy design score by a set margin, with published exceptions; the single-family reach code checklist is the checklist Building uses. Multi-family and non-residential projects have their own source-energy margins.

The state’s 2025 Energy Code applies to permit applications filed on or after January 1, 2026, and our Title 24 overview explains the energy side of a new house. (we confirm per lot)

9. Order of steps

How we usually sequence a Burlingame new home

A common sequence for a new house or a full rebuild in Burlingame; a hillside lot, a historic resource or a variance can each change it.

Our custom home timeline guide puts design, approvals and construction on one calendar. Neighboring cities and towns handle new houses differently; our guides for Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos and Saratoga cover their rules. Hillsborough shares Central County Fire with Burlingame, so the fire review language is similar even though the design review boards are not.

How we help

What Harrod Built brings to a Burlingame new home

Harrod Built (CSLB #986950) is a family-run general contractor building on the Peninsula, in the South Bay and on the Central Coast. On a new home or a full rebuild in Burlingame, our role usually covers:

• Lot review first. City limits, zoning, hillside overlay, trees, historic status, sewer, fire zone and design review path, checked before we write an estimate.
• Estimates during design. We estimate from the design review set, so the house the Planning Commission approves is one the owner is ready to build.
• Demolition lined up early. Air district number, PG&E release, City water and sewer disconnects and the recycling plan started before the tear-down date.
• Site work from real plans. Soils recommendations, foundation, drainage and frontage work taken from the engineered set, not allowances.
• Run to the City’s rules. Posted hours, eTRAKiT inspections, business licenses for every trade and a schedule that respects neighbor notice windows.
• Design support. Harrod Drafting & Design can draw the house and the permit set, or we build from your architect’s plans.
• Landscape. Paso Robles Landscaping, our landscape company, handles planting, irrigation and hardscape to the approved landscape plan.

Before hiring any builder, look up the license on the state license lookup; the CSLB’s advice on hiring a contractor and our article on how to check a CSLB license explain what to look for. Nearby we also build in Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley, Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Saratoga, and farther south in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, through general contracting or design-build. Our process page walks through the steps from estimate to move-in, and our contract type comparison explains fixed-sum and cost-plus agreements. For the local market, see our page on custom homes in Atherton and the nearby Peninsula towns.

Pricing a new home or a full rebuild in Burlingame? Send the address and any drawings you have. We check the zoning district and any hillside overlay, the design review path, the trees, the demolition and utility steps, the soils report, Central County Fire review and the City’s construction hours, then send back a written estimate. Phone 805-712-8993 or reach us here.

Sources: City of Burlingame Community Development, Building Division, Planning Division, residential design review, other residential reviews, Planning Commission, zoning, historic preservation, design guidelines, reach codes, codes and regulations, business license, permits, forms and documents and online permitting portal pages; the eTRAKiT portal; and the City’s building permit submittal guide, residential design review submittal requirements, project application form, minor design review procedures, hillside area construction permit procedures and application, demolition supplemental application, construction and demolition recycling requirements, single-family reach code checklist, soils report guidelines, building safety design criteria, construction hours flyer, Neighborhood Design Guidebook and private-property tree list. Fire sources: Central County Fire Department home, about, Fire Prevention, wildland-urban interface and construction permits pages. State sources: OSFM fire hazard severity zone maps, the CEC’s 2025 energy standards and the CSLB, all reviewed November 5, 2026. This page is a general overview, not legal or code advice; what applies to a given lot is decided by the City of Burlingame and the other agencies involved.