Rancho Santa Fe outdoor living, designed and built by one team.

We do. Rancho Santa Fe is unincorporated, so plans for outdoor living spaces go to the County of San Diego, and homes inside the Covenant also go through the Rancho Santa Fe Association's review. Our design and architectural team drafts the construction documents, a licensed structural engineer stamps them where the scope calls for it, and we manage the whole permit process for you.

Inside the Covenant, yes, as an exterior change. We design it in the house's own roof form and materials and present it with the rest of the project.

Four to eight months from the first visit to completion, longer when a pool and a pool house are part of it.

Irrigated, low planting near the house, hardscape between it and the brush, and fire features built to the rules. On acreage the defensible space is designed into the landscape.

The short answer is yes. Official, permitted improvements to your home, inside and out, add a percentage of the project cost to its value, and the range tends to be between 12 and 15 percent. Other variables change the number, and the scope of the changes you make has the biggest influence. A deck addition can add as much as 72 percent of its building cost to the value of the home, and our rooftop deck guide puts a sky deck at 5 to 12 percent in San Diego's view neighborhoods. It is not only about value: a new or improved deck or patio adds space for entertaining, storage underneath, and the ambiance you want in the backyard.

It depends on the size and scope of the project. Because of the nearly infinite possibilities these projects have, a price without a plan is a guess. The size of the space, the improvements you want, the materials and their quality, and many other design decisions all set the cost. That is why Kaminskiy Design and Remodeling offers a complimentary in-home consultation: we want to understand your vision for the space while giving you accurate information on what your project will cost. The design and bid presentation puts every line of the scope, the contract and the schedule in writing before anything is built.

It comes down to the organization of the area. Decide on the focal points, the sitting areas, an outside kitchen, where the lawn goes and whether you want a water feature. That is difficult to do without help, and the best way to get the outdoor living space you have always wanted is a professional design-build team on your side. Your designer walks the yard with you, watches how the light and the wind move through it, and draws the plan around how you will use it: a kitchen near the door to the house, seating facing the view or the fire, a path that connects them.

If your home has a sloped yard or sits high off the ground, a deck or a platform deck is the natural choice. A deck is a platform of wood or composite that extends your living space with areas to dine, grill or simply enjoy the outdoors, and many decks step down to a patio on the flat. We make those steps safe with lights, sturdy rails and smooth, level treads, and a deck several feet off the ground can hide covered storage underneath for lawn equipment or the children's toys. We can separate the seating and socializing area from the grill and the entrance back into the house by extending the deck outward. The footings are sized to the local building code, which sets their depth and width from the deck's size and height, and a permit is pulled so the deck is legal.

Homeowners want more than grilling: the versatility to cook anything they can inside, just outside. An outdoor kitchen can have a built-in barbecue, a full-size refrigerator, a cooktop or even a brick pizza oven. The hot areas (the grill or stove), the cold areas (the refrigerator), the wet areas (the sink) and the dry areas (the counters) are kept separate yet cohesive so the kitchen works. A counter along the edge of the deck or patio gives prep and serving space; a U-shaped counter feels like a bar and lets guests socialize with the cook; an island becomes the prep or grilling center. The materials can match the house or combine into something your own, and they must be easy to clean and maintain, because they live outside. An open but covered structure over the kitchen protects guests and appliances and lets us add a fan, lighting for night cooking, speakers and a television.