Secret to Home Rebuilding After Los Angeles Fires
The Greenberg family's home was rebuilt using home hardening techniques, with collaboration from Lannen Construction and architect Kevin Oreck.
Architect Kevin Oreck
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The fires that destroyed his family’s Pacific Palisades home were still burning when Ross Greenberg and his wife made up their minds: They were going to rebuild.
Yes, there were permitting challenges and headaches to soothe along the way, but quick decision-making and a year-plus-long hustle has placed them near the finish line on Iliff Street. “People are shocked when I tell them that we’re almost done,” the TV producer and co-founder of toy and board game IP company Perfect Game says on a recent afternoon over Zoom. “They can’t believe it. We’re getting a lot of, ‘What do you mean you’re almost done? How?’ We’ve worked really hard.”
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“Hard” being the operative word. The work — done in collaboration with Lannen Construction and architect Kevin Oreck — placed an emphasis on sustainability, particularly the notion of “home hardening.” It’s a strategy of retrofitting or building a home using fire-resistant materials and construction techniques designed to protect properties from embers, heat or direct flames.
“I’m one of the first homeowners nearly complete, so we’ve been faced with so many first-mover problems, but we’ve been able to get it all done,” explains Greenberg of efforts that came after the Palisades and Eaton fires claimed nearly 7,000 homes in L.A. “I’ve basically had to become a mini expert on how to rebuild your home.”
He credits Lannen Construction’s Lee Horvitz — a former CAA agent who left the industry in 2016 to work first in real estate and then in construction — as a “linchpin” in his rebuild and Oreck (“who we absolutely love”) for guiding them through the process. Greenberg rolls through the measures they took to protect it from future wildfires: no vents or eves; permanent dehumidifiers in the attic; a Class A clay tile roof; an indoor sprinkler system; concrete masonry unit wall; drought-resistant landscaping; stucco exterior with no wood; noncombustible exterior gates; solar and battery features; electric appliances; double-paned, tempered glass windows; underground power lines and more.
Interior shots of the new home.
Architect Kevin Oreck
“I believe that home hardening is the next evolution of sustainability and green building, because a large portion of Los Angeles is in high fire zones,” says Greenberg, whose résumé also includes tenures at Beyond Productions and All3Media America. “In our neighborhood, we never thought in a million years that we were going to lose our house — never. But since it happened, it forces you to really have to consider whether or not a fire could come back. Is it going to try to burn us down again? You have to put in these mitigating efforts, but they work hand in hand with the sustainability efforts. The purpose is really to make sure that your house can withstand whatever’s thrown its way.”
Greenberg likens it to making the home into a fortress without looking like one. “Our rebuild is beautiful and it looks like a normal house. You want to have all the comforts and conveniences of your last house. There are a just a few things that need to change,” says Greenberg, who is married to Danielle Amerian, an independent producer and writer who previously worked for Di Novi Pictures, Discovery Channel and John Goldwyn Productions.
Greenberg and his wife purchased their home in 2021, and it had been a journey from the jump. “It was actually a hoarder house,” Greenberg notes. “A woman had lived there for 27 years and it was filled floor-to-ceiling with boxes. Her parents’ remains were in a USPS box in the living room. It was crazy.”
And unhealthy. “Black mold, fungus, lead,” he added of the home’s dire state. “She really destroyed the place.” But Greenberg and his wife saw the potential and knew how difficult it was to find a prime spot in Pacific Palisades, so they went through with the purchase. They moved in May 2022 and immediately set about renovating and “ripping out all the bad stuff” inside the one-level, Spanish-style home built in the 1940s. They put in months of hard work and ended up loving it there.