Hot job leads · Los Altos

What Los Altos asks of a pro before the first job

Los Altos runs a tight residential clock: work on a house stops at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Plans go in by email only, inspections are booked only online, and a house on the Historic Resources Inventory needs a Historic Alteration Permit before exterior changes. Most homes are owner-occupied, detached and from the 1950s and 1960s.

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(415) 449-8213Example

New job: Plumbing in University Avenue neighborhood, Los Altos. See the job and the price before you pay: thehandymansflive.com/l/…

New job: TV Mounting near Los Altos Hills. Open the link to see it.

What a lead text looks like. Trade and area are examples.

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Three short steps. Your mobile is checked with a texted code, and you are on the hot list the moment you finish.

On the hot list, every new Bay Area job comes to your phone by text, whatever the trade or city, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jobs in the work and cities you pick here reach you first. A job you have not opened may come once more as a reminder.

  1. 1Pick the work you take
  2. 2Pick the cities you work in
  3. 3Confirm your mobile

Step 1 of 3

Business license
Contractors from outside may buy a 6-month term
Source: losaltosca.gov: Fees (opens in a new tab)
Residential hours
7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, 9 to 3 Saturdays
Source: losaltosca.gov: Inspections (opens in a new tab)
Median home built
1964 (Census ACS 2019-2023)
Source: data.census.gov: ACSDT5Y2023 (opens in a new tab)
Owner-occupied
80.8% of occupied homes
Source: data.census.gov: ACSDP5Y2023 (opens in a new tab)

Working legally here

The Los Altos business license for contractors

Los Altos licenses contractors by category rather than by revenue. General contractors (A or B) and subcontractors each pay a flat base fee for a one-year license, and a contractor located outside Los Altos can choose a six-month term instead, January to June or July to December. Other service businesses are charged by head count: a base amount covers the first five employees, owner included, plus a fee for each additional one. A state fee under AB 1379 is added to every application and renewal. Registration and renewal are both online. Every new business, and any business moving within the city, also files a Zoning Approval Application, or a Home Occupation Application when it runs from a home, for the Zoning Administrator to approve.

City of Los Altos, Business Licensing (opens in a new tab)

Permits

Los Altos permits, submittals and historic review

  • Email-only submittals and online inspections

    The Building Division no longer takes paper plans at City Hall. Applications, plans and supporting documents go by email as PDF files, and a few minor permits can be started at the counter only after the documents are scanned there. Submittals are processed within 2 to 4 business days. Contractors can buy certain simple residential permits, such as re-roofs, online through eTRAKiT. Every inspection is scheduled online, and the approved documents arrive by email: print them and keep them on site, because no inspection is performed without them.

    City of Los Altos, Building Division (opens in a new tab)

  • Historic Alteration Permits under Chapter 14.93

    Since November 14, 2025, the city's historic preservation rules have sat in zoning Chapter 14.93. A Historic Alteration Permit is required to alter, demolish, remove, relocate or change any exterior architectural feature of a property on the Historic Resources Inventory. For residential listings, the Zoning Administrator may exempt pools, fences and walls, minor accessory structures and landscaping from Historical Commission review when they do not harm the resource's integrity or significance. Before replacing windows, siding, trim or a porch on an older house, ask whether it is listed.

    City of Los Altos, City Council packet (opens in a new tab)

  • Debris diversion on demolition permits

    Los Altos requires construction and demolition debris diversion on every demolition permit, whole-structure and interior non-structural alike, and on larger building permits. Covered projects must divert at least 65% of their debris from landfill and document it in Green Halo, the online tracking system the city uses, so keep the recycling and disposal receipts from a gut-out job from the first load.

    City of Los Altos, Building Division (opens in a new tab)

The homes

Los Altos homes in the Census count

The 2019-2023 American Community Survey counts 11,620 housing units in Los Altos. The median home was built in 1964: 34.5% of all units date from the 1950s alone and another 20.1% from the 1960s, while only 2.9% are older than 1940. Detached single-family houses make up 81.3% of the stock, and owners occupy 80.8% of occupied homes. The typical call is therefore to an owner-occupied house now 55 to 75 years old, where a repair meets original framing and materials alongside decades of partial updates, and where the person paying is usually the person living there.

U.S. Census Bureau (opens in a new tab)
The Los Altos History Museum
The Los Altos History Museum. Photo: GualdimG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part by part

Los Altos districts a pro should know

  • University Avenue neighborhood

    Part of the original townsite laid out in 1907, with alleyways and lots that vary greatly in size. Several houses on University Avenue are city-designated landmarks on the Historic Resources Inventory, so replacing windows, trim or a porch there can need a Historic Alteration Permit before work starts.

  • Los Altos Park

    Subdivided in December 1925 with small homes on small lots of a uniform size, and like other early subdivisions away from the town center, much of it was built up only after the Depression. Small lots leave little room to stage materials, so plan deliveries and the cutting area before the first day.

  • Loyola Corners

    Known as the Loyola Tract in 1904, the land was bought by the Jesuit Fathers of Santa Clara to move their college there, a plan that fell through after the 1906 earthquake; the subdivision was recorded in 1926. Its tiny lots and cottages sit beside a 17-acre commercial area just off Foothill Expressway at Fremont and Miramonte avenues, mostly small single-story buildings from the late 1940s to early 1960s, under its own specific plan since 1990.

  • Downtown

    The city's commercial core is a triangle bounded by Foothill Expressway, San Antonio Road and Edith Avenue, with two-lane streets and diagonal parking on Main Street. A job on a commercial building there runs on commercial construction hours, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

Getting around

A working day in Los Altos

Residential construction is limited to 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or city holidays, so a Saturday gives six working hours. The small Rancho, Woodland Plaza and Foothill Plaza centers sit along Foothill Expressway, while El Camino Real, on the northern edge and shared with Palo Alto and Mountain View, is a six-lane arterial. Inspections come in a morning window, 8:30 to noon, or an afternoon one, 12:30 to 3:30, and the inspector does not call ahead, so someone needs to be on site for the whole window.

How hot leads work

From the first text to the homeowner's door

  1. Confirm your mobile

    A texted code proves the number is yours. No app, no password, no card.

  2. A text for each new job

    It names the trade and the area, with a link to the job. Texts go out from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

  3. See it before you pay

    The link shows the job and the price. Skip any job you do not want.

  4. Pay, then call the homeowner

    After you pay you get the homeowner's name, number and address. Price and timing are between you.

Questions

Working in Los Altos: what pros ask

My shop is in Mountain View. Can I buy a six-month Los Altos business license?

Yes, if you are a contractor. Contractors located outside Los Altos can choose a six-month term, January through June or July through December, instead of the one-year license. General contractors (A or B) and subcontractors are separate categories, each with a flat base fee, and both registration and renewal are done online. A small state fee under AB 1379 is added to each application.

Can I drop off paper plans at Los Altos City Hall?

No. The Building Division takes plans, calculations and applications only by email as PDF files and says it no longer accepts hard copies. A few minor permits can be started in person, but you scan your documents at City Hall before you are seen. Contractors can buy some simple residential permits, such as re-roofs, online through eTRAKiT.

Does replacing windows on a historic Los Altos house need special approval?

If the property is on the Historic Resources Inventory, yes. Chapter 14.93 requires a Historic Alteration Permit to alter or change any exterior architectural feature of a listed property, and the Historical Commission reviews it. For listed homes, the Zoning Administrator may exempt pools, fences and walls, minor accessory structures and landscaping that leave the resource intact. Ask the Planning Division whether the address is listed.

Is every Los Altos address under the city's building department?

Not always. The city's own 2011 Historic Resources Inventory notes that the Los Altos Country Club lies within Santa Clara County's jurisdiction rather than the city's, and the Census counts Los Altos Hills as a separate town. Confirm which agency covers the parcel before you pull a permit or buy a business license for the job.

Are the hot list texts only for jobs in Los Altos?

No. The hot list is not sorted by city: each new job is texted when it goes on sale, with its trade, its area and a link. Open the link to read the job and see its price before paying, and buy only the ones that suit you. Nothing is charged by subscription or commission, there is no bidding, and texting STOP stops the messages.

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Where this page belongs

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and fees change: confirm license and permit requirements with the city before work starts.

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