Building the South Bay Since 2013
Levine Homes Real Estate and Construction is a custom home builder in Manhattan Beach. We handle tear-down acquisition, design, permitting, construction, and sale with one licensed builder-broker team.
228 29th St is a 3,597 sq ft custom home on a 2,251 sq ft lot, finished and sold in 2024. Joseph Fournier designed it. It sits on a walk street, where the city controls a large part of what can happen on the property. We built a 390 sq ft basement and poured the retaining walls with our own crew. That saved tens of thousands of dollars and months of schedule.
Custom homes in Manhattan Beach generally run $550 to $1,300 per square foot to build, before land, design, permits and fees. See the full 228 29th St project.
The Reality Here
Levine Homes Real Estate & Construction is a licensed general contractor and real estate broker serving Manhattan Beach and the South Bay. We specialize in custom new construction, from tear-down acquisition through design, permitting, construction, and sale.
Manhattan Beach has neighborhood-specific setbacks, height restrictions, design standards, and buyer expectations, from the Sand Section walkstreets to the Hill Section and East Manhattan. We build with those constraints in mind from the beginning, and because we are also a licensed broker, we can help identify and evaluate tear-down lots before construction decisions are made.
Builder + Broker
Our builder-broker model gives clients an advantage no single-service contractor can match. We identify the right lots, understand the local permitting landscape, manage every phase of the build, and can handle the eventual sale, so the decisions that affect resale get made while the home is still on paper, not after it is finished.
How It Works
No long sales process. A conversation, a walkthrough, then a plan you can actually build from.
A free call to talk through the lot, what you want to build, your budget range, and your timeline. Honest answers, no pressure.
We walk the site and tell you what is realistic within Manhattan Beach’s setbacks, height limits, and design standards, before you commit to a plan.
We coordinate architecture, file the permits, manage every trade, and run the schedule through final certificate of occupancy.
Most Manhattan Beach new construction starts with an older home that has reached the end of its useful life. As a licensed broker, we can help identify and evaluate tear-down lots before construction decisions are made, so you know what can realistically be built on a site before you buy it.
Our real estate services →
We work across the Sand Section, Hill Section, East Manhattan Beach, Tree Section, and Liberty Village. Each neighborhood has its own character and zoning nuances, so we design homes that reflect where they sit rather than generic spec product.
See the portfolio →
Our portfolio includes custom homes exceeding 5,000 square feet, full tear-down rebuilds, and major remodels that add meaningful value to existing structures.
View completed projects →
Not every project needs to start from the ground up. If the existing structure is sound, a major remodel or addition can get you most of the way there for meaningfully less, and we will tell you honestly which route makes more sense for your property.
Home remodeling in Manhattan Beach →Lots here are small, and the lot decides the project. These are three we built on.
What we plan for before a client buys:
Levine Homes Real Estate and Construction builds luxury custom homes in Manhattan Beach. A typical project runs 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, and almost everything inside is made for the house. Custom cabinets. Custom railings. Porcelain stone counters. Finishes chosen with the owner, not pulled from a catalog.
One licensed team designs, builds and, when the time comes, sells the home. Mike Levine is both the general contractor and the broker, so decisions on layout, finishes and resale value come from the same person. The three homes above are finished examples.
Building in Hermosa Beach instead? See our Hermosa Beach new construction page.
What Clients Say
Common Questions
The things homeowners here ask us most often before a project starts.
Levine Homes Real Estate and Construction averages about 17.6 months from permit issued to final inspection. Manhattan Beach city records for about 101 new homes over the last five years average about 27.2 months. Before construction starts, design takes about 4 to 6 months and city permit processing averages about 15 months, with a range from about 9 months to 2 years. Lot size, plan complexity, and how quickly the city processes plan check affect the schedule. We give you a realistic schedule at the feasibility stage rather than an optimistic one up front, and we manage the permit process ourselves so the timeline stays under our control rather than a subcontractor’s.
More answers are on our custom home building FAQ for Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. See the full Manhattan Beach build time data from city permit records.
Yes. Because Levine Homes is also a licensed real estate broker, we can identify and evaluate tear-down lots before construction decisions are made. That means you find out what can actually be built on a site, and roughly what it will cost, before you buy it rather than after.
We work across the Sand Section, Hill Section, East Manhattan Beach, Tree Section, and Liberty Village. Each neighborhood has its own character and zoning nuances, so we design homes that reflect where they sit rather than generic spec product.
They do. Manhattan Beach has neighborhood-specific setbacks, height restrictions, design standards, and buyer expectations. The Sand Section walkstreets behave very differently from the Hill Section or East Manhattan. We build with those constraints in mind from the beginning rather than discovering them in plan check.
The same team can handle it. We are a licensed general contractor and a licensed real estate broker, so the sale is not a handoff to a stranger who has never seen the property. We know exactly what went into the house and how to present it.
Service Area
We build custom homes throughout Manhattan Beach, from the Sand Section walkstreets to the Hill Section, Tree Section, East Manhattan Beach, and Liberty Village.
Also Serving
It Starts Here
We offer a free phone consultation to understand your goals, your lot, and your timeline. If it is a good fit, we will schedule an on-site meeting, with no pressure and no obligation.
(310) 796-9088
