Estate Management in Los Angeles, CA

Dick Minium Construction provides estate management in Los Angeles, CA for the architecturally significant homes we built or renovated. The house is watched: systems checked on a schedule, leaks and dry rot found before they spread, other trades scheduled and supervised, the house kept ready for its owners. One call covers upkeep, readiness, and the standard of care the home was built to.

What Our Estate Management Covers

Estate management is the Keep door of our workshop. It is ongoing care for homes where the drawings still matter, delivered by the contractor who built to them. It is not property maintenance by rotation; it is readiness as a standing condition.

• Scheduled systems checks. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC inspected on a recurring calendar, so small faults surface before they become repairs. Think of it as a seasonal home maintenance checklist carried out by the people who installed the systems.
• Leak detection and elimination. Water finds the weak point first. We trace leaks to their source, open only what needs opening, and close it to the original detail.
• Dry rot repair and window restoration. Coastal Westside air works on wood. We find rot early, cut it out, and restore windows and trim to the architect's intent rather than replacing them with something off the shelf.
• Scheduling and supervising other trades. When a specialist is needed, we bring them in, brief them on the house, and hold their work to the drawings. You make one call; we manage the rest.
• Home readiness for second homes. For owners who are away for weeks or months, the house stays ready: checked, climate held, art and finishes watched, so arrival requires nothing but arriving.
• Care of installed art. For collectors, we monitor the installations we engineered, hung and lit, including structural anchors, suspension points, and art lighting.

Our estate management and renovation work on the Ray Kappe house shows what this looks like in practice: the renovation first, then the long watch afterward.

How the Work Runs

1. The house is documented

We start from what we know. If we built or renovated the home, we already hold the drawings, the material specifications, and the record of every system behind the walls. That record becomes the baseline for care.

2. A maintenance calendar is set

Together with the owner we build a home maintenance planner specific to the house: monthly checks for water and mechanical systems, seasonal work for the building envelope, hardscape, and landscape structures, and yearly inspections of roofing, windows, and installed art. A generic monthly home maintenance checklist does not account for a cantilevered deck or a suspended sculpture; ours does.

3. Visits happen on schedule

On each visit we walk the house against the calendar. Plumbing fixtures run, electrical panels and circuits checked, HVAC filters and performance reviewed, exterior wood probed for moisture and rot, drainage and irrigation observed. Findings go into the house record.

4. Work is done or scheduled

Small repairs are handled on the spot by our own crew. Larger items are scoped, explained to you with the reason and the remedy, and scheduled with our trades or specialists we supervise. Nothing proceeds without your approval.

5. The house stays ready

Between visits, you have one number. A stain on a ceiling, a stuck window, a question before guests arrive: one call, and the people who know the house respond.

What Shapes the Investment

The honest factors:

• Size and complexity of the house. A 10,000 square foot home with pools, hardscape, and multiple mechanical systems takes more hours per visit than a smaller residence.
• Visit frequency. A primary residence may need quarterly attention; a second home held in readiness often needs monthly eyes on it.
• Systems and materials. Custom steel windows, specialty finishes, radiant systems, and installed art each add items to the calendar and skill to the visit.
• Condition at the start. A house we renovated recently begins from a known state. A house with deferred issues, hidden leaks, or active dry rot needs corrective work before routine care begins.
• Trades coordination. The number of outside specialists we schedule and supervise on your behalf shapes the scope.

Every engagement is scoped to the specific house. Call 310.392.6622 and we will walk the property with you and put a concrete proposal in writing.

Why Owners and Architects Call Us

Dick Minium Construction is a Westside Los Angeles general contractor for architecturally significant homes and the art inside them. For more than thirty years we have worked with owners, their architects, and collectors on homes that demand uncompromising invention, engineering, and aesthetic perspective. Three doors into one workshop: Build, Install, and Keep. Estate management is Keep.

The advantage is continuity. The contractor who built to the drawings knows where every pipe runs, which wood species the architect specified, and how the art was engineered, hung and lit. When that same contractor maintains the house, nothing is guessed at and nothing is patched against the architect's intent.

We serve the Westside: Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and West Hollywood. We explain every item of work in plain terms, with the reason, the remedy, and the scope in writing before anything proceeds.

Estate Management Questions, Answered

What is estate management for a home?

Estate management is the ongoing care and readiness of a fine home: systems checked on a schedule, problems found early, repairs made to the original standard, and other trades scheduled and supervised. For our clients it continues the relationship that began when we built or renovated the house. It is not property management; we do not handle tenants, rent, or leasing.

How is this different from hiring a home maintenance company?

A home maintenance company works from a generic checklist. We work from the drawings and the build record of your specific house. Our estate manager contractor role means the same workshop that framed the walls, ran the plumbing, and hung the art is the one watching them, with the engineering judgment to act on what it finds.

Do you follow a maintenance checklist?

Yes, one built for your house. We maintain a yearly home maintenance checklist broken into monthly and seasonal tasks, covering mechanical systems, the building envelope, hardscape, landscape structures, and installed art. You receive the plan in writing, so you always know what was checked and when.

Can you keep a second home ready while we are away?

Yes. Home readiness for second homes is a core part of the service: scheduled visits, systems run and verified, moisture and rot checked, climate held for art and finishes. You arrive to a house that was never unattended.

Do you only manage homes you built?

Estate management is for the homes we built or renovated. The service depends on knowing the house completely, from the drawings to the materials behind the finishes. If your home needs renovation first, that work establishes the record the care program is built on.

What happens when you find a problem?

We tell you what we found, why it happened, and what the remedy is, then we scope the work in writing. Small items our crew handles during the visit. Larger items we schedule with our trades or supervised specialists, held to the standard of the original construction.

Get Started

If your home deserves luxury home maintenance done by the people who understand how it was built, call 310.392.6622. We will walk the house with you, review its condition, and propose a care calendar specific to the property. The earlier the watch begins, the smaller the problems it finds.

Related guide: estate management services — Complete Guide

Prefer to talk it through? Call (310) 392-6622 — a quick call is usually the fastest way to get a straight answer for your situation.