Electrician in Rancho Santa Fe, CA

The Covenant has some of the most specific outdoor-lighting rules in the county: 2,700 kelvin maximum (3,000 for motion-activated security lights), no uplighting, and a cap of 40,000 lumens per home site, with more allowed on properties over two acres at the Art Jury’s discretion. Landscape and security lighting gets designed to those numbers from the start — warm, shielded, aimed down — rather than redone after review.

Solar is reviewed too: every system goes to the Association, roof panels can sit no more than six inches off the roof, and ground mounts are limited to eight feet and must be screened. Behind the walls, the homes are estates from the 1940s through the 1990s — large services, long runs to guest houses, barns, gates and pools, and panels that have been added to for decades.

Rancho Santa Fe has also been in SDG&E’s power-shutoff path — in 2019, in December 2020, and on notice again in January 2025 — and much of the area is mapped as High or Very High fire hazard. Battery backup and a panel prepared for it are standard planning on these properties. The County issues home EV charger permits online but does not use SolarAPP+, so solar goes through regular plan review after the Art Jury.

Neighborhoods we cover

Rancho Santa Fe and the areas around it, including the Covenant, the Village, Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Cielo.