Palos Verdes Estates is a stucco city by design. The Olmsted plan and the Homes Association's Art Jury have kept the Spanish and Mediterranean character of Malaga Cove and Valmonte since the 1920s, which means most of the walls we see are original three-coat stucco over wood lath, ninety years old, delaminating at the parapets and the window heads while the field still looks fine from the street. The Lunada Bay and Montemalaga ranch houses are thirty years younger and the same story at the base.
The ocean does the rest. Salt air corrodes the weep screed and the window flashing on the west-facing walls, and wood trim, eaves and shutters fail long before the stucco does. On a Palos Verdes Estates house the exterior work is usually a repair and re-float, a re-stucco over new paper and lath on the worst elevations, and new trim, all in corrosion-resistant metal, matched to the original finish and colour because the Art Jury will look at it.
That review is the thing to plan for. Any change to the exterior goes to the Art Jury before the City permit, with samples and elevations; we prepare that submittal as part of the job, keep the profile and finish the Jury expects, and only then apply for the permit. It adds time, not surprises.