California Zone 0 Is Near Effective for New Builds. What Sacramento and Loomis Contractors Should Check on Builders Risk

On August 19, 2026, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved the state’s first statewide Zone 0 defensible-space regulations — rules for the roughly five feet closest to a structure in State Responsibility Areas and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within Local Responsibility Areas. As of early September 2026, the package sits with the Office of Administrative Law as emergency file 2026-0828-03. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Insurance Business Mag points to an expected effective window around September for new construction once the Secretary of State publishes the regulation. Existing homes get up to five years to phase in. If you build or remodel in the Sacramento–Loomis foothills, that calendar belongs on the bid sheet next to the certificate list.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance and builders risk for contractors across Sacramento, Loomis, Roseville, Folsom, and nearby Placer County foothill jobs. This is a bid-readiness note, not legal advice and not a substitute for CAL FIRE, your local fire authority, or counsel.

What Zone 0 actually requires

Zone 0 is the ember-resistant band from the structure outward about five feet, including areas around attached decks and stairs. Core expectations from the Board’s approved package include clearing combustibles such as firewood, wood mulch, wood chips, and debris; a vegetation-free safety area at least one foot from the structure or to the eave drip line, whichever is greater; vegetation kept clear of windows, doors, and vents within two feet; and limits on combustible attachments such as wooden sheds in the zone and wooden fences where they connect to the house. Certain maintained plants and existing trees can remain under specified conditions. Local fire agencies in Local Responsibility Areas may authorize alternative practices with substantially similar practical effects.

For new construction, compliance is expected upon the regulation’s effective date. For existing structures, the Board’s phased approach prioritizes education and outreach, with harder items such as the one-foot safety zone and combustible gate or fence upgrades timed later in the five-year window. GCs bidding new homes or wildfire rebuilds in applicable hazard zones should bake Zone 0 into plans and landscape scopes now.

Why builders risk sits next to Zone 0

A homeowners policy often will not fully protect a dwelling under construction or major reconstruction. Course-of-construction — builders risk — is the property form that typically responds to fire, theft, vandalism, and certain weather damage to the structure and materials during the build. Lenders and many contracts require it. After a wildfire loss, survivors and contractors routinely need that coverage until occupancy and a new homeowners policy start. Builders risk is property coverage, not liability: injuries on site still need general liability and workers compensation on the contractor side.

For Sacramento-area trades, the intersection is underwriting and documentation. Carriers pricing builders risk in high fire-hazard ZIP codes already ask about location, construction methods, and site conditions. Owners and GCs will increasingly expect landscape and attachment details that match the new fire-safety floor. Confirm who buys the policy (owner vs GC), who is named as additional insured and mortgagee, whether off-site materials are included, and whether wildfire is excluded or limited on the specimen form before you mobilize.

Compliance is not an automatic insurance discount

Insurance Business Mag’s coverage of the Board vote draws a line brokers should repeat: Zone 0 is a fire-safety requirement. California’s Safer from Wildfires program separately requires participating insurers to offer credits for specified mitigation measures, including a five-foot ember-resistant zone — but carriers use their own filed rating and verification procedures. Clearing Zone 0 does not automatically guarantee a particular discount or an offer of coverage. If an insurer requires an inspection, California’s wildfire-mitigation rules require a free inspection option and acceptance of a CAL FIRE or local fire-department inspection as evidence. Completed mitigation can trigger a revised wildfire risk score within 30 days. Keep photos, receipts, and inspection reports with the job file.

Bid checklist for Placer and Sacramento contractors

• Confirm whether the site is in an SRA or a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone in an LRA before finalizing landscape and fence scopes.
• Put Zone 0-compatible hardscape, fence, and attachment details in plans for new construction that will pull permits after the regulation’s effective date.
• Align Sacramento construction insurance certificates — builders risk, GL, and workers compensation — with the entity names on the subcontract and the lender’s mortgagee wording.
• Ask the builders risk carrier how they treat WUI locations and ordinance-or-law exposure on rebuilds; route owner mitigation documentation through the carrier’s filed Safer from Wildfires process.

Talk to a local broker before the next foothill bid

If you are pricing a new home, ADU, or remodel in Loomis, Granite Bay, Folsom, or Sacramento foothill tracts in designated hazard zones, call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Send the plans or scope, job address, estimated values, and who carries builders risk in the contract. Or use our contact form. This is not legal advice. It is how local contractors stay bid-ready while Zone 0 moves from Board approval through OAL review into day-one new-construction practice.