A second unit is a small building, not a big remodel. We handle feasibility, design, plan check, and construction.
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An ADU is not a big remodel. It is a small building, and it has to be treated like one. Foundation, framing, roof, envelope, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, energy compliance, and its own final inspection. The projects that go badly are almost always the ones somebody priced like an oversized bedroom.
California changed the math on these. State law now requires cities to permit ADUs on most single-family lots and to approve compliant applications ministerially, which means no discretionary hearing and no neighbor objection process to survive. That is why the Valley has become one of the busiest ADU markets in the country, and why lots that were unbuildable a decade ago now carry a second unit in the back.
The lots here suit it. Postwar Valley subdivisions were laid out with deep rear yards and detached or tuck-under garages, which is close to ideal for either a detached unit or a conversion. What varies is everything else: setbacks, existing hardscape, mature trees, sewer lateral condition, panel capacity, and whether the property sits on the hillside side of Ventura Boulevard where additional review applies.
We start every ADU with a feasibility walk before anyone pays for a drawing. If your lot has a real constraint, you should hear about it in week one rather than at plan check.
Three reasons, in roughly this order: housing an aging parent or an adult child, generating rental income, and adding permitted square footage to a property in a market where square footage is the scarce thing. A fourth is quieter and increasingly common, which is building the unit now and moving into it later while renting the main house.
Feasibility and site review, design, coordination with the engineer and the energy consultant, plan submittal, permit, construction, and final. One point of contact through all of it. You are not managing a designer, a draftsman, and a builder who blame each other at every delay.
A fixed written construction price after design is settled, with allowances itemized. Site work is where ADU budgets most often move, so trenching distance to the sewer connection, the panel situation, and any grading get identified up front rather than discovered with an excavator already on site.
Call (818) 881-8333These are genuinely different projects with different costs, different timelines, and different outcomes. Choosing between them is the first real decision, and it should be made against your lot rather than against a photo.
A new standalone structure in the rear yard. The most expensive option and the one that produces the best result: a real building with its own entrance, its own outdoor space, full separation from the main house, and the highest rental and resale value of the four. State law limits how large a setback a city can require for a new detached ADU, which is why these can sit far closer to the rear and side property lines than a standard addition ever could. On a typical Valley lot with a deep back yard, this is usually the right answer if the budget supports it.
Turning an existing detached garage into a legal dwelling. The foundation, walls, and roof already exist, which is where the savings come from. What people underestimate: garage slabs are frequently not level, not thick enough, or not moisture-protected for habitable space; the walls are uninsulated; there is no plumbing anywhere near them; and the electrical is often one circuit off the main house. It is still typically the least expensive route to a permitted unit, and losing the garage matters less than it used to now that replacement parking is not generally required.
New square footage built onto the main house with its own entrance and full separation inside. This makes sense when the rear yard is too small or too encumbered for a detached unit, or when the lot slopes in a way that makes a separate foundation expensive. It shares a wall and often a utility run with the main house, which cuts cost but also means construction is happening against your existing structure rather than across the yard from it.
Created inside the existing walls of the main house, usually from a bedroom, with its own exterior entrance. The smallest and cheapest of the four with the tightest size limits and its own specific requirements around kitchen facilities and bathroom access. Best suited to housing family rather than maximizing rental income.
Panel capacity and the sewer lateral. Those two items decide more ADU budgets than the finish level does. A long trench to the connection point, or a service upgrade coordinated with the utility, is a substantial line that belongs in the first conversation rather than the third change order.
Seven phases. The first one is free and is genuinely capable of ending the project, which is the point of doing it first.
We look at the lot, the existing structures, the setbacks, the panel, where the sewer connection is, and whether the property carries hillside or fire hazard zone conditions. If your lot does not support what you want, this is where you find out, before you have paid for design.
Floor plan, elevations, and site plan, then structural engineering and Title 24 energy compliance. Decisions about size, entrance placement, and window orientation are cheap here and expensive later.
Plans are submitted, corrections come back, we respond and resubmit. Compliant ADU applications are reviewed ministerially, so the process is procedural rather than political. We manage every round of it.
Demolition or clearing, utility trenching, forms, and the slab or foundation system. On a garage conversion this phase is largely slab evaluation and repair instead.
Structure goes up, the building gets dried in, then plumbing, electrical, and mechanical rough-in, followed by inspection before anything is covered.
Insulation and envelope inspection, drywall, then flooring, kitchen, bathroom, doors, trim, and paint. An ADU has a full kitchen and bathroom in it, so this phase carries the same trades a house remodel does, just compressed.
Final inspection and sign-off, then we walk the unit with you and clear the punch list before final payment. You end up with a permitted, legal dwelling recorded against the property.
Two ADUs of identical size on two lots three blocks apart can differ substantially, and almost none of that difference is in the finishes.
We build them; we do not sell projections. Be skeptical of any contractor who quotes you a rental figure or a return percentage, because neither is theirs to promise and both are being used to sell you a building. Get your numbers from a lender and an appraiser, and get your construction price from someone who has walked your lot.
We give you a fixed written construction price once the design is settled, with site work and allowances broken out line by line.
We build ADUs throughout Encino and the surrounding San Fernando Valley and Westside communities. Tap your city for local lot conditions and permitting.
Not on the list? Call (818) 881-8333 — we travel outside our core area for the right project.
Start with the feasibility walk. We look at the lot, the setbacks, the panel, and the sewer connection, and tell you what is actually buildable before you spend anything on design.