JADUs and attached ADUs in Los Angeles County
Two ways to add a home that joins the house you have. An attached ADU is an addition that shares a wall with it. A JADU, a junior ADU, takes a room already inside it.
Both suit a house where the backyard is short or already in use, and both sit close to the house's sewer line and electric service, which keeps those runs short. They are different builds, so the site visit starts by working out which one your house can take.
Attached ADU
Studio to two bedrooms, with its own front door. An addition that shares a wall with your house and has its own kitchen and bathroom.
It is new construction from the foundation up, built against the house. The shared wall is drawn as the wall between two homes, and our engineer designs the joint between the new roof and the house's.
JADU, a junior ADU
Up to 500 sq ft, inside your house. A bedroom or an attached garage turned into a suite with its own outside door and a built-in kitchenette. We go through the JADU rules for your house on the visit.
Because the walls, the floor and the roof are already there, a JADU is usually the smallest job of the four we build.
What we do
We measure the yard and the garage and mark the setbacks, the distances the city keeps clear of each property line. We photograph the electric meter and the panel, find the sewer cleanout and check how a concrete truck would reach the back.
What you get
A written answer on what fits on your lot, with an estimate for that scope, within three working days.
When you pay
No charge for the visit or the estimate, and nothing to sign.
Signs one of these suits your house
- The backyard is short or steep, or taken by a patio or a pool you want to keep
- A bedroom with an outside wall could take a door of its own
- The garage is attached, and the cars already live on the driveway
- You want the new home within a few steps of the main house
Stage by stage, to the keys
- Free site visit. Inside, we measure the rooms or the garage and the wall where a new door could go. Outside, we measure the ground beside the house where an addition would stand.
- Design and engineering. We draw the unit with you. For an attached ADU, our engineer designs the new structure and how it ties into the house. For a JADU, the drawings show the new outside door, the kitchenette, and where the suite ends and the main house begins.
- Permit. We submit the plans to LADBS or your city and answer every round of corrections.
- Build. The work sits against, or inside, a house you live in. If the power or the water has to go off, you hear from us the day before. Each construction payment falls due after the stage before it passes its city inspection.
- Final inspection and keys. We book the final inspection and meet the inspector on site. Anything on the inspector's list, we fix before the sign-off.
What sets the price
- Attached ADU or JADU, and the floor area
- For an attached ADU, the foundation and how much of the house's wall and roof is opened where the two meet
- For a JADU, whether a bathroom is already next to the room
- A kitchen of its own in an attached ADU, a built-in kitchenette in a JADU
- Whether your main panel needs an upgrade, priced as its own line
- Finishes, picked to suit the house or chosen fresh, approved by you before we order
Your written estimate arrives within three working days of the site visit, with every line and its amount. The contract price is the price. The one exception is anything the city adds in plan check, which we price in writing for your approval first.
What you get
- A written answer on which of the two your house can take, with an estimate, within three working days of the site visit
- Plans you approved, sheet by sheet, before they go to the city
- The issued permit, and every city inspection booked through the final
- One year on the work
Asked about a home that joins yours
Not on the list? Ask it on the site visit, with your lot in front of us.
Book a free site visitWhich costs less, an attached ADU or a JADU?
Usually the JADU, since it works inside rooms the house already has. Your estimate prices the one that fits your house.
What makes a JADU more than a spare bedroom?
Two things a spare bedroom does not have: its own outside door and a built-in kitchenette.
See what fits in your garage or your yard.
Start with an hour on your lot. The written answer and the estimate are yours to keep.
- About an hour on your lot
- No charge, nothing to sign
- We call back within one working day
- Written estimate within three working days
