From your project leadEvery Friday until you move in
Your first Friday note comes from us the week we start.
Before that comes the yard visit. Book it online, or call and tell us the address.
Studio or one-bedroom
Attached ADUs in Los Angeles, sharing one wall with your house
Built onto the back or the side of your house and sharing one wall, with a door and a kitchen of its own. Usually a studio or a one-bedroom, 400 to 750 sq ft.
On every build
- Every FridayPhotos and the week's work in writing
- Yard visit to move-inOne project lead, one direct number
- Before day oneA note to the neighbors on each side
- Month elevenWe come back and walk it with you
An attached unit sits against your house instead of out in the yard. It leaves more of the lawn than a detached back house, and whoever lives there is a few steps from your back door, behind a front door of their own.
When attached makes sense
Attached usually makes sense on a shallow yard, or one full of trees you want to keep. It's a good fit for a parent who wants to be close enough to knock, with their own kitchen and their own key.
It needs room beside or behind the house, clear of the setback along the property line. Drawn in the same siding and roof as yours, the new rooms can look like part of the house from the street.
What goes into an attached unit
- The shared wall. Insulated against sound, and built with the fire separation the plan checker asks for between two homes.
- The roof. Tied into your roof line, or a lower roof of its own, with the flashing where the two meet.
- Its own entrance. A front door, usually off the side yard or the driveway.
- Utilities. Water, sewer and power branch off the main house, with a sub-panel for the new unit.
- Kitchen and bathroom. A full kitchen or a compact one, with its own bathroom.
The first step is a free yard visit.
About an hour at your house, and it costs nothing. Three working days later the price reaches you in writing, with a schedule of the work and payment dates.
How the job runs
- Free yard visit. We look at the side of the house you'd build on, the roof line, the panel and the path to the new door. Your written price follows, with a schedule of the work.
- Drawings and permit. We draw it with you and have it engineered. Once you've approved every sheet, we file it with the city. The plan checker's corrections come back to us, not to you.
- The build. Stage by stage, each one closed by a city inspection, while you keep living in the main house.
- Move in. Once the final inspection passes, the new rooms are ready to live in.
What the price depends on
- The size, and whether it's a studio or a one-bedroom
- Where the new roof ties into yours
- The foundation, and how the ground sits along that side of the house
- Whether the main panel has room, or needs an upgrade first
- Anything on that wall of the house that has to move first, like a window, a vent or the gas meter
- The kitchen, the bathroom and the finishes you choose
City fees are paid by you, straight to the city, so they sit outside our price.
What you get
- A studio or a one-bedroom joined to your house, with its own door, kitchen and bathroom
- A wall between the two homes built for quiet
- A roof tied into yours, flashed where the two meet
- A finished unit, signed off at the final inspection
Questions about attached ADUs
Will it look added on?
Not unless you want it to. We draw the siding or stucco, the roof and the windows to look like the rest of your house, or to stand apart where you'd like the new rooms to read as their own.
Can we live at home while you build it?
Yes. The work happens on the outside of one wall, so you keep living in the main house. The water or the power goes off only when we tie the new lines in, and the Friday note the week before tells you which day.
Attached unit or junior ADU: what's the difference?
An attached unit is a new addition built onto the house, with a full kitchen and its own bathroom. A junior ADU uses space already inside the house. We look at both on the yard visit.