ADU Before & After in Los Angeles, CA
Photos tell the truth faster than any brochure. In the ten-plus years we’ve been building ADUs, garage conversions, and home additions across Los Angeles, the moment a homeowner sees the finished space for the first time is the moment they get it. The before-and-afters below show what actually happens when a dated garage, underused side yard, or awkward backyard slope becomes a legal, livable home with its own address, kitchen, and front door. The Kingswell Guarantee applies to every one of these projects: a written price before work starts, the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing, and a free return visit if the work fails within the guarantee period.
Recent Transformations
Detached Garage to Two-Bedroom ADU in the San Fernando Valley
The garage was doing what most 1950s San Fernando Valley garages do: holding boxes and a car that would not start. The owners wanted rental income but assumed the footprint was too small. We converted the existing structure, raising the roof line by 18 inches and adding a second dormer, then finished it as a two-bedroom, two-bath ADU under Los Angeles’s detached ADU rules. With James Hardie siding matched to the main house and a mini-split system for the Valley heat, the unit now rents as a fully permitted home with its own meter.
Backyard Slope to Prefab ADU in the Hollywood Hills
A steep Hollywood Hills lot sat untouched for decades because the owner assumed an accessory dwelling unit could not work on a grade like that. We brought in a PierTech pier-and-beam foundation system, then set a prefab unit from Abodu on top in under a day. The site work, retaining walls, and utility tie-ins took the real time, but the result is a flat, comfortable one-bedroom ADU with a deck overlooking the canyon. No one believed it at first. The owner’s daughter lives there now.
Attached Garage to JADU with Separate Entrance in Mid-City
The garage was attached but had no interior connection to the house, which actually made it a cleaner JADU candidate. A JADU is a junior accessory dwelling unit, which for this project meant a maximum 500 square feet and an efficiency kitchen, which is a compact cooking area with a small refrigerator and a two-burner cooktop. We built a new side entrance, added sound insulation between the JADU and the main home, and ran separate electrical and plumbing lines so the owner could meter it independently. It currently rents to a USC graduate student.
Underused Side Yard to One-Bedroom ADU in Long Beach
A 14-foot-wide side yard is not much to work with, but it was 60 feet deep, and that is enough. We designed a narrow, light-filled one-bedroom with a stacked floor plan, the living space and bathroom below, the bedroom in a loft above. Framing used Plant Prefab wall panels to keep the on-site build time short. The finished ADU is just under 600 square feet and includes a stacked washer-dryer closet, which the owner insisted on. It rents furnished to traveling nurses.
Tuff Shed Shell to Finished ADU in the Antelope Valley
A Tuff Shed is a shed. It is not an ADU until someone pulls permits, insulates, runs power and water, and brings it up to the California Building Code for habitable space. That is what we did at this Palmdale property, where the owner had already placed a 16-by-40-foot shell. We installed a proper foundation under it, framed interior walls, added a bathroom with a shower, a full kitchen, insulation rated for high desert summers and cold winters, and a mini-split system. The 365-Day Done Right Promise is in writing on this one just like every other build.
Single-Family Attached Addition as Owner’s Suite in South LA
Not every ADU is for renters. This South LA family needed space for an aging parent but wanted her close, not in a detached unit. We built an attached addition off the rear of the house, 480 square feet with a bedroom, sitting area, full bath with a zero-threshold shower, and a kitchenette. The Kingswell Way applied start to finish: the price was written before any work began, the crew arrived in the window given, the site was clean every evening, and the guarantee was put in writing before the first inspection. The family could not believe the day-to-day difference.
Want Results Like These?
Every project above started with a free estimate and a real conversation about the lot, the budget, and the rules Los Angeles enforces. Call (213) 698-7116 and we will walk your property, explain the ADU, JADU, or garage conversion option in plain English, and give you a written price for the work. My name is Russ Delmar, and I own Lodgewick ADU Los Angeles.
Written by Russ Delmar, Owner at Lodgewick ADU Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles since 2010.
