A free site visit, a check of what your lot allows and a written, line-item price.
Get your free estimateFast, Reliable ADU Builders Across Los Angeles
ADU construction in Los Angeles costs between $180,000 and $420,000 for a turnkey detached unit, with garage conversions running $95,000 to $210,000 depending on what’s hiding inside the existing structure. That’s the straight answer, and it’s the number Russ Delmar quotes when homeowners call the Los Angeles office. If you’re on a long, narrow lot in Mid-City or a hillside parcel in Silver Lake, the rules change, the foundation question changes, and the price moves with it. Call (213) 698-7116 and we’ll walk you through what applies to your property specifically.
We serve Los Angeles daily, and our crews know which streets in West Adams still carry original 1920s slabs and which Valley tracts were poured in the 1960s with undersized footings. That local knowledge keeps quotes honest, because we’ve already seen what’s under the dirt on your block before we ever knock on your door.
Why Lodgewick ADU Los Angeles Is Los Angeles’s Preferred ADU Builders Company
Lodgewick ADU Los Angeles operates under The Kingswell Guarantee, a written commitment that says the price we quote before work starts is the price you pay when the permit signs off. No change orders slipped in at the door. No “we didn’t expect that” markup. Russ Delmar and the team put every commitment in writing: the arrival window, the scope, the cleanup standard, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise that brings us back free if the work fails within the guarantee period.
Los Angeles homeowners have been burned by contractors who vanish after the deposit clears. We hear it on calls every week. Our answer is the same every time: a live person answers the phone 24/7, and the guarantee on your build is printed on paper before the first nail goes in. When someone in Eagle Rock needs a ADU Builders team that shows up in uniform and checks the slab before quoting, this is who they call.
The crews are background-checked and uniformed. They know Los Angeles building codes well enough to flag a setback problem on a Westchester lot before the plans ever hit LADBS. They know which neighborhoods still have active knob-and-tube wiring because they’ve opened walls from Highland Park to Venice and seen it with their own eyes. That’s the difference between a quote that holds and a quote that balloons.
ADU Plans in Los Angeles
ADU Plans in Los Angeles are the first thing we handle, because a plan that LADBS rejects costs you weeks and thousands of dollars in redesign. Every detached unit on an R1 lot needs a 4-foot rear and side setback, which sounds simple until you measure a 25-foot-wide lot in East LA and realize the old garage footprint no longer works. We draw the plan around the actual constraints of your parcel, not a template.
Plan costs in Los Angeles typically run $4,000 to $12,000 depending on whether you need structural engineering, Title 24 energy calculations, or a soils report for a hillside lot in Mount Washington. We include the permit-ready drawings and handle all submittals to LADBS, so you’re not chasing paperwork while your ADU sits in review.
Detached Unit Planning
A detached ADU on a standard Los Angeles R1 lot usually sits on a new slab-on-grade foundation, which runs $18,000 to $40,000 depending on soil conditions. On hillside parcels in Echo Park or Baldwin Hills, expect piers or caissons, which add $25,000 to $60,000 to the foundation line. We flag these costs during planning so the first written price is the real one.
Garage Conversion Planning
Garage conversions in Los Angeles require a full assessment of the existing slab and framing before any plan gets drawn. On a West Adams job, our crew found the original 1920s concrete pad was only 2.5 inches thick, too thin for today’s shear wall anchors. We removed the entire slab, poured a new 4-inch reinforced foundation with proper doweling, and upgraded the old knob-and-tube wiring to a 200-amp subpanel before hanging James Hardie siding. That’s the kind of discovery a plan has to account for from day one.
ADU Contractor in Los Angeles
An ADU Contractor in Los Angeles has to be prepared for what opening up an older home actually turns up: outdated wiring, undersized framing, failed waterproofing, and the code upgrades a permit triggers once walls are open. Russ Delmar’s team handles this with the inspection first, allowances written into the contract, and any surprise priced and approved in writing before anything gets touched.
General contractor fees in Los Angeles for ADU projects typically run 15% to 20% of the total build cost, but we quote line-item prices instead of a percentage, so you see exactly where every dollar goes. For a $250,000 detached unit, that means our written estimate shows the foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, drywall, roofing, and finishes as separate numbers with their own allowances.
Foundation and Structural Work
Pre-1970 garages in Mid-City and Highland Park often sit on pads that fail today’s seismic anchoring codes, which means the foundation line in your quote includes slab replacement, not just reinforcement. We check the slab thickness before we quote, because a garage conversion priced on an assumed good slab is a change order waiting to happen. When we write the foundation allowance, it already accounts for what your neighborhood’s housing stock typically needs.
Full Build and Finish
A full ADU build in Los Angeles includes framing, electrical with a new subpanel, plumbing rough-in, insulation, drywall, paint, flooring, and fixtures, plus all LADBS inspections. We stock local materials through the Los Angeles supply yard and work with prefab manufacturers like Cover and Dvele when a factory-built shell saves six to ten weeks on the schedule. The finish standard is the same whether the unit is a 400-square-foot studio in Mar Vista or a two-bedroom over a garage in Los Feliz.
Trusted Brands We Service in Los Angeles
We have hands-on familiarity with the ADU brands and materials that actually hold up in Los Angeles conditions. Dvele and Cover both make prefab shells that adapt well to narrow Los Angeles lots, and we’ve set units on slabs in neighborhoods from Lawndale to Manhattan Beach. Mighty Buildings panels work on second-story ADUs over mid-century ranch homes in the San Fernando Valley where traditional framing would be too heavy for the existing structure. James Hardie siding stands up to the intense Southern California sun and the rare heavy rain without warping. Because we work with these brands regularly, we can match the right system to your lot, budget, and timeline instead of pushing one manufacturer on every project.
Common ADU Builders Problems We See in Los Angeles Homes
- Thin 1920s slabs under old garages. Original concrete pads in West Adams, Mid-City, and Highland Park were often poured 2.5 to 3 inches thick, far below the 4-inch reinforced standard LADBS requires for shear wall anchoring today. A quote that doesn’t check slab thickness will change the moment excavation starts.
- Knob-and-tube wiring behind the walls. Many pre-1940 homes in Los Angeles still carry active knob-and-tube circuits that don’t meet Title 24 requirements. Opening a wall for an ADU addition triggers an LADBS requirement to rewire the affected circuits, which can add $8,000 to $25,000 if it’s not pre-set as an allowance.
- Setback constrictions on long, narrow lots. The 4-foot rear and side setback rule for detached units on R1 lots often forces a narrower footprint than the old garage it replaces. A plan drawn without measuring the actual parcel will get rejected, and the redesign costs you another plan fee and six more weeks.
- Waterproofing gaps on flat lots. Los Angeles gets less than 15 inches of rain most years, but when January storms hit, flat lots in Culver City and Venice flood fast. Detached units need proper drainage and slab waterproofing, not just the minimum membrane, or the first real rain soaks the flooring.
Pricing for ADU Builders in Los Angeles, CA
A turnkey detached ADU in Los Angeles runs $180,000 to $420,000. A garage conversion runs $95,000 to $210,000. A junior ADU inside an existing home, the least expensive path to a legal second unit, runs $60,000 to $140,000. Prefab ADU installation, where the unit is built in a factory and set on your slab, runs $160,000 to $320,000 including foundation, permits, and utility hookups.
What moves the number: foundation conditions on your specific parcel, electrical service capacity, setback constraints, and how much of the existing structure can be salvaged. We write the price before work begins, every time, and the written guarantee is delivered on every project before a single nail is driven. Call (213) 698-7116 for a free estimate on your Los Angeles property.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Angeles
Our crews work throughout the Los Angeles metro, and we regularly build ADUs in Lawndale, Culver City, Manhattan Beach, and Venice. If you’re in one of those nearby cities and want the same written-price, written-guarantee approach, call the Los Angeles office and ask for Russ. As a Los Angeles based team, we schedule local builds daily and know the permit offices and inspection rhythms across the basin.
Serving Los Angeles, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Los Angeles area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About ADU Builders in Los Angeles
Yes, in almost every case, a 1920s garage slab in Los Angeles is too thin to meet current seismic anchoring codes, which require a 4-inch reinforced concrete pad with proper doweling. We verify slab thickness with a core sample before quoting, and we include full slab replacement in the written price when it’s needed. Call (213) 698-7116 and we’ll check your garage before you commit to any number.
LADBS requires that any circuits affected by the ADU work meet current Title 24 standards, which usually means replacing the knob-and-tube wiring in the walls we open, not necessarily rewiring the whole house. The cost depends on how many circuits are involved, but we pre-set a wiring allowance in every contract so the number doesn’t move after demolition starts.
The 4-foot rear and side setback requirement on R1 lots often forces a detached ADU to be narrower than the old garage it replaces, especially on lots under 50 feet wide. We measure the actual setbacks before drawing plans, so the design fits the parcel the first time and LADBS approves it without a costly redesign.
Yes, converting a garage to living space requires a moisture barrier, proper drainage, and often a sump or French drain on flat lots in neighborhoods like Culver City and Venice that flood during heavy January rains. We include these waterproofing upgrades in the written price instead of treating them as a surprise add-on.
They often are, especially when the lot is too narrow for a detached unit and the existing single-story framing can support a lightweight prefab system like Mighty Buildings panels. The structural engineering and reinforcement typically add $30,000 to $70,000, but the result is a legal second unit without giving up any yard space. Call (213) 698-7116 for a free estimate on your property, and we’ll give you the real number in writing.
Written by Russ Delmar, Owner at Lodgewick ADU Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles since 2010.
