I just finished one. Converted my garage to a 1bed 1bath in Atwater and the new tenant is signing the lease today.
A lot to type out for the whole process, happy to grab a coffee and go over all of it with you. I think there's a lot of income to be made by doing it in LA.
I did the design work and had a structural engineer draw up those plans. I went a little overboard vaulting the ceilings, adding sqft and some extras but I think the area calls for it and it makes a smaller space feel huge.
Specific to the ADU......
Property is on flat land so no hillside regs.
It's within .5 miles of public transportation so we're able to convert the garage and not have to put in covered parking.
Design was a little tricky since the original structure is non-conforming to the setbacks.
A huge issue people have been running into is changing more than 50% of the structure. The city will call it all new and then everything would have to be within the newer setback regs.
Gas and power are on new meters. Water is subbed. (utilities were the longest process so jump on them early)
@Nick Hedberg If your criteria is 100k spend to earn 2k, then I could give you a call on every ADU qualified dwelling. So you buy the house first then my 100k spend count starts. Is there a $2000 finder's fee?
Following up on an important point you mentioned, I'm getting ready to convert my garage in Sherman Oaks to an ADU. But It's only 18' x 18' with a 8' x 8' storage area added on. That's 388 sq ft. You indicated it would be cost-effective to convert a garage without increasing the sq ft . . . but is 388 sq ft too small?
Maybe there's no hard-and-fast rule, but any thoughts you have would be appreciated.
Really great thread, I'm in San Diego and looking at building a new ADU on open space at my home. The contractors around here are wild, since regular home owners are pulling out $300k to build a second unit they anticipate they can charge investors the same. That's a retail operation and not for me.
I'm interested to see what folks are getting for bids on new construction ADU's in Socal. I'm limited to 1200 sqft, likely would build less. I can rent a 2 bed apt for $1800-2200 depending on features.
Following up on an important point you mentioned, I'm getting ready to convert my garage in Sherman Oaks to an ADU. But It's only 18' x 18' with a 8' x 8' storage area added on. That's 388 sq ft. You indicated it would be cost-effective to convert a garage without increasing the sq ft . . . but is 388 sq ft too small?
Maybe there's no hard-and-fast rule, but any thoughts you have would be appreciated.
We own and rent a 384 SF one bedroom apartment. It has a small kitchen and a 3/4 bath with no dining area, but it works. With more careful design it should be possible to fit a full bath in that amount of space.
The shape is a little funky. Might have to be a studio.
@Sanford Holst I'm not sure if there's a minimum sq ft requirement. LADBS was pretty helpful when I was designing mine. Might be worth a trip. Pouring the extra foundation and vaulting the ceilings was worth it in my opinion but certainly adds to the cost.
The smallest building is 340 with its kitchen, bathroom, living area, and entrance but it's like sardines in a can. I don't recommend it... even a 400sq ft 2 bedroom is too tight. a 388 open space might require engineering.
@Sanford Holst I'm not sure if there's a minimum sq ft requirement. LADBS was pretty helpful when I was designing mine. Might be worth a trip. Pouring the extra foundation and vaulting the ceilings was worth it in my opinion but certainly adds to the cost.
@Tim G. -- A contractor showed me the plans for a 2 bedroom ADU he is building which is only 570 sq ft. Every inch of space was used, so you might want to go larger. But if you do what he did, new construction in Los Angeles is often said to be $200 per sq ft, so that's $114,000 . . . not counting plans and city fees. Substitute San Diego's cost per sq ft and that would be a reasonable minimum cost.
Does ADU always mean additions (seems mostly garage conversion)? I have a 6-bd/4-ba house in southbay, elongated that can easily be split by closing a hallway. All I need to do is to turn a back area space into a kitchen, and I'll have 2 3/2's plus the necessary meter changes as needed. Will this qualify for ADU permit?
@benA that would be duplex and it wouldn't be that simple. A one hour fire retardant would be placed. Own address and electrical meter would be needed.plans, Permits, city fees and inspectors would be involved and a few other details to make happen what you have in mind.
@Ben A an ADU can absolutely be part of the main house! As long as it has a separate entrance, kitchen, bath and living space you're good to go and can definitely go through the permitting process. The most common ADU is actually a basement conversion. Converting part of your house is often much easier than building a new stand-alone structure.
@Sanford Holst I'm not sure if there's a minimum sq ft requirement. LADBS was pretty helpful when I was designing mine. Might be worth a trip. Pouring the extra foundation and vaulting the ceilings was worth it in my opinion but certainly adds to the cost.
What are the costs for an ADU in Los Angeles?
The minimum sq footage requirement for the state is 150 sq ft. Now, you'd have to check if your jurisdiction has passed an ordinance increasing the minimum. To do that you can look at HCD.CA.GOV
Thanks @Caitlin Bigelow. Yes the property already has separate door. When I made the additions more than a decade ago, I made it in such a way that I could perhaps put 2 families in the house someday. Now it looks like that would be legal via ADU permit.
2% rule is quick rule of thumb to see if you will have a nice cash flow; though it does not always reflect the true case especially in high rental areas such as most of CA metropolis areas. It says monthly rental should be about 2% of yourtotal purchase cost. i have Palmdale house bought for 120k (buy + fix), and rented for 1800/mo. That's 1.5% but as you can see with PITI of 660, there' nice cashflow once everything else is considered.
I meant to say high priced areas -- with $500K 3/2 in southbay, you'll likely have a difficult time meeting even a 1% rule. But it doesn't always mean, you won't cash flow. And that's when ADU can be very useful too right? : )
@Tim G. -- A contractor showed me the plans for a 2 bedroom ADU he is building which is only 570 sq ft. Every inch of space was used, so you might want to go larger. But if you do what he did, new construction in Los Angeles is often said to be $200 per sq ft, so that's $114,000 . . . not counting plans and city fees. Substitute San Diego's cost per sq ft and that would be a reasonable minimum cost.
Contractors in my area have homeowners yanking 300k from their homes to build units. So far the best guess on cost is around $200k. It feels like I need to regroup, define more specifically what I want and go back to getting bids. Asking a GC to bid an idea is dumb on my part. It needs to be a spec to build to.
@Crystal Denmon about 4 months from when we started construction.
a and c) sewer and water were tied into the main house line and submetered. underground inspection happened right away
b) gas took the longest - we had to get final inspection and releases before they'd hang the manifold and then the meter - luckily we didn't need to install a larger line from the street
d) they were fast. We did a new meter spot before we started and installed new meter as soon as we were finished and had the release.
e-f) took some reminder phone calls (mostly about utilities talking to LADBS) but happened pretty fast after.
Sorry if you answered any of these earlier, but are you living in the primary dwelling? And did you get reassessed, if so what was the impact to taxes? Lastly, are you still open to a cup of coffee? :)
We are in LA city and are looking to do something similar.
This is exactly what I'm working on right now. I have a SFR in Lakewood that I bought few years back with the goal of building a duplex (5400 lot). I thought this dream will never happen because of the zoning restriction, which I did not research before buying (duh) but thanks to the new ADU ordinance I'm up and running again! @Andy Brohard
@Andy Brohard thank you for all the insight! I will not be building in my garage. I do have a so called "rumpus room" about 400sqft which is permitted already. However, it does not meet the clearance requirement of 5' within property line. So I will have to tear it down and rebuild a new one that meets ordinance requirements. I shall post the entire process here when I do start the project to hopefully shed some light to everyone who is thinking of doing the same project and share the lessons that I will learn along the way as well as obtain feedback and suggestions from others.
This is exactly what I'm working on right now. I have a SFR in Lakewood that I bought few years back with the goal of building a duplex (5400 lot). I thought this dream will never happen because of the zoning restriction, which I did not research before buying (duh) but thanks to the new ADU ordinance I'm up and running again! @Andy Brohard
@Andy Brohard thank you for all the insight! I will not be building in my garage. I do have a so called "rumpus room" about 400sqft which is permitted already. However, it does not meet the clearance requirement of 5' within property line. So I will have to tear it down and rebuild a new one that meets ordinance requirements. I shall post the entire process here when I do start the project to hopefully shed some light to everyone who is thinking of doing the same project and share the lessons that I will learn along the way as well as obtain feedback and suggestions from others.
Existing permitted improvements can be converted to ADUs regardless of current setbacks... Check on that again. It's a state law, so the city has very little room to maneuver.
Hmm.. I literally just went to the city hall right now, for the 10th time. Unfortunately, the planning restated again that I do need to move the unit. It MUST meet the 5ft clearance. Oh well, I thought I had a little hope there. Thanks for the input @Seth Borman :)