Starting Construction on ADU in LA - things to be aware of?

Question

I'm about to start construction of a two story ADU, 800 soft, in my backyard in the city of LA on the east side of the city. Permits are ready to issue and GC is in place. I'm cautiously optimistic. It's an a relatively dense R2 zone, and most of my neighbors are single family or duplexes.

Curious if anyone has recent experiences with Los Angles Dept of Building & Safety and what you've been experiencing - wait times for calling inspections, delays with utilities/DWP?  Also any good pointers or tips on how to manage neighbors etc would be welcome.

Rick Albert · Answer

Every location in LA is different because they are different inspectors. Last I heard they are still short staffed so be prepared to have some delays.

In terms of playing nice with the neighbors, just make sure your GC keeps the area as clean as possible. Neighbors are going to get pissed no matter what. I had my neighbor claim that the bobcat for the sewer line shook her house and caused foundation damage. Be prepared to push back.

Alex Otto · Answer

Hey @Anthony Denaro! Exciting times -- sounds like you've gotten through a lot of the pre-con hurdles.

In terms of LADBS, we haven't been experiencing many delays on our ADU jobs. I would be more concerned about the GC being prepared for the inspections, and then for you and your GC (and designer, if you have one) to be quick with responding to any inspector feedback (either by making changes or by calmly explaining how what you did is actually correct/permitted -- you'd be surprised by the things inspectors ask for that aren't actually required).

For LADWP, are you upgrading your main house meter or adding a second meter? Or are you just installing a subpanel on your ADU? If the former, yes, there can be delays, but if you're on the phone w/ LADWP and diligent, you'll get through it. If the latter, you shouldn't have any issues.

For neighbors, we always hand out a small leaflet explaining what we are doing, what the working hours are, and who to contact (e.g. GC, owner, designer, etc.) if you have a question. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, then I would just follow @Rick Albert's advice. The one thing I would add is to take a bunch of photos before construction starts of your site, the fences around your property line, and even of any neighboring building walls that are around your property. If a neighbor makes any claim, at least you've got evidence of how things were before construction started.

I'd also keep taking photos throughout the construction process so you have a detailed log of what work was done, when it was done, and how it was done. You could make it into a Google Photos folder that you share with the GC -- everyone involved in your project should be happy to have this record, and they could even add photos to it too.

Robert Reynolds · Answer

Set up a payment schedule and have enough at the end of the job to entice them to keep showing up. Also have a penalty for going past due date. Also, come out to my meetup Saturday May 20th, we will actually be discussing ADUs. Hit me up for more info

Anthony Denaro · Answer

Super helpful.  Thanks all!

Starting Construction on ADU in LA - things to be aware of?

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