Hi, everybody. It's Danny with ADU Resource Center, and today we're in North Hills with the Renos family, and I just wanna say thank you. Today we are doing our official open house. We have people kind of like you when we, you started out. They're wanting to tip toe and kind of looky, touchy-feely, and that sort of thing. So let's start at the beginning. What was the primary motivation for you guys wanting an ADU to begin with, and whose idea was it? It was originally his when my parents, um... We were trying to find a home for my parents, and f- it turned out we didn't have to do that, so it was in the back of our head that this was just an empty lot and we needed something to have passive income. So instead of putting a pool and not generating income, it's better to have an ADU and we can have a passive income. So you have a big backyard, and it was, it was even bigger then, so you knew you had enough, plenty of room for that. Yeah. So it was either a pool- Mm ... or maybe some mailbox money. Yeah. Uh, something along those lines. So when you finally said, "Okay, I think we, we scratch off the pool. Let's go with the ADU," um, how do you go about finding a company to work with? How did you find us? Well, we started with our realtor. We have a family realtor. Um, and it's us, our, all of our fam- like, literally all of our family have him. And so, you know, we started with him, and so he goes, "Do you have any referrals, do you know, about the ADU?" Because we see all of these things online and, you know, we all, everybody looks up online first and, but you just never know. You need that referral. You need that- Yeah ... personal contact of someone that knows somebody, not just go out there and like, and take that, you know- Sure. Sure ... take that leap of faith. So with him, he referred us to... The funny part is I worked with him back in ni- in the mid-'90s, and he ended up working for you guys. Tony? Tony, yeah. And so, and I looked at him like, "Hey, so we worked together back in, at San Fernando Middle School- Wow. Wow ... in '96. '96 or '97. Wow. No, '96. Yes, in '96. And so next thing you know, then the process started. And so at least then the great part about it is, besides the fact that, you know, we were referred to Tony and ADU Resources, uh, from somebody that we already knew and trusted- Yeah ... the crazy part is I worked with the guy. You know, that's funny because I remember him telling me that he's got a, a project that he's working on for his friends. Mm-hmm. So he's actually considered you guys as friends rather than clients, right? So that's, what a small world. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. It was just a small world. And then from there, you know, and then here we are, uh, a year later. So when you start sort of plotting out the placement in the backyard, what it's gonna look like, what came first, the floor plan concept or the square footage size? 'Cause this is a thing that everybody asks. Mm. What should I focus on? Should I focus on the bedrooms and bathrooms first, and then figure out what size that is? Or should I just start looking at the size that fits and then put a floor plan in there that fits? Well, we originally didn't want the ADU overwhelming the backyard when we look from our family room, so we originally wanted one bedroom, one bath. And eventually when we were looking at, when we were doing more research, the ROI is better with two-two, so that's how we ended up with two-two. So you get a two bedroom, two bath, and the t- square footage is 700 and- 28 ... 728 square feet. You know, you've got plenty of, of backyard left. We'll have- Yeah ... we'll be inserting pictures as we're talking in the background, but you've got plenty of backyard left, so it's not gonna be a big albatross. Mm-hmm. Tell me this, so it's gonna be frontal, for rental application. You've already put up a privacy fence, right, so it segregates your area from the ADU area. Um, and this guy over here, he's not a hitchhiker that we, uh, brought in. He's, uh, Pedro Romo with GABSEC Construction, and you are actually the builder. Yes. Very, very good job. Um, how much longer, buddy, till we have to, uh, certificate of occupancy so they're legal? I think so, I think so another maybe one or two weeks more. A couple weeks, okay. Uh, what's the first order of business? Once you're legal and now you can do whatever, are you gonna leave it vacant for you guys for a while as, and play with it, or are you gonna, uh, rent it out immediately? I wanted to have a weekend for, just to see how it is. I would. If anything's missing for the rent, the traveling, um, renters or professionals that we're targeting. Yeah. So at least we could see what else they would need so we don't miss anything. And something recent has happened. There's been some Southern California fires that have changed the landscape of r- of availability. Um, a- anybody that has an ADU right now, um, they're, I'm sure the phone is gonna be ringing. If you ever list this where they find it available, um, there's a lot of displaced people that are looking for properties and somewhere to live while they're rebuilding their homes in Pacific Palisades and in Altadena. So I don't know if that's on the horizon. I heard it, that somebody was saying that you might even consider the traveling nurse program as well. Yes. Was, uh, the- Well, as of now, you know, you know, unfortunately with the disasters we've had, you know, we have to be open. We have to be fair. This is not like, well, just... Or close our door, you know, just have o- only one-Uh, you know, one direction in terms of who we're, uh, catering our clientele to. Yeah. And so, you know, in light of this, it's like, well, you know, you have to be what... Be fair and be open and- Sure ... and help- Help people ... and help, uh, you know, and help whoever you can. On, on, on a humanitarian note, I applaud you for that because that's good that you're at least considering the options of, um, maybe a displaced family that needs temporary housing. And I don't know that they... How long anybody can stay, 'cause at w- some point, they're gonna wanna get back to their neighborhood and get things going. Um, on a flip of a coin, not to be morbid about it, though, um, the, the, the demand out- outweighs the supply. There are more people displaced. There are more people needing a place to, uh, rent, an ADU, than there are ADUs available. So I guess the maybe moral of this whole thing is if you have it, they will come. And from an ROI standpoint, from a business standpoint, if you're going to be a landlord and you have an ADU, um, there's no bad news because the money will be there, the rent will be there, and this is gonna be like that for the next five years. So lesson learned, if you already had an ADU, you're gonna be in the driver's seat. If you're thinking about doing one, well, here's the reason why you should have one. Because of the potential, the income potential, which is supplemental income for you, right? Can I add, um, it's not just even the rental income or investment opportunities. Uh, you... What, uh, ADU Resources, uh, introduced us to Meredith, uh, in terms of financial planning. And even worst-case scenario, because it's so expensive in California, Los Angeles area, building is cheaper, and just by building alone in our backyard, we just saw that the val- uh, your, just your own property value increases. Right. And so, you know, of course you would like income, but in the end of the day, when you, you know, a hundred, 2- 150 to 200% increase in value of your home because of, of added square footage to your home, it changes- You added 700, 700-plus square feet. You added two more bedrooms, two more bathrooms to your property profile. So that means that the earning trajectory got steeper. You're gonna earn faster. But then you also have the mailbox income stream of mailbox money, right, for the rental income. So there's really no bad news. No. And that was, Cheryl mentioned right before we found this guy, Cheryl, "What, what's... Are you gonna... What are you gonna do when it... This all goes, blows up in our face and no one rents it?" I'm like, "Well, look at what Meredith said. We're always gonna have this property. Our property value is gonna get bigger by- ... plus 700 square feet, 7-plus hundred square feet, two more bathrooms, two more bedrooms." Yeah. It's still a win. Yeah. The- Whether it's, you know, you know, is it gonna be all, you know, stressful? Yes. But that's not the- I don't know of anybody that's... Now, we've... We're over 500 ADUs now at ADU Resource Center, right? So over 500 projects. I don't have one client that has a vacancy. Not one. Oh. Oh, that's good then. So, I think what, what happens is, is that people... Remember in the old days when we were young, there was housing tracks on the outskirts of town. So wherever the outskirts of town is, there's a hundred houses being built, and we could see construction. There's no outskirts of town anywhere. They all bleed into each other now. So now, if you work in Los Angeles, for example, you may have to buy a home in outskirts of Rancho Cucamonga or Moreno Valley, and having a one and a half hour commute one way, then one and a half hour the home, nobody wants to do that. So the ADUs are in the metro area, right where we work, right where we wanna live, and minimize, uh, the commuting. And so I think this is a no-brainer, is they call it an urban solution because it's right where we all live and work, you know? Yes. So now tell me about this design, 'cause you guys, we're gonna be inserting a lot of pictures of the kitchen. I love the ceiling. I love all the things. So, um, who was the primary quarterback on the look of this project? Yeah? Well, that's good that you guys give e- equal, uh, credit. I love this nice big countertop where there's seating over here. You know, one of the things that ADUs offer is, um, sensible dining without having a dining room table, you know, and this is it. Because now you have an extension of your countertop. You've got seating for dining, and this is big. This is a- Yeah ... big eating area, right? So this is- Yeah. Cheryl was complaining she couldn't reach across the breakfast- I was, like, trying to clean it. I'm like, "I can't reach anymore." That's not a, that's not a bad thing at all. Yeah. Uh, I love all the cabinets. So, uh, Pedro, tell us a little bit about these cab... What's the name of it again? What did you call it? Uh, white oak. White oak. It's a European look. Um, and you know, more and more people are asking about black window frame- framing. They're asking about European-style cabinets. In the bathroom, you've got floating style shelves. I love that, right? And all that tile and so forth. Very, very clean. Fantastic. Uh, does the fireplace actually work? Does it heat? It does. Yes. It's a beautiful setup. Nice, nice. So okay, so the design experience, designing it, was it scary or was it fun? It was fun. You didn't get scared? The design, no. Okay. Um, well, 'cause I love watching HGTV. Yeah. So that's... Me and my sister actually were into, like, staging our house, so that was, for me, the fun part of it. The plans are not a f- they don't go through the city fast. Oh, the plans? They're slow. They're slow, right? They're slow. And here's, here's the reason. There was 80,000 ADUs built, uh, since 2020 when, uh, the legislation changed. 80,000, right? And almost, I think they said 60% of those were done in the last two years alone. So all the cities are bottleneck because it's such a great idea. Every city in California's doing it. Um-So it's, I'm not surprised that it took a long time. When you finally get out of planning and permitting, and then you start working on the construction, was the transition smooth, or was it awkward? It was very smooth. It was smooth, but we had a failure to launch. It was like we had the plans, we had, uh... Yeah, we had, we had the plans, and we were kinda waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. And then, you know, and then we ju- we just took the, uh... Then we, we had a failure to launch for a few months, and then next, you know, "Let's just do this." So- We were scared ... our model is anybody that... We have 10 architects on staff at ADU Resource Center, and so when you're done with that, what we offer as a courtesy is we have, we've, as... In 2020, we knew we were gonna be busy, so we needed to recruit our internal contracting team. So we vetted 80 contracting teams, and of those 80 teams, we actually rejected 60. That's how many bad contractors there are. The 20 that we have are for you. They're a courtesy so that you can kind of pick and choose. We vet them on, uh, timeline management, quality of workmanship, pricing, customer satisfaction, all those things. And so we feel, ADU Resource Center, we have the best of the best pool for you guys to help yourselves. Mm-hmm. And how did that selection process... I think we started off with maybe five contractors for you to kind of look at- Yes ... right? And audition. Was that helpful? It was very helpful. Yeah, it made me feel better that they're vetted. Yeah. So it's not just any random. Right. But we did interview outside, um, other contractor just to see, do, you know, do our own homework. Right. Yeah. But we feel more comfortable going with you, because it's, they're vetted. And I do remember we had to negotiate on price to finally get- Yeah ... get the, the job, and that's okay, 'cause that's what it's all about, right? It is. So we don't wanna lose any customer over price. Mm-hmm. So sometimes Steve had to whisper in my ear, and I had to go, "Hey, you f- you better sharpen the pencil. Do this, this..." Anyway, that's our job. That's our job is to help facilitate it. So now you made the selection on Gapsac Construction. So there's no happy... I don't think there's a fast journey on construction. Y- you can never get done fast enough, right? No. So, so let's talk about something different. You're almost at the end of the journey. Mm-hmm. Are you happy with the results of the construction? Yes. Yes. Yeah? Yes. I wanna move here myself. You know, the thing is they say that construction is kind of like labor pains. Mm-hmm. I wouldn't know. You would know. Yes. But it's like having a baby. Nobody likes the labor. Once the baby's here, we kind of go, "Okay, I can, I can forget all the bumps in the road," all that other stuff. So hopefully it's, it feels a little bit like that, that now that it's almost done and there's light at the tunnel, now you can forget about all the delays this guy did. Because this, it's never gonna be fast enough. It just isn't. Yes. Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Going back to your, you know, question about, or m- mentioning of how the ADU Resources, uh, you know, provided, um, you know, you know, vetted, your vetted contractors, uh, one thing that was, you know, like to share and say thank you was the, all those opportunities to go to all the ADUs. Then you see all your contractors' works. Yeah. And like, "Oh, this is this person. Hmm. Make a note. Oh, this one." Tony would send us, or you were, or you were there, too. And Chris, we met Chris sometimes, 'cause Tony couldn't make it. And so, you know, we were like, "Oh, this is the name of this contractor." And so when ADU Resources gave us, or you gave us the, you know, the names a- of the contractors and their bids, at least we knew what the work was. And so- Yeah, you could put the work together with the... So you have a name, you have a, a, a- Yeah ... a little bit of an audition. And I think you guys came to a couple in person, too, so you got to see projects, not just videos, but actual ADUs like this, which is what we're doing today. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for allowing us to continue that for the next generation of people to come, because it's important. I mean, I think it, it was helpful for you, right? Yeah. Definitely. Very helpful. Yeah. Very helpful, because you could, you know- Feel and touch ... touch and feel. Yeah. When we go- And see quality of work. Well, this is gonna be a good one, 'cause I think the batch of people coming today are gonna be going, "Wow, is mine gonna look like this?" I go, "I don't know. This is pretty, th- this is pretty ni- pretty lit." Well, and, and it, it's all, it's based off choices, right? We all have good, we have a lot of choices in front of us, but sometimes you just have to- But here's the thing. He, he's the director. You guys are the talent. You guys... So without your inspiration, he, contractors, they, they, they can only take it so far. This is really a, a, a group effort, so you guys get a lot of credit for that as well. Um, tell me this, and then I'm gonna ask you a question. The people that are watching the video are probably just thinking about starting. They're just starting, like you guys were. Yes. They're scared. "Who am I to build an ADU? I know nothing about architecture. I don't know how to design. I don't know nothing about construction. I'm gonna mess this up." Mm-hmm. Right? So they're afraid of making mistakes, and I'm sure you guys were, too. Um, was it that big of a deal when you actually got started? Was there ways to prevent making mistakes? Well, in my opinion, it wasn't, because we like that ADU Resources is a one-stop shop. So for us, and then knowing Tony as well, we trusted the process. So I think that's the reason why we would recommend ADU Resources to anyone. Th- th- our model is a white glove concierge experience, right? Mm-hmm. So that you could be a, an experienced builder, house flipper, or whatever, or you could be a beginner and say, "Look, I don't know the first thing about it." It's okay. We'll w- we'll go in first gear. We'll work our way up to the second, third, and fourth, and fifth gear, and we'll gain speed along the way. But at some pointUm, you guys have the first filter. Everything that we, everything that the design team does or the contractors do, you're checking the box, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. So there's no way to make mistakes, because they're gonna show you what we're gonna do. And if you say, "Well, I kind of would rather zig instead of zag," it's you guys driving, you're, you're navigating. It's just we're doing the heavy lifting. I agree. And, uh, thank you for that. But our road was not straight. It was... It took a lot of turns. Like, for e- like Cheryl mentioned, we started, we only wanted 500 square feet. Then we were like, "Oh, we only wanted one bedroom, one bath." Then it changed. And then it changed- Yeah ... to two bedroom, one bath. Then it went to two bedroom, two bath. And then it went a little bigger. It went... And so, you know, it was a process. Here's the thing. We call it evolving, not changing, right? So what happens is in the beginning, we're all... I, I mean, anytime we're, we're gonna be doing something expensive, we're all sticker shocked a little bit, so we're all managing and trying to create a threshold and a budget to stay under. But at some point, logic takes over and you say, "Well, look, if we're gonna do this, I still want what I want, and is this enough?" And sometimes it is, a lot of times it's not. Mm. We won't go over budget, but it's okay for you to go over budget and expand or evolve or grow your project like you did. Yes. And I don't think you're disappointed that it went from 500 to 730 square feet, am I? No, I think- It wa- yeah. And there's... Of course, there's always a large initial sum, but after that, it's actually not as much as you think it would be. It's, it's not all of a sudden you go from 500 to even 600, it's twice the price. No, it's not. Right, right. You know, it's... So it's not as over- the pricing after you go a little, uh, bigger isn't as overwhelming. And, um, hmm, I believe ADU Resources help us see that. Uh, Tony and you also help us understand that. I think something that's worth mentioning to anybody watching as well, that no matter what you spend on the ADU, doesn't matter, if we were to buy this house on this street- Mm-hmm ... I think it'll cost three times more than what you spent to built it. Because if we took this house and just plopped it across the street- Mm-hmm ... and say, "I want to buy that two-bedroom, two-bath house across the street," I guarantee you, in this neighborhood, which is a nice neighborhood, it would cost three times to buy it than it did to build it. So that's a, that's a comforting thought, that once it's done, it's gonna be worth quite a bit more after it's built than what it, what it took to build it, right? Yes. Okay, last question for you. Actually, second last question. Um, knowing what you did, believe it or not, now you are at the end of the journey, so you're gonna graduate and get your diploma in ADU. What advice do you give to newbies starting out that you learned along the way that might be helpful for them? For, for me or for- Both. Both of you. Either. I would say, um, for me, um, don't get stuck on analysis paralysis. This is- Overthinking ... overthinking. Um, it's a great investment. I don't see any cons in building an ADU. Just pros. Just for me, it's all pros. Yeah. Everything makes sense. And- Did you put your heart into the design, too? Yes. Because I, we always encourage people, don't design defensively, trying to save money. Mm. Build your love. Put love into it first, and we'll find a way to manage the budget down. We'll find a... But I don't want you to be underwhelmed. I want you to e- exceed your expectations, and hopefully that we did. Yes. You know? Right. How about you, Steve? Um, two parts. Uh, first part was, um, the process. You know, just trust the process. It's, um, it's not always easy. Uh, you gotta be a little patient. But the process is, you know, starting off with ADU Resources, checking out their, you know, their pro- the, their samples and their open houses, meet with their sales reps. You know, have that comfort, feel comfortable with them, and then go through the, you know, the design process. You know, and then, like you said, evolve. Evolve and evolve. And then we would, then it changed to engineering, and then we wait for the city to approve and all that, and then, then that's the, that, you know, that's the fun part and all that. But then- I think that's the boring part. I think the construction- No ... is the fun part, 'cause you can see daily progress at least. I don't know, to me- ... it wa- it was just... No, because you see what it will end up. But just how it starts from one box to another box, and bigger and bigger. And so it was just, you know... And then when we decided, okay, it's time, early 2023, it's time. Let's find, l- let's get this started. And then it became another process, but it was still one big, giant process. Right, right. You know? But in the end, Sh- uh, Cheryl mentioned, like, let's trust it. Let's just trust it. You know, it's, could be frustrating sometimes, and e- everything is. But if we trust the process, you know- Yeah ... where would we be? It's- And here we are right now. You know, it's not, it's not a, a perfect science. It's science, but it's not a perfect science, because there's human elements involved, right? And so when we have the human factor, sometimes there's delays, there's disappointments, and so forth. It's okay to zigzag a little bit, providing you're staying on navigational beacon, right? As long as you're h- going towards the target. Um, so thank you for that. I got one last question for you. But I do have a second part of that. Yes. Mm-hmm. And this is actually the bigger one of the two, 'cause it has to do with me. It's, you know, learning to let go and, you know- Control ... not to have the control, because, you know, we want... A lot of us, not everyone, you know, some, um, like Cheryl, likes to go with the flow, but some people like things planned, structured in a way, and it's like it's gotta...If, if you say, or it should happen. And so one thing I learned throughout, one of the big things I learned is just, you know, let go. Let go. And that's hard. Let go, not completely- Yeah ... but let go a little more and a little more, and so, and just, and, and going back to number one, so that you do trust the process. Steve, that's easier said than done, and I applaud you for, for saying that, because, um, it's almost impossible to do, because we care so much. Mm. So when you care, you can't let go. You can't let go completely, so for you to be able to do it partially and allow the process, you know, good for you- Yeah ... because that, that's, that's showing a lot of trust. Mm-hmm. Because like you, I'm very detailed and organized and, and things disappoint me if they don't go the right way. And so we can let that ruin our day, and it's tough. After, after, you know, you're going, "Hey, these guys haven't been here for a couple of days." Well, what they, what they may not know is that they're waiting on building materials and an inspector to show up first before they can proceed. But as consumers, we're gonna go, "Where the heck are these guys?" You know, we're, we're burning, burning time. We're burning the candle, you know, where is this thing going on? So it can mess with you. Yes. So I appreciate you saying that. Um, Mr. Pedro, everybody's gonna be looking at this video, and then it goes, "I don't think I can afford this." So with regard to finishes, um, I would say that this is middle of the road, maybe even partially a little bit higher scale. Um, what did you do to help them pick out the finishes for this? Did they influence you, or did you influence them? Uh, they, uh, go- uh, they do really good board to pick out the stuff from the store for the floors. At, uh... So they put like a carpet, right? Mm-hmm. So, and they asked me to the opinion, which one did you like to look better? Yeah. So they pick up three or four, choice the color, so they like themselves. And that's helpful- Yeah ... if they participate. Yes. Otherwise, you gotta g- you know, if, if, if the clients are, are willing to help, so for example, when you guys go either to Lowe's, Home Depot, or Floor & Decor, you're gonna bring back samples, right? My wife does the same thing. It makes it a lot easier for him, because he can go, "Ah, wait a second, I see something here," right? It can either confirm or maybe, maybe change the direction of where you're going, but at least thank you for at least participating. It makes it a lot easier for him. Yeah. Yeah. And they have a really good idea. They pick up really nice combination to the- They got good style, huh? You can tell ... tile, the floor, the kitchen, countertop. They pick up the color so, this it. They- Well, it turned out great, and in the background of the video, there'll be, uh, a little video, uh, and picture montage going on. Um, and I just wanna say thank you once again for allowing us to come in and do an open house. The people that are waiting outside to come in already, they, I'm sure they're gonna be delighted. Maybe one last question. If you did it all over again, would you recommend ADU Resource Center for your project? Yes, sir. Yeah. 100%. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl. Or 200%. Thank you, Cheryl. Pedro- Yes ... wonderful job. We are here in North Hills today with the Renos family, and if you'd like to build your own ADU, call the number below.