Detached Backyard ADU in Los Angeles, CA

Hi friends, it's Danny with ADU Resource Center, and today we're in Los Angeles with- Julio ... Julio. Yes. This is your project, and we have Danix Construction, Elmer and Karen, and, uh, Steve Gomez, who's the project manager for Julio from ADU Resource Center. So thank you. We're gonna have an open house today, and you are, what, this close- So close ... to being done, being done? Yes. Yes. All right. I wanna take you back. Now, we're gonna put some shots of the ADU while we're talking. Um, but let's just kinda rewind in the beginning, okay? 'Cause we have some before/afters when this was just a garage. Incredible transformation, right? So how did this whole idea come about? From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to do an ADU project. We just didn't know where to start. And this will be a rental, not for family, right? It'll be a rental. Got it. Yes. Okay. Um, how did you meet this character here? So we saw a sponsored ad through Instagram where it advertised an open house. We're like, "Oh, that's a cool idea. They're gonna show what they do." So we signed up for one. We went up to Glendale, and we visited an ADU project. Nice. And that's where we met Steve. Um, he kind of walked us through what the project would eventually look like- Right ... and how it goes. And we felt very comfortable, and we just proceeded from there. Beautiful. So Steve is the project manager. He basically keeps the lid on the boiling pot, right? Eventually, you'll meet the architect, and how was that experience designing the, the floor plan? Very interesting. Um, we saw it l- in real life time, where it was like, "Oh, how would you like this?" Or, "Do you have any preferences?" So we went up to the, uh, office, and in the moment, pretty much they designed what something we had in mind. Mm-hmm. And from there, we just said thumbs up and ready to go. Now, once the design is done and the engineering is created, it then gets dropped off to the city, which is kind of a boring part because- Mm ... it takes time. Um, how long did it take for the city permit to get approved for you? I mean, those were variables here and there. Um, although even though it was a lengthy process, it didn't seem long, um, I felt because communication was there. So there was never really a dead space. We always had some kind of communication with the team. So even though it was somewhat of a sleepy moment- Yeah ... it didn't feel that way. Good. Now, once we finally get the good news, your RTI, or ready to issue, and here's your permit, here's your plans- Yes ... then Steve, what's the next process before you bring in the contractor? So during the process, once RTI was issued, um, we ended up doing kind of a bid process. And from that bid process- Multiple contractors ... with multiple contractors. And then from there- Our multiple contractors. Yes. And then from there, what ended up happening was Julio then selected who he felt more comfortable with in itself. Right. In this case, Julio kind of, uh, asked me more for my opinion, who would I feel more comfortable with in my background. So this is where I- Right ... kind of, you know, introduced Elmer- Right ... into the game. So with 20 licensed contractors at ADU Resource Center, we have a vetting pool that you could pick from. Now, we don't want them to all parachute into the property and go, "Pick me, pick me." So usually the project manager will handpick a couple of their favorites that I think will gel good with the family. And in this case, you chose Danix Construction. Why? Um, I met with Elmer, um, as when he came onto the property, um, kind of explained his workflow and how things were to proceed. Um, and from there, from the very start, it just felt very comfortable. I, I- Good ... remember him surveying the area and kinda just, you know, giving, a, a lot of head nods and kinda like, you know, this, this is gonna work. A- and he's not bad for a beginner, right? I, I had no idea. All right. So Elmer, um, tell me this. So the dynamic with you and Karen, Karen, you're actually the general contractor, the licensed- I am. And you're the inside w- uh, partner, and you're the outside partner. Right. You control all the... You're the, you control the beehive. Yes. Right? I control the field. I meet with the clients, and that's... I met with Julio here- Right ... and went through what we needed to do. And, um, of- h- he felt comfortable with me. Yeah. And- Right ... that's how we got together. Now, one thing that I s- I think we talked about outside, and I think it's important, this was a detached garage, and it had a stem wall, right? So from appearances, that stem wall usually evidence of footings, but in this case, it turned out there was no footings. So you had to, uh, improvise on the spot. Was that a difficult thing, or was it just another day at the office? It was another day in the office. It was just a wall and then it was a high wall that we had to do it, and it was- Right ... easy to do. Right. And we have a transitional video that Steve just, uh, finished. So if you wanna see the before, during, and after, uh, maybe click on the link below, and then we'll have that for you as well. So Karen, any problems with the city or anything along the process? Did the inspection process- No ... go easy? It was actually a pretty smooth process for this project. Um, the permits, it wasn't too difficult to get. Um, once we got the, you know, the, the permits, we got rolling. And I think you're down to what? Two boxes to check left, and you're done on this one. Yes. How about... H- what was the time duration for the construction, for the complete demo of the old garage to this? About seven months now. Seven months. That's about, that's about the average, right? Yeah. Okay. Now, what's the next order of business? You got somebody gonna be coming in here, and you're gonna s- get supplemental income? Yeah, that's the plan. Um, once we, uh, go through the vetting process of who's gonna be actually renting through here, yeah, get, getting some income going. Beautiful. Okay. We're almost done. Maybe one or two questions. Was there anything that happened along the way, for the people that are watching the video, they're new, like you in the beginning, when they said, "Well, we think we wanna do an ADU, but we're not sure. We don't wanna make mistakes. What if something goes wrong? What if the price goes up?" First off, did you stay within the budget that you were hoping for, or did you go over a little bit? To be quite honest, we did go a little bit over, although not because of ADU Resources or anything of the construction. It was more so things out of the control. You know, whether it be like permit fees, but not too much. Um, overall, we're still very happy with the range of what we stayed within. Mm-hmm. And quite honestly, we were given a heads-up that construction always has some breathing room. Right. It's never gonna be a firm number, and we were definitely okay with that because we just understood how things just work. Okay. Last thing. If you were to give a novice that is at the bottom of Mount Everest looking up, thinking about they're gonna start a project, what advice, now that you're almost done... Believe it or not, now you're almost an expert- Yeah ... because you've go- you've gone through it. What advice would you give for a newbie just starting off that's scared? Well, for our personal experience, what was scary is hiring the wrong people. Um, and before we found ADU Resources, we did have other people come in and kind of give us some quotes that we didn't feel the vibes. Although when we had your team on site, we just felt comfortable. Oh. That there was things that were prepared, presentations, wording, um, and it felt like experience was there. Um, and I think that's what really led us to say yes. Good. Um, because honestly, it is a lot of money for a project like this. So last question. Yeah. If you did it all over again, would you still recommend ADU Resources? Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Thank you for the kind words. Elmer, Karen, thank you. You did a fabulous job. Uh, and if you would like to build your very own ADU, call the number below.