Mid-Century Modern ADU in Sierra Madre, CA

Hi, friends. It's Danny Johnson with ADU Resource Center, and today, we are in Sierra Madre with the Thomas family. Thank you for allowing us to come in, and we're gonna do an open house today. You guys are moving out of there, and you're coming in here, and your daughter's gonna move in there, correct? Right. Okay. Right. How much longer? It looks like you're getting pretty close. How much longer do you gotta wait before you can move in? Well, we hope it's just a matter of a week or two. I hope so, too. Yeah. I hope so, too. Um, today's a busy day for you, because you're gonna be talking to victims of the fire. Right. And so I know you've got things to do, so let, let's just kinda dive right in. When you started the ADU idea, it starts with an idea. Whose idea was it? Well... Did you know it was gonna be for you guys? Is that what... Was that the original thing, or did it evolve into that? No, our, our daughter, three, four years ago, talked to us and said, "You know, you guys are getting older, and, uh, we, we think that, uh, you're gonna need some help." So she suggested to me. My wife says, "You know, anything my daughter wants, I, she gets." Yeah. So I thought, "Okay, all right." She wanted your house. Yeah, probably. Yeah. But you know, what's funny, that that's how a lot of ADUs start. A lot of people say, "Hey, you know, when my parents start getting up there in age, I don't wanna put them in a home, especially if, you know, if one of them isn't here anymore." So having three generations living on the same property is, because of ADU, do you know that that's the first time in 85 years that three generations get to live on the same property again? So we feel pretty good about that. Yeah. Pretty nice. Well, our grandson will be with us, so. Nice, nice. Yeah, you get to an age you just can't do stairs anymore, and that's- You think? That's- You think? Yeah. So we know that since it's for you, is that why it's 1,000 square feet? Yes. We wanted... Well, that house is 1,700 square feet, so we wanted something smaller, but not so small that we're cramped. Yeah, yeah. How about the design team? You said you found ADU Resource Center on- online. Um, when you met Michael Koromokos- Yeah ... your, your project manager, how did th- how did that introduction and the design part of it go for you guys? Well, Michael's very easy to get to know and talk to, and so h- he provided the information, and from there, we agreed and went down to design it, and that was, that was pretty easy. Yeah. Kind of fun. Did you, did you look at some floor plan templates for inspiration, or did you just get a, go from scratch and just draw the thing out from, uh, from the beginning? No, I, I, we looked at some floor plans. We kinda decided that we wanted, uh, more space. So our yard's, our property's, like, 52, uh, feet wide, but in our, we didn't want it straight across. We wanted a little bit of a, a better design. So, uh, Michael and his team, when we went down to Glendale, we just worked on different things, and this is what we ended up with, and we like this one. Nice. Yeah. The- And he, he came here, actually. Well, we, you know, interviewed with him, but he actually walked the yard, too, and presented ideas like, "Well, how about if you just don't make it all square? Do this." And so he had a lot of good ideas. Well, you have one of the more interesting designs. I'm very, very excited to look at it. But I have a question. Okay. There's a mystery room back there, and I don't know what it is. So it's, I know it's two bedrooms, two baths, but there's another room, and I know everybody's gonna ask me, "What's that room for?" So what is it? Now, what, are you talking about the other bedroom? It, it looks like it's a big, giant walk-in closet or something. Is, is that what that is? She had to have- I think that's the biggest walk-in closet. It's so big, I thought it was another room. Yeah. I go, "Good lord, this is huge." She had to have a closet that she liked, and she wanted a bigger one. You think? Yeah. That's, that's massive. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah, and you're not the first one. Is, people have come and looked at it, they say, "What is that room? Is that, like, a little spare bedroom or something?" It's, it's the biggest closet I've ever seen. It's almost its own room. Yeah. That's how big it is. Yeah. So f- fabulous. Maybe, that's an idea, though. Fabulous. Maybe it could be his room. Good. I could be, it could be two offices. That's how big it is. That's wonderful. So how about this, when the transition went from design, when you finally get through planning, and we know planning took a long time, because it just does, when you finally get to the construction, was that transition smooth one, pleasant? Uh, th- it, it came pretty quick. Yeah. You know, the, the planning process took a long time, and, uh, being here in the small city of Sierra Madre, you know everybody, so I kept going in the office and, uh, talking to them. And, uh, once we started the construction, that was quick. Yeah. Yeah, we, we, uh, w- I don't, didn't have any issues with, with, uh, the construction folks at all. The neat thing about the construction versus planning is we get to see daily progress. So unlike planning- Yeah ... you just, how much longer, how much longer, right? But on the construction, every time they leave, you go, "All right, let's go snoop around. Let's go see what they did today," right? Oh, we did that. So we get to see ev- progress every day, and that's kinda fun, I think. So how long do you think the construction itself took for this project? Uh, we started April 8th. April. Yeah. So that's not so bad. Yeah. Six, seven months, right? Uh, six, seven months, and then when we got to the seventh month, uh, there were some delays. And we know that there were delays, the, the city hall. It, it w- really, uh, it went fairly smooth. I, I can't, I can't say that I'm disappointed. Nice. Yeah. Now, big question, everybody's scared of the budget when they first start, because we can scare ourselves. 'Cause when you're building it, you go, "Oh, my God, how much is this gonna cost?" But as you go along, we start saying, "Well, we kind of want this, we kind of want that." So you can give yourself permission to s- to go, to up the budget. Did you up the budget a little bit as you went along? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But- 'Cause we wanted certain things that- But did you get what you want? That's the most important thing. Are you pleased with the outcome? I, yeah, I, I'm pleased. I'm just r- I'm just ready to move in. I know, I know. One last question. If you did it all, if you had one piece of advice for the people that are watching, a lot of people watching, uh, were like you were a year ago. They think they wanna do it, they think they got the room, but they don't wanna mess it up. What advice would you give for the beginners now that you're an expert, since you've a- actually got one built? What advice do you have for people that are thinking they wanna do it so that they can have the confidence to get started? Um, to go for it. They won't regret it. Yeah? You know, and it's- No regrets? No. Your company provides so much help, too, in, in all aspects. I, I wish I would've paid more attention to the financial part- Yeah ... that y- your company provides. Aw. So. Thank you, thank you. Uh, Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Thomas, last question. If you did it all over again, would you still go through ADU Resource Center? Uh, I would. Yeah, I, I li- you know, I like you guys. You guys are, you guys are good and, and I'll tell you, the, Vache and, and Shant, uh, just, I could call them. They would answer all my questions. Those are the contractors. Yeah. Those are the contractors, yeah, and th- and those are the ones that I think you guys had recomme- You, you gave me several recommendations. We have 20 contracting teams that are all licensed, and we vetted through 80 to get those 20. Yeah. We had to actually reject 60 contracting teams. Yeah. That's how ba- many bad contractors. But the ones that we have, they're the best of the best, and if you go through our design process, all 20 are your disposal. But Vache and Shant are, uh, with, with, uh, CA Construction, they're one of the best, and they do a lot of projects for us, so I'm glad they... And I can tell by the looks that they did a wonderful job. And, and they, they, any question that I asked them, they, they were able to answer. If I didn't like something a, a certain way, it was taken care of. So, uh- And that's the way it should be. Yeah. Yeah. And so I, I don't have any... Do you have anything to want to say about them? You, you said it all. All right. Yeah. Yeah, they're good. They're good. Well, we're in Sierra Madre, and we are with the Thomas family. If you'd like to build your own ADU, call the number below.