Modern ADU in South Pasadena

Hi friends, it's Danny with ADU Resource Center, and today we're in Pasadena with Kedar and Michael Koromilas from ADU Resource Center. And we want to talk about 1,025 foot, square foot, two bedroom, two bath. So Kedar, thank you again. We're doing an open house today. Thanks for inviting us in and letting our customers see. Um, let's rewind. Go all the way back to the beginning. I think you and I spoke off-camera that this was initially gonna be for your folks, your parents, right? That's correct. Uh, both my parents are in their early 80s, and, you know, we want them to come be with us, but we also wanted them to have their own space, right? They're- Independent ... they're independent. Uh, they want to maintain their independence, uh, but at the same time close, right? Right, right. So we were thinking about, you know, our backyard. We realized, listen, we've got a lot of space. There's an opportunity to build, uh, them a place here, taking down, converting- Were you thinking 1,000 square foot initially, or did it grow? Y- you know, it grew. Yeah. At first we were like, you know, let's convert the garage, and then we realized the garage was only 300 square feet- Yeah ... and we're like, that's kind of cruel. Right. So then we're like, let's look at something bigger. And when we went through the designs, you know, trying to get two bedrooms where my parents could be in one and then the other could be a study or a TV room. Sure, yeah. You, you just get tinier, and every room gets tiny, right? And we didn't want that to happen as well. Right, right. So as we went through the design with your team, um, the big one bedroom turned into sizeable two bedrooms, uh, a good kitchen- Not a bad thing, right? Yeah ... not a bad thing at all. And we also, you know, when we were thinking about it, we've seen ADUs that are smaller that are great, um, but they're more compact and they're meant for a different type of living. Yeah, yeah. You know, for us it was, you know, getting our parents a place where they felt comfortable, right? And 1,000 square foot, you know, gives you that space. So we're gonna be inserting pictures of the ADU and maybe the main house. So the main house was built in... 1913. 1913. So Michael, so question. So how do, how does one match up a brand new ADU to go sitting side by side with a 100-plus-year-old house? Because we did it, but I'm sure in the beginning, I mean, that, that's, that's unbelievable that we can match them up this close. Yeah. It was a bit of a material selection challenge. We had to go and find the materials that would look as close as we could find- Like the shingles on the outside ... to what was made back 100 years ago. Um, you know, the, that's not at Home Depot. Right, right, right. So it took, it took some, uh, it took a lot of design work, making sure we were picking out these materials, and this particular project was a, a, it's a historic home. Um, we had to go through and apply with the historic district of South Pasadena too, and make sure that that all passed. Um, we needed to make sure that those materials were matching the character of the primary dwelling and of the neighborhood. Right. Well, it's amazing, 'cause the, the, the siding on the main house is exactly how it is on the ADU, even down to the river rock- Mm-hmm ... facade foundation out front. I mean, it just looks, it looks... H- how do you build a brand new ADU that looks like it matches a 110-year-old house? It's, it's incredible. Exactly. It looks great. But on the inside, I can tell you it's not 110 years old. So, um, I love all the cladding. I love the color. That's one of the neat things about ADUs, is we can have fun with color now. Quartz countertops is just lovely, and all the, the, the fixtures in the bathrooms, everything is just fantastic. Uh, tell me this, did you enjoy the, the design process? Yeah. I mean, listen, that's where it gets fun, right? You get to make a home. It's supposed to be. And you're picking it yourself. It's custom, right? Right. As opposed to when you buy a home or you're renting a home, uh, everything's the way that the previous owners or the previous, uh, folks had it. So this was starting from scratch, and it's, it's a, you know, s- somewhat freeing, but also, uh, a little scary when you're, like, picking every single piece. Well, here's the thing. When you buy a, when you buy your main house, those decisions were made by somebody, right? Yep. But when you're designing an ADU, I don't think people realize this is not a Home Depot shed. It's a custom home, and all the decisions that were made in building that main house for you, you now get to do with your ADU. Exactly. And it's supposed to be fun. Not everybody has fun. Some pe- people are a little anxious. They don't want to make mistakes. So did you make any mistakes along the way that you regret? I, I mean, listen, we definitely... You know, when you think of the colors, when you think of the scheme, or you think of where you're gonna place different items and cabinetry, y- you know, when you're going through the design process, everything seems fine, right? It looks fine on paper. Yeah. Then when you start seeing physically, you're like, "God, I wish I would've changed that." But listen, working with, uh, Sean and team, Vache's team, who did the construction for us, what was beautiful is if we go through something, we're like, "Hey, this, you know, I wish we would've done this," the response was, "We'll, we'll, we'll just change it. No big deal." Yeah. Right? Right. And it was great. I mean, I wouldn't recommend changing colors that often, but if we missed the wall- No ... they would make the change right away. And, and you got something special with Vache and his team too, where his team came with an interior designer that also- Yes ... helped with creating renderings and showing you what the different colors would look like in the space. That was big, Michael, because what happened is he did the first designs based on what we asked him to do- Mm-hmm ... and what the designs were. When we got that back, we're like, "Oh, our ideas were bad." Some, some of this isn't gonna work, right? For example, we were gonna put tiles in the kitchen area, and when you see it rendered, you're like, that just doesn't match well, right? Yeah. So we went with the, with the wood everywhere. Uh, so things like that you don't understand when you're doing that initial design. Everything looks great. When you see it rendered and you can physically see, hey, what's this color versus that color, it really helps. Right? Especially for folks who, I'm not a professional designer. Um, neither is my wife. We have tastes that are, you know, our own, but you don't know until you've actually gone- I see ... through the process. Right. Right? So- Right ... uh, you think something's good, and then you see it, and then you're like, "I'd like to make a couple of changes." But generally speaking, it was a good combination with Vache's team on picking things, and frankly, they've done this a f- you know, a few hundred times, right? Yep. So they could clearly tell us, "Hey, I get what you're trying to do." "Might I suggest something else?" Nice. Right? Diplomatically. I, I really- Very diplomatically ... love how, how it came out, uh, how you have contrasting colors in here. A lot of people are a little bit scared to use dark colors. They think, "Oh, dark color, it's gonna shrink down my space." Does the space look small because you used dark? Not even close. Not e- No. It looks fabulous ... not, no, no. So what dark colors really do, and it helps, is create layers of contrast. It makes the room actually look bigger, 'cause you can see a difference between the different- Sure ... materials. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It, it pops. I love it. The handoff from going from design, when the designs are finally done, and then you go to the contracting phase, was that a smooth transition for you? Yeah, that was fairly smooth. I mean, listen, it took us a while, obviously, to get the permitting and all of that done, and y- you get a little frustrated with the process, right? And then, but when you get to the contracting, um, it wasn't stressful. It was smooth, but you guys brought in a few different options for us, and, uh, we got a chance to interview, and everyone was great. But, you know, when you see projects, there are things that you see with some folks where it's like, uh... My wife's big into the finishings, right, and the detail. Uh, and you could see with some, there's like, "Oh, man, I wish... You know, how come they didn't catch this?" Right? Right. Right. And when, when we saw Vache's work, we were like, "Hey, they thought of everything. Everything looks smooth." So when we went into the contracting phase, we were expecting what we see now, but I gotta tell you, that first day of demolition, you know- Scary ... it's like, "Oh, my God, I just- Yeah ... took down a perfectly- Right ... good garage- ... that, uh, was functional and doing what it was supposed to do- Yeah ... and looked nice on the inside. It had been- Yeah ... finished up. Uh, and now there's just this, you know, it's, it's dirty and rocky and- The neat thing about the construction, though, is there's daily progress. We get th- unlike planning, where we're just sort of waiting on the city to say yes or no, um, with construction, uh, every time the contractors leave for the day, you can come outside and snoop around, say, "Oh, let's see what they did- Yeah ... today," right? So we get to see daily feedback. That's kinda positive. Tell me this. Um, now that you are almost done, you're, I think- Close ... you're, I think your final inspection is, uh, imminent. It's very, very close. So you are now officially granted an expert in ADU, since you finished yours. Mm-hmm. What advice can we give people that are watching a video? Because a lot of them, like you in the beginning, you know, they think they want an ADU. They're pretty sure they want an ADU. They don't know h- first thing about an ADU. Neither did you. They don't know anything about architecture or construction. Um, what advice do you have for them? Because they don't wanna make a mistake, right? Right. So what do you, what do you recommend? Well, one, I would recommend checking out other ADUs, because there are a lot of different designs. We have an L shape. We've seen rectangles. We've seen squares. We've seen two-story ADUs. So having a sense of what's out there makes it less daunting, because then you know what the options are, right? Did you come to some of our open houses prior to this? You know, I don't... I think we came to one or two, but where we really saw, um, we just going to our friends' places, right? There are a lot of folks who are doing ADUs today, so we went to a number of them, saw, you know, asked them what were their challenges, what would they have done differently. Mm. Um, a- so there's nothing that beats the experience of people who've gone through it before. Um, but then touring, right? Like, seeing what options are out there, because- Right ... again, f- asking you guys or asking Vache and team, you guys have done this a few hundred times, and you can visualize what's happening. We can't, because we're, you know, we, we live in our own space. So going and seeing what's out there, going to, like, not only to other houses, but then going to the Home Depots, going to the tile manufacturers, going to, you know, other places- Right ... and you see showrooms. It gives you an idea of what's the possible. Well, like, like today, we're doing an open house with your project, and people that are doing a small project, they're coming to look at your 1,000 square foot, um, because even if it's not exactly what they're looking for, there's, there's something to learn about everybody's project. We don't necessarily have to like or dislike. We just have to learn. So like you said, the more exposure you get to it, you know, you're gonna start forming the opinion of what I think mine might look like, right? Right. So that's progress. Exactly. Yeah. And not everybody has an open house every single day, huh? We have 'em pretty big, often. W- we do. We do. Yeah. Yeah. Um, uh, that's a difficult ask, but we also have a collection of videos. You got to s- go through a, a library- Yes ... of videos- Yeah ... to see a lot of past projects that, you know, people are already occupying. But, um- Yeah ... man, it is nice to be able to come and visit open houses. That's a, that's something really nice. Yeah. You have to see it. I mean, it's, there's so... I mean, the daunting part if you don't do this every day is there are, there's unlimited number of color choices for walls. There's an unlimited choice of quartz or countertops in different colors and shades, uh, flooring, and it's kinda like anything. When you have too many options, you get paralyzed- Right ... and you don't know how to make any decisions. But when you see what other people have done, there are things that you like, and there are things that if it was your place, you would do differently. And then you get a chance to combine different aspects from different homes, right, that kinda fit your vision, and you can evolve yours. Uh, so there's nothing, there's no replacement for that. Right. Yeah. On your budget, this is the thing that in the beginning, I think we're all somewhat sticker shock, no matter what we're b- Mm ... if we're buying a new car, we're buying a new house, we're buying, building an ADU. Um, the numbers are scary- Yes ... in, in the beginning. But at some point, once you get underway with your pattern of creating, um, it becomes, I wouldn't call it secondary, but at some point you make the decision, "I want what I want." And if it fits within my threshold that I created, great. If I have to go over, I can give myself permission to go over it, and we usually do- Right ... because it's something that we want. So when it's all said and done, I'm sure you went a little over budget when you first started off, but the end result, look at it. I mean, are you thrilled? Yeah, yeah. Listen, this is great, and obviously you're trying to aim towards a number, which is what we did. Uh, but what we also saw was, you know, to your point, there are certain finishes we wanted that were different than what was in the proposal, but for the incremental cost, right? You're gonna do this one time, right? Yeah. So if I want this faucet versus, you know, the slightly less expensive one, you know, the incremental cost isn't that much. And in this case, this is not for rental. This is family. This is for family. This is gonna be u- Yeah ... this is gonna be used for your, your, you know, visitors coming in, so they have a place to stay. They don't have to drive home if you guys had a great party. I know you're sure making a patio out here with a great party, entertainment vibe. So if somebody says, "Ah, I had a little too much to drink," that's okay. You can stay. You got a place. You got a place, right? A place for you. So I love all that, but you are gonna put nicer things if it's for family, if it's for you. 100%. 100%. That's, a- again, w- could we rent this place out? Sure. Could we, um, Airbnb it? I guess we could. But our, our focus was this is gonna be for family. We want it to be built to last. We want to enjoy it ourselves, and that requires, you know... Again, you're not looking at the cheapest material. Mm. You're looking at something that fits what you would wanna live in. Yeah. And, uh, that's the approach we took coming in. That's something we expressed to Michael. So when we were going through the design phase, you helped us think through, right? If you were only going to rent this, then you may consider this, as opposed to if you're gonna really live there with your parents, you, you may want to consider that. And, and I think that's the value of a pr- our project managers because if you just talk to a contractor, they're, they're there to basically do a job and build. A designer is there just to design, but a project manager is gonna ask questions, and they're gonna make sure that they find the bullseye that's appropriate for e- each family and each homeowner and so forth. So Michael, you did a great job. Good, you, good for you. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate it. Last, last question, then we'll let you go. If you did it all over again, would you still recommend ADU Resource Center? I would. I would. Listen, you guys, uh, y- you got us over the initial hump because you don't know what you don't know, right? So we wanted an ADU. We've lived in this house for seven years. Uh, we knew that probably within the first couple of years. You just don't know how to get started, right? And that's, that was the hardest thing was, okay, I've gotta find my own architect. I've gotta go do permitting. I've gotta do b- how do you start, right? And I think once we, you know, Michael came over, explained the process, that was very helpful. Otherwise, I don't know when you start. Thank you for the kind words. Uh, thank you, Michael, for joining us. Uh, and if you would like to build your very own ADU, call the number below.