Hi, this is Michael with ADU Resource Center, and today we're here to visit Penny and Ross' ADU that we're just completing. It's a beautiful ADU. A really, a special one because it's customized for their liking. Uh, tell me a little bit about the process that you've gone through in order to build this ADU. We started with an initial meeting. When you met us, what were you thinking when you were going over this ADU in your mind? What were you thinking it was going to be? I think we had done, um, a lot of research on different companies, and so by the time we got to you, we felt like in our own minds we kind of knew what we wanted. Mm-hmm. And we wanted a home for ourselves. Right. This was our, I was gonna say end of life, but our, you know, forever home. Yeah. And it's in the backyard of our girls, so, um, this is where we want to be. But you've, uh, you've done a few home remodels in the past, so you came in with a bit of experience- Mm-hmm ... and some extra ideas on what you wanted to make your ADU like. And, uh, as we roll through this, you're gonna see a few inputted, uh, clips, videos, pictures of the unique features that they've added to their ADU. Um, throughout this process, so we started in the design phase... Actually, I'm gonna roll it back a little bit. We started with coming to visit a few of our open houses. We did. We did. You did some research. You checked out some other companies. What was inspirational about ADU Resource Center that gave you that confidence to take that step in working with us? I think, I think the way that you, when we s- met you- Mm ... the knowledge that you brought to the table when we had a lot of questions. Uh, we wanted to do a lot of the design work ourselves, the architectural design work. Mm-hmm. And you were very open, and you sent us designs, and you, you set us up to launch into ADU Resource, you know- Awesome ... Center. So- And you got to come visit a few of our open houses too- Mm-hmm. We did ... and explore some of the, the work that we have already completed. Mm-hmm. We did. Yeah, very impressed. Yeah. We, we liked the way that you set up your company, where you have a resource of the contractors. Mm-hmm. And, uh, we, you, we could get to choose the contractor we wanted. We didn't have to go through the contractor process, which- Mm-hmm ... can be tedious. We've done it before and it's- Right ... it's not always a healthy experience. But with ADU Resource, you did all that, plus you took care of all the permitting- Yes ... which was- Yeah, it's huge ... amazing. It's- Yeah. So the, the convenience of having an- Convenience ... all in one resource- Yeah ... where you have- One, one stop pick ... somebody to help you take care of the architectural work, somebody to do all the permitting process. Mm-hmm. Correct. Do all the design work. Yep. Mm-hmm. And bring the right contractors to the table to build your project. Yeah. Right? Exactly. So this, this is... I like that you brought that up because it is really difficult out there. There's a ton of contractors out- Yeah ... and how do you know who are gonna- I know ... be great to work with? And, like, so many of them have terrible names. Mm. And so you don't know- Yeah ... because it's a sell when that, when you're interviewing them anyway. I tell you, in order for us to get to the contractors that we've- Yeah ... selected to, to- Mm ... build our projects, the ADU Resource Center contractors, we went through over 80 different contractors- Oh, wow ... to get down to the handful few- Yeah ... of the ones that we will allow to build our projects. Mm. You, you explained that to us- Yeah. Yeah ... and again, it was impressive. That, yeah. Because we don't have the time or the resources or the knowledge- ... to do that. Right. You did it for us. Yeah. And you're working with them constantly, and so they're learning the process and, you know, it's working. And it certainly worked for us, Michael. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Certainly worked. So after that, we progressed into the design phase. Now, you had ideas already in mind what you wanted this to be. Uh, and as we progressed to our design phase, we invite you to come into our office and design live in 3D, sitting around a conference room table- Mm-hmm ... and explore ideas. Uh, how was that process for you? It was fun. Yeah. That was really fun. And, um, uh, the facility that you had there, we could visually see it. Mm-hmm. I'm visual. Ross is, isn't as visual. But it was really important for both of us to be able to see it and have it explained to us. And, oh, it was a fabulous experience. It was brilliant. Absolutely. It really was. 'Cause we played with a few different ideas- Yeah, we did ... a few concepts. What does it look like if we raise the roof here- Mm-hmm ... make this one cathedral? Yeah. What does it look like if we added a, um... You know, the wall that we have h- leading over to the dining room. Mm. Uh, that one we were exploring, oh, what does it look like if we leave it open, have a doorway, have a... You know, we were thinking about doing some custom work, like having a bookcase that slides open and closed or something. We, we had some, a lot of ideas, and to be able to visualize probably helped you make the steps to move forward a lot better than if you were just guessing what it's gonna look like, right? Well, there, there were two things that, uh, impressed me. One was, it was like having your own AI person- Yeah. ... to do it all for you. Yeah. Yeah. Which, uh- He was just so confident ... the designer was, was absolutely amazing. Um, and secondly, the ideas that we didn't come up with, you filled the gap. Yeah. So we, we, we had- Mm ... both balls came together and, uh, we created- Mm ... what we thought was a- Yeah ... fantastic design for us. Yeah. So we, we started with a core design, but then by the time we finished, we had, uh, I think three meetings with you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And they were substantial. And by the time we finished the third meeting, um, we were good to go. Yeah. We were very, very happy. We were really happy. The other thing is we had to move the, uh, the-The actual ADU on the site a bit, because we didn't want to impinge upon the beautiful site here up onto the forest and that. Right. So again, your designer was able to just go- Yeah ... whoop, whoop, whoop. Yeah. Scooch it over here- Yeah ... move it over here a little bit. Exactly. Yeah. So- Set it on the, uh... You know, we're on a hillside- Yeah ... and up the hillside is the beautiful mountains. Mm-hmm. Um, you have a very unique property, and the, and the, the effect, uh, in comparison to, you know, sitting in a suburb. Right. So on a hillside, to be able to move things around, say, "What's it gonna look like if we start going down into the ground- Mm ... have to go up, move it around?" And, and being able to see that live in 3D, I think, just makes a, a world- Yeah ... of difference in helping make decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful. So after that, then we went into the permitting stage, and the permitting stage where we're working with the city, um, that is sometimes a long, tedious wait. Uh, and in this particular case, it flew right by, didn't it? Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It did. It did. It did. Um, yeah, we were, we were looking forward to a, a couple complications, what is it gonna be like working with the, the hillside, and, and man, it just- Yeah, it flew through ... butter smooth. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you- And it w- The other thing you did is you underpromised and overdelivered. Yeah. That's what you did. Yeah. Um, yeah. And in, in the permitting, you gave us a timeline, and, I mean, every timeline- It was like, "Whoa" ... you gave us, you crunched. Yep. Mm. Um, so the, the, that was- Yeah ... that's always a pleasure, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so after the permitting phase comes time for construction. And how was that transition from permitting to construction? Now, we worked with a couple different GCs. We, we took a look at their bids, and we explored- Mm-hmm ... which ones, and then you ultimately selected, uh, you, you ultimately selected the GC that you wanted to go with. Tell me about that process. How was that like? I thought that was good. We were actually able, able to personally, um, interview them, and not just s- um, uh, experience their work, but experience their personalities and if it would work with us. Mm-hmm. Because we are hands-on, and we wanted to be hands-on, and we wanted to make sure that the person we chose would be adaptable to that, and that's why we chose the person that we chose. Yes. You know. So- There, there were three- Three, yeah ... we interviewed three. You normally suggest two. We wanted to stretch it. Yep. Yeah. I hope not everyone has to do that for you, but- Yep ... um, and it was, uh, very satisfying, because you... We knew that they were competent, that they'd done X amount of ADUs, that they'd been in business X amount of y- Mm-hmm ... you'd done all the research. So the background was good, so now we were just talking to them- Yep ... and we looked at the pricing, and it was very, very close. The three of them- Mm-hmm. Yeah ... were very, very good. And, um, we- Mm ... it, it was a very simple decision in the end. Sometimes it's hard to choose between three great options, right? Yeah. Yeah. That was the hardest part- Yeah ... was like, "How do I..." It was. In the end, it was. Yeah. Because the pricing- Yeah ... was very similar, and it was- Yeah ... just really it came down to, uh, a lot of it was just- The personalities ... the personalities. Yeah. Yeah. And the initial expectation when we first met, we kind of had an idea of what this project was gonna cost- Mm-hmm ... and then it transitioned to construction time. Yeah. Uh, how well did we do at that initial guess as to how much this is gonna cost based before we had it all designed to what it actually landed on in construction? It was, it was pretty close, wasn't it? I, I think you had a crystal ball. I think you knew. Yeah. We- It was, it was spot on- Yeah ... actually. Really. We- Yeah. We've done this a time or two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's- Yeah, so again, the- Yeah ... you, um, you, you, uh, overpr- overdelivered and under, you know, underpromised, and it worked. Yep. Yeah. And you came right on. Yep. And, um, so there was no surprises. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the other things too was when, even when we did interview the three, um, different construction people, we didn't even go and look at what their construction was. Mm. We didn't go visually and look at what they had done. Oh. They gave us lots of pictures, but we knew- You did get to see a few of them. Yes. You got to see their open houses, right? Well, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. That's very true. Yeah. And that, yes, that's true, but we also relied on, because we knew you well enough, I think, at that stage, on your, your decision, on what- Mm ... your recommendation would be. Yeah. And that was really important to us. It was, yeah. It really did help us tremendously. It tak- takes a lot of stress off- Yeah. Yeah ... when, when you know going in that they've been working with you for X amount of years- Yeah. It's huge ... and they've done so many projects- Mm ... and they blah, blah, blah. Yep. Yep. It's a no-brainer. Yeah. It really is. It was really good. Yeah. Mm. So we transitioned into construction, and as we're building out this ADU... You know, construction definitely has its ups and downs, and it's the, it is the hardest part of this process. And, uh, you've, you've had a few of them. We're building on a, on a hillside, and I think, uh, as we've got to digging out the foundation, we discovered- Mm ... some, a little bit of a wild card too, right? We, we- Yeah ... found that you had some sandy soil that needed a modification of the foundation. We started digging, and there was boulders in the ground. Yeah. Right? Uh, how did that resolution go? It did take a little bit of extra time, but ultimately, what happened after discovering, "Oh, there's a problem"? What, what was the resolution there? The guys just worked really hard. They, they- They... It was all manual ... took care of it. Yeah, they- It was incredible ... there was no increase in cost. No. Right. And, um, he had to use a lot more concrete because- Yeah. Yeah ... the trenches, instead of being this wide, the sand collapsed them- Mm-hmm ... so they became this wide. Mm-hmm. The boulders, some of them- Oh ... were massive that they had to get out. Ch, ch, ch, ch, ch, ch. Oh, yeah. And, and, and so- They had to br- hand break them up. Yeah ... so that ran long by about three, three weeks- Yeah. Not- ... m- maybe nearly four weeks, but no complaints- No complaints. Mm-mm ... from the contractor. It was, "We'll fix it. We'll take care of it. It's gonna be done," and it was. Right. So hard going. So when there are hiccups, there are resolutions. Yeah. And I think what's really important- Oh, yeah ... is what is this, what is it like when there's a hiccup? What happens to get it moving forward again? And in, and in this case, it was-A, a, a acceptable and a- Mm ... understandable resolution, and they just went and did it and got it done. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, th- they, um, the contractor said he didn't want to bring mechanical s- wha- stuff in- Yeah ... and that he would use people by hand, not realizing what he was gonna come up against. But honestly, they, his people worked diligently and hard- Yeah. Mm-hmm ... ah, hard work. Yeah. And we were on site a lot, and we felt really bad for them, but they never once complained. No. It was great. Yeah. And we didn't complain at them at all, either. Yeah. So no, it worked out really well. Awesome. Well, I'm glad to hear that process went extra smooth. Yeah. And all of that resulted in this absolutely gorgeous ADU. Now, you added a couple unique features to this ADU. Tell me about some of the nice things that you added to it. We're sitting right next to one of them, the- Yeah ... this one is actually one of my favorites. Tell me about that, uh, that feature that you added to your ADU. Well, this is a, an island that we, we saw in a, a German magazine five years ago. Mm-hmm. And we were going to build a house in another country. We were gonna use this island- Mm ... uh, but they, the engineers there couldn't get it, uh, organized, so we didn't. And, uh, we, uh, inherited it, brought it here, and we thought, "It's perfect for an ADU." Yeah. So we, it's a swing-out table. Uh- This part, yeah ... y- you sit on it here- Mm-hmm ... for, and wh- this is what we'll use it for 95% of the time. Yeah. When we have guests over, it's, pivots, swings out, has legs, sits down- Yeah ... and seats seven. Yeah. And so it's, uh, space-saving. Then again- Yeah. Mm So it turns into a nice table that you can have. Mm-hmm. Uh, it, it can be compact when it needs to be. Mm. Open it up to a nice table that's perfect for sitting across from a guest and having a nice dialogue, playing some games, right? Yeah. Doing something, having a lot of fun. So whatever, whatever you want to do. Yeah. Yeah. What an amazing feature. I love it, and we're gonna have to include that in a few of our next projects. In the, uh, my, uh, I hope we don't have to pay too much in royalties to you. It's true. Yes, yes, he, he's got a patent on it. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So here comes the big question. If you were to do it all over again, would you still use ADU Resource Center? Would you highly recommend ADU Resource Center to help you guys out for getting- With- ... a project like this done? Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, I've got shivers. Because when we started the whole process, and we were without a home, um, we, it was kind of scary. But you've made it just so easy for us, so easy. So we would highly recommend you. Thank you. Right? Full, full package. Full package, yeah. With, with experience. We love it. So- Yeah ... it didn't, it was a no-brainer. So we based- Mm-hmm ... that, the design process was wonderful. Yeah. Was so easy, and, uh, we, you know, just zipped through it. And we zipped through the, the permitting process, which was- We were definitely- ... which was, I mean, horror stories, friends. Yeah. You know, not good. We- not for us. And then we started construction, and it's been smooth the whole way, so. Yeah. Beautiful. Absolutely no, no complaints. Well, I definitely appreciate the kind words. Thank you very much. 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