Building an ADU in Los Angeles? Here are three big obstacles to overcome

A poolside accessory dwelling unit in L.A.'s Larchmont Village

By Kevinisha WalkerMultiplatform Editor, Newsletters

March 9, 2024 6:30 AM PT

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, March 9. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

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And here’s today’s e-newspaper

Building an ADU in Los Angeles? Here are three obstacles you’ll face

Thousands of California homeowners are adding accessory dwelling units to their properties. Some want to earn extra income by renting out ADUs. Others want to provide a place for their elderly relatives or adult children to live. Plus, the state and some local governments have encouraged ADU construction as part of the effort to expand the supply of housing.

ADUs can be built for a fraction of the cost of a new house, mainly because they’re small and can be installed inside an existing house or garage.

But they are not equivalent to building a tree house in the backyard. ADUs can be expensive and take over a year to build. Constructing an ADU is “the same as building a new house, mostly sharing the same costs, timeline and complexity,” architect John Bertram told my colleague Lisa Boone.

Whether you’re converting a tiny carport in the back of your home that will accommodate your extended family, or turning your small garage into an ADU for steady income, there are three things you shouldn’t forget.

Most ADUs cost more than $150,000 to build

On the low end, ADU project costs could start at $150,000 for a garage conversion and go up quickly from there.

If a construction loan or refinancing your current mortgage isn’t enough, a state program could help lower-income California homeowners build ADUs by covering some of the upfront costs.

The California Housing Finance Agency’s ADU Grant Program offers up to $40,000 to qualified homeowners to cover pre-construction costs of an ADU, including planning and permit fees.

To qualify, applicants’ income must be less than 80% of the area median income, which translates in L.A. County to $84,160.

Lowering the price of ADUs is really difficult, but not impossible. At least it wasn’t for Alexis Navarro — a professor of architecture and design at East Los Angeles College.

He beat the city at its own game by building a 536-square-foot ADU with a simplified design, while also providing a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bedroom for less than $100,000.

Good design does not have to be expensive. The photo below shows what Alexis came up with:

A colorful interior of an accessory dwelling unit.

Your neighbors may not like it

In addition to costs and issues that might arise on your property once construction begins (site and utility work alone added an extra $50,000 onto one couple’s $300,000 ADU), another major hurdle is winning over your nervous neighbors.

As Times contributor Keith Wagstaff writes, there are plenty of good reasons to build an ADU, but don’t assume everyone will be cool with it.

Legally in California, neighbors can’t stop you from building an ADU — provided it meets state requirements. But they can make your life hell with complaints to the city that could derail your project.

To help you avoid awkward encounters, follow these tips.

Local design and building codes will dictate how you build your ADU

Los Angeles and many other cities offer preapproved ADU designs on their websites, but few people use them because they are costly to build and every project requires some degree of customizing.

Still, the preapproved designs are a good place to start to give you an idea of what you can do with available space and what you want in your unit.

You also have to decide whether you want a prefabricated unit that’s built to mobile standards (good for generating rental income in the short term), or a custom-designed structure (good for adding value to your home over the long term).

Here’s more about ADUs and how to figure out if one is right for you. Sign up for our six-part email series to learn all the ins and outs of building an ADU.

The week’s biggest stories

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Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

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84 years after Hattie McDaniel, the Oscars still put Black women in a box. Academy members still have a troubling tendency to reward Black women for playing supporting, even subservient roles in other people’s stories — and little else.

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