Normally I would agree, but during the bath remodel, there were a number of things that the original inspector noted on the permit and advised the contractor to change. Then, he recommended some changes which were beneficial to us.
We were originally going to move out the front wall, to add square footage, since our front “yard” area has a significant amount of space. Although I liked it, and the contractor said it would work, my husband disagreed, so, depending on the architect and engineer, I wanted to be prepared for what they would advise.
In the long run, I want the first floor to be structurally sound.
I’m glad you have your jobs lined up! Can’t wait to see the results!
I would say “it depends” in my neck of the woods. We are in a historic district with 100+ year old homes. Mechanicals generally need a lot of upgrading when doing renovations and at least at our house, previous owners did some squirrely things. Thankfully our current team is fabulous and the city inspectors seem to do a good job. It’s just slow!
We are moving fast on the basement/garage ADUs. the permit finally got issued on Dec 7th, about one year after these investors bought the property. In the end, they will be 14 months without any rental income just because they wanted to do the ‘right thing’ and get the units legalized
So, we are working way too many hours and days trying to get this done. We passed all five inspections in 10 working days. Drywall finished this week (the whole downstairs had to be gutted to get the required insulation and soundproofing installed). Painting starts next week. Then flooring and baseboards installed week of Jan 16.
I will be starting the ADU over garage in Point Loma next week. I’ll get the plans loaded and start a photo group for that project. We’ll start that while the painting subcontractors are working on the first project.
When these owners purchased the property, there were tenants in the downstairs units. They were totally illegal and unsafe units with no windows in the bedrooms at all. They were dark dungeon rooms. I believe it did depress the price of the property a bit. The value of the property will go up significantly because now it will be a legal ‘triplex’. But, to get the one bedroom unit through the Planning Department it had to be designated a Junior ADU. For a Junior ADU, the owner has to be living on the property. We had to get a notarized agreement that the City records against the property stating that it cannot be separated into a legal property, cannot be sold separately, and that the owner must reside on the property. Since this is a recorded document on the property, that’s going to make it slightly difficult to sell to an investor in the future, versus a homeowner. But, I can guarantee there are no JADU police going around checking this at all. Probably not a real problem.
@coralbrook - D2 has a friend that inherited a La Jolla house and has turned it into 4 separate living spaces. The main house is 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Then he has a separate 2 bedroom ADU and a 1 bedroom ADU and a studio ADU. The property has a pool and there is still plenty of yard space on the lot. D2’s friend lives in the main house and rents out the other 3 spaces. I don’t know if any of it is permitted, but D2’s friend is very handy and did much of the work himself. I have been inside all of the units and they are nicely done.
Is there a minimum size for a studio unit? Legally or practically? I know someone who’s beginning to consider putting one in her walk-out basement with 2 large windows for egress.
I don’t believe there is (here in San Diego) a ‘legal’ minimum size for a studio unit. There is a legal minimum size required for a bathroom and that would be about 5ft x 8ft interior space. So, 40 to 50 sq ft required for a bathroom. The ‘kitchen’ has to legally have a stove, sink and refrigerator but that can be crammed into a minimal kitchenette layout.
The maximum legal space allowed for a ‘Junior’ ADU in California is 500 sq ft. In this project we had to reconfigure the units and attach one of the bedrooms to the standard ADU in order to create a Junior ADU less than 500 sq ft
Starting this new project this week with some electrical work. Have to trench a separate line fron the main panel on the house out to the garage to upgrade electricity to the garage and subsequently upstairs for the new ADU.
Existing garage built in about 2014 with permits. The existing garage is really used as a ‘family room’ and has the laundry facilities, separate water heater and a bathroom. That will make this project very easy because there is already plumbing and a sewer line trenched out to the garage and tied into the main system. Otherwise, cost would go up quite a lot to get water, power and sewer out to the proposed ADU.
Here are the plans for this project. My current estimate is about $95,000 not including homeowner purchases for cabinetry, tile, etc (because I can never guess what they are going to want)
