Straight answers to the questions Los Angeles families ask us most — what an ADU costs, how permits and timelines really work, how families pay for one, and how a free, contractor-paid advocacy service can possibly be free. No sales language, no asterisks.
In 2026, a permitted garage conversion typically runs $130,000–$250,000, an attached ADU $180,000–$340,000, and a detached new build $250,000–$450,000. Site access, slope, electrical service capacity, and fire-zone requirements move the number more than square footage does. Soft costs — design, permits, utilities, contingency — add another 15–25% on top of the contractor's hard cost.
Yes. Vetted contractors pay Multi-Gen Homes a fixed referral fee, and only after your family is satisfied and decides to move forward. Your family never pays us anything. The fee is fixed rather than a percentage, so we have no incentive for your project to cost more — only for you to end up with a builder you'd recommend to your own sibling.
Plan on 8–14 months from first conversation to move-in. Roughly four to eight months goes to design and permitting, and five to nine months to construction. The state's 60-day plan-check clock only starts once your application is complete, which is why incomplete submittals are the most common cause of a permit taking twice as long as expected.
Always. Any accessory dwelling unit with a kitchen and bathroom requires a building permit, whether it's new construction or a garage conversion. Unpermitted units can't be legally rented, complicate any future sale, and may face retroactive enforcement. Los Angeles offers a legalization pathway for some existing unpermitted units, which is worth exploring before building new.
An ADU is a legally independent dwelling with its own kitchen, bathroom, and entrance — someone can live there fully self-sufficiently. An addition expands the existing house and shares its systems and entry. For aging parents, that distinction matters: an ADU gives privacy and dignity, while an addition keeps everyone under one roof with shared common space.
Absolutely — it's the most common reason Los Angeles families we work with build one. There's no restriction on who occupies an ADU, and family members are the typical residents. Building for a parent is also the case for adding aging-in-place features up front: zero-step entry, curbless shower, wider doorways, and blocking for future grab bars.
It's an existing detached or attached garage converted into a legal dwelling with a kitchen, bathroom, insulation, and code-compliant windows and egress. It's usually the least expensive path because the foundation, walls, and roof already exist. Budgets break when the slab is cracked or too thin, or when drainage and ceiling height force a partial rebuild.
Five checks, all before a builder ever meets a family: active California State License Board license in the right classification with no disciplinary history; current general liability and workers' compensation verified with the insurer; three or more recent client references we actually call; transparent line-item pricing rather than lump sums; and a written quality guarantee they'll stand behind.
Send it to us. We'll read it line by line and tell you what's missing — excluded scope, artificially low allowances, uncapped change-order markup, a front-loaded payment schedule. This costs you nothing and carries no obligation to switch builders. Many families we help end up hiring the contractor they already found, just on much better terms.
We help you understand the options and organize your numbers so lenders take you seriously — HELOCs, cash-out refinances, renovation and construction loans, and current California grant programs. We're advocates, not lenders or financial advisors, so we don't originate loans or earn anything from a referral. For advice specific to your situation, talk to a licensed professional.
Greater Los Angeles County, with deep experience in the San Fernando Valley, the Conejo Valley, the Westside, and Central Los Angeles — including Agoura Hills, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Encino, West Los Angeles, Culver City, Van Nuys, Reseda, Sun Valley, West Adams, and Silver Lake. If your property is in LA County, we can help.
That's where a lot of our work actually begins. We help families write shared agreements about money, space, meals, guests, and caregiving; we mediate when an arrangement starts to strain; and we connect you with senior care, in-home support, and aging-in-place specialists as a parent's needs change. Living together well is a skill, not a coincidence.
It's two or more adult generations sharing one property — commonly adult children, their kids, and aging parents. In Los Angeles it usually means a main house plus an ADU rather than everyone under one roof, because that structure delivers what families actually want: closeness and daily support with genuine privacy and independence on both sides.
A deposit above the legal 10%-or-$1,000 cap; lump-sum pricing with no line items; allowances set unrealistically low; an exclusions page you're told not to worry about; uncapped markup on change orders; a payment schedule front-loaded ahead of completed work; no written schedule with milestones; and pressure to sign before you've had the contract reviewed.
"I'm paid only after you're delighted. A vetted contractor pays my fee once your family is satisfied with the plan and the price — never you. That's the whole reason I can tell you the truth about a bid, even when the truth is 'walk away.'"
— Danniel Fuchs, Founder & Family Advocate, Multi-Gen Homes
See how free ADU advocacy actually works →Start with the free ADU Readiness Report, or just book a call and ask Danniel directly.
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