Lars Remodeling & Design’s design-build ADU contractors bring design, permitting, and construction together for San Diego homeowners. Plan a garage conversion, an attached or detached home, or a JADU around your property, budget, and family or rental goals.
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Built by Lars
See how an existing garage and a new attached living space became ADUs, with different site conditions and homeowner goals.
Garage conversion · Poway
An existing garage became living space with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, office, and music room. Lars investigated the slab and utility conditions and coordinated independent HVAC as part of the conversion.
What this shows: existing-condition review before committing to a conversion scope.
Explore this garage conversion
Attached ADU · Approximately 750 sq ft
Dale and Julie wanted space for guests, entertaining, and a golf simulator. The attached ADU includes a full kitchen, bathroom, and laundry. Lars coordinated HOA approval and an electrical-panel upgrade while matching the main home’s finishes.
What this shows: architecture, utilities, and specialty installations coordinated with the existing home.
Explore this attached ADUFind the right fit
Start with the space you have and the way you want to use it. Each option has different privacy, construction, and approval considerations.
A separate home with more separation from the main household.
A detached backyard or side-yard dwelling can suit family members, guests, or a long-term tenant. Plan the entry, windows, and outdoor space for privacy. A new foundation, access for construction, utility runs, grading, and drainage all affect cost and schedule.
An independent living space connected to your home.
An attached unit can keep family close while providing its own living facilities and entrance. The design needs to resolve structural connections, sound control, fire separation, and the relationship to the existing house. Our attached ADU project shows how those details come together.
A new use for an existing garage footprint.
Converting a garage requires a close look at the slab, ceiling height, moisture protection, structural condition, and utility connections. Existing walls do not make every conversion simple. Building a new ADU above a garage is a different structural scope, not the same as converting its interior.
A compact option within a single-family home or qualifying attached garage.
A JADU is limited to 500 square feet and includes an efficiency kitchen and separate entrance. Bathroom arrangements affect owner-occupancy requirements. Privacy, circulation, and shared systems need careful planning; available floor area alone does not establish eligibility.
Compare the smaller-unit requirements in our JADU versus detached ADU guide.
2026 Investment Guide
Lars’s ADU planning ranges below cover different project types and levels of work. A full design-build budget accounts for design, engineering when needed, energy compliance, permit coordination, utilities, site work, construction, and finish selections. These are company planning references, not San Diego market averages or fixed quotes.
| ADU Type | Lars Planning Range | What It Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Garage Conversion ADU | $150,000–$225,000+ | Converts an existing garage or similar footprint into livable space. Slab condition, ceiling height, utilities, access, and code upgrades affect the scope. |
| Junior ADU (JADU) | $120,000–$200,000+ | A compact unit within the existing home, limited to 500 square feet, with its own entrance and careful planning around privacy, circulation, and shared systems. |
| Attached ADU | $200,000–$350,000+ | A new dwelling connected to the main home. Design, structural planning, utilities, Title 24, permits, selections, and construction coordination shape the final investment. |
| Detached ADU | $250,000–$450,000+ | A full stand-alone dwelling with its own foundation, envelope, utilities, kitchen, bath, and site work. Access, grading, trenching, and utility capacity can substantially affect the scope. |
The “+” means the final cost may exceed the upper figure. Confirm inclusions, allowances, agency and utility fees, and site conditions in a project-specific scope. A feasibility review and developed design are needed for an estimate.
For a fuller breakdown, read our San Diego ADU cost guide.
Before You Compare ADU Quotes
A lower ADU quote may leave out design, permit revisions, utility work, Title 24, site conditions, or finish selections. Lars helps you compare the full investment against the rental income, family use, and long-term value you want from the unit.
For contract basics, CSLB recommends a detailed written agreement with scope, payment schedule, permit responsibility, completion timing, change-order terms, and license information. Review CSLB contract guidance.
Architecture + design-build
Choosing an ADU architect or designer is also a decision about how the plans will be built. Lars coordinates architecture, interior design, estimating, engineering when needed, permit documents, and construction through one design-build process.
We consider the unit’s layout, exterior, privacy, utilities, and finish selections together, so design decisions stay connected to the property and budget.
Meet the Lars teamBring these questions to your consultation:
One coordinated process
Define the scope and responsibilities before work begins, then coordinate design, approvals, selections, construction, and closeout.
We start by reviewing your lot, goals, existing structures, access, utilities, rental-income plans, and likely investment range before design work gets too far ahead of reality.
Our architecture and design team plan the unit layout, exterior fit, privacy, storage, materials, and code requirements so the home works as a real dwelling.
We coordinate permit documentation, Title 24 energy requirements, engineering when needed, finish selections, and city comments before construction begins.
A dedicated project manager coordinates trades, inspections, schedule updates, site access, and communication from foundation or conversion work through finish installation.
We complete the final walkthrough, punch list, closeout, and owner orientation so your ADU is ready for family, guests, tenants, or long-term property flexibility.
Allow for feasibility and design, preparing a complete application, agency review and revisions, and construction with inspections. Utility coordination and site conditions can change the sequence. A complete eligible application generally has a 60-day agency decision window when an existing dwelling is on the lot, subject to state-law exceptions. That window does not include all design work or construction and is not a promise of a permit in 60 days.
Ask for a project schedule that identifies these stages and its assumptions. Your written agreement defines the construction scope and any applicable completion guarantee.
Start with your address
California law establishes a baseline for ADUs and JADUs. The City of San Diego, unincorporated County, and other incorporated cities administer different local requirements. Confirm your parcel’s jurisdiction before relying on a size, setback, parking, or approval assumption.
Guidance reviewed .
What Lars coordinates
Within the agreed scope, we coordinate feasibility, design, energy compliance, engineering, permit documents, submittals, agency comments, revisions, and inspections. The reviewing agency decides eligibility and approval.
State law takes precedence where a local requirement conflicts with it. Confirm current requirements and any recorded restrictions for the specific property.
General planning guidance. Eligibility, site constraints, and permit requirements need property-specific review.
Know your contractor
Lars Remodeling & Design’s California contractor license is #616035. Review the current license, classifications, bond, and workers’ compensation information before signing.
Check with CSLBDesign, selections, permit coordination, and construction connect through the Lars design-build process. Confirm responsibilities, allowances, changes, and communication in the written project scope.
See the Lars processEligibility for the written on-time completion guarantee is confirmed before agreement. Its construction period, exclusions, and terms apply; it does not guarantee agency approval or a permit date.
Read guarantee termsBefore you build
Practical answers about scope, design, timing, permits, and choosing a builder.
Check the contractor’s license, insurance and bonding, relevant project examples, and references. Ask who handles design, engineering, permit revisions, construction, and inspections. Compare written scopes, allowances, exclusions, change-order terms, and warranty coverage rather than headline prices.
Start with the property address and governing jurisdiction. Feasibility includes the existing legal dwelling, zoning, easements, setbacks, access, utilities or septic capacity, and coastal, fire, historic, or HOA constraints. Lars coordinates this review; the responsible agency decides eligibility and approval.
Lars coordinates architecture, design, engineering when required, permit documents, and construction through its design-build process. The professionals and drawings needed depend on the project. Discuss responsibility for each service and any existing plans during the initial consultation.
Lars’s full design-build garage-conversion planning range is $150,000–$225,000+. This is not a fixed quote or a ceiling. Slab and structural condition, utility upgrades, access, design, and selections affect the scope. A project-specific estimate should identify inclusions, allowances, fees, and exclusions.
The schedule includes feasibility and design, application preparation, agency review and revisions, then construction and inspections. A statutory decision period for a complete eligible application is not the total time from first design to a permit or move-in. Lars develops the project schedule around the actual scope, approvals, utility coordination, and selections.
Lars coordinates permit documents, submittals, agency comments, plan revisions, and construction inspections within the agreed scope. Owner signatures and agency or utility fees may still be required. The reviewing agency retains authority over approvals and inspection sign-offs.
A detached ADU provides physical separation, an attached unit connects to the main home, and a conversion reuses existing space. Compare privacy, access, structural condition, utilities, budget, and intended use. A unit above a garage requires a different structural approach from converting the garage itself.
State law generally does not allow local owner-occupancy requirements for ADUs. For JADUs, owner occupancy is not required when the unit has independent sanitation facilities. When a JADU shares sanitation with the main home, the owner generally must live in the main home or JADU, subject to statutory exceptions. Confirm the arrangement and current rules for the property.
Plan for long-term use and confirm the applicable rules before relying on rental income. The City of San Diego requires ADU rentals longer than 30 days; state law requires JADU rentals longer than 30 days. Rent depends on location, size, privacy, amenities, and market conditions and is not guaranteed.
California law limits HOA restrictions that prohibit or unreasonably restrict qualifying ADUs and JADUs. Reasonable conditions may still apply. Review the property’s governing documents early and coordinate required review alongside design and permitting.
Yes. Plan the layout, separate entry, kitchen, bathroom, storage, sound control, and accessibility around how the household will use the unit. The design still needs to fit the property, approved building envelope, structural and utility conditions, and budget.
From garage conversions to detached backyard homes, Lars Remodeling & Design helps San Diego homeowners plan ADUs with architecture, permitting, utilities, selections, and construction under one team.
Bring your property address, goals, and questions. Start with a conversation about feasibility, the kind of unit that fits, and what a complete project scope should include.
