Free lance, draft/designers for ADU conversion (2-car garage)

[Joel Hubbard]

Closing this week on a SFH in east county area with an existing JADU. Looking to hit the ground running on conversion of the 2-car garage with alley access to a studio ADU. Have had several "consultations" with ADU specialists and have heard a wild spectrum of numbers range up to 25k just to get permits. Also, the the points of contact have been very sales oriented, and unable to field even basic questions.

The fastest way to get it done and get a tenant, while ideal, seems to be limited by the fact that the city/county are the bottleneck on permits. I'm really looking to learn from this experience and become more educated on these processes moving forward so it seems like I wouldn't necessarily be that much of a sacrifice on the timeline.

Active military with a background in project mgmt and engineering, and am not afraid to get my hands dirty. Does anyone have reccomendations of how best to acccomlish this goal? It seems like having as-built and design drawings made by someone that does free-lancing and submitting the permits myself may be the best course of action.

Truly appreciate any advice and/or reccomendations!