All Forum Posts by: Yi Chung Chen

Sarah Shull was part of the ADU Ally program.
I'm sure you can look up her contact info here:
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/busi...

I initially reached out to Sarah because she was listed as the contact under the amnesty program.  after a few calls she was the one that told me that for my case, I'd be better off just submitting for a permit and going through the full inspection process.  most of the inspectors really are willing to help you out.  Just be honest, open, and show that you're putting in real effort to do things right, and they'll work with you, give you pointers on what to open up, what they don't need to see, etc.  Sometimes I've experienced them calling one another while inspecting to confirm things with previous inspectors so that they don't have to waste too much time.  
I've worked with Bruce Butler, Don (before he retired), Greg, Al, Rodney, all great guys! 

that's correct, when I called in to talk to the city, they told me not to bother waiting for that program.  so I just submit as brand new permit.  
I did an ADU legalization.

when inspector first came out I explained the situation. 
that we basically converted our garage into an ADU during the start of covid without permits cause we just had a baby and parents coming into town to help out needed a place to stay, so we rushed the conversion and did it without permits, but we did have an architect and structural engineer do drawings for us.. So we asked the inspector what he needed us to open up. had to take off some siding, open up some holes in the drywall, etc.
it was a pain to do, but was good to do it right.

everything ended up working out and so we're good to go now :)
ADU is legally permitted, and rented out now for $2,900/mth :)

any other questions feel free to let me know!

we rent our 450sqft ADU for $2500/mth, we're right near Santana Row, San Jose.

yea, was going to say, $250/sqft is what I'm getting on my 650sqft detached garage/office with no plumbing. When I was looking to build a new ADU, was getting quotes of like $650/sqft and up.

So I ended up doing a garage -> ADU conversion, that only cost me $125/sqft.

So $125+$250 = $375/sqft I now have a 450sqft ADU (bed, bath, kitchen, laundry, walk-in closet) and we just broke ground on the new 650sqft garage/office :)

agreed

I think those pre-fab ADUs could be installed and hooked up in 2-4wks.  however any new build or even garage conversion can take months, and most of that is due to permits and inspection lead times. 

my own experience, on the low end:

arch/designer: $2k
structural eng: $2k
Permit fees: $10k
construction cost (labor+material): $350/sqft

So you're looking at $200k minimum for a 450sqft ADU, but I've gotten quotes as high as like $450k.

don't know about financing, I just did cash..

@Alan F. Good point, thx for clarifying. It is not recommended to do the amount of work I did with a handyman. Should always stick with contractors.

@Collin Chan haha 😂

yea, I designed everything in Keynote (I call it KeynoteCAD 😝) and was lucky enough my contractor understood everything we wanted.  

have some sexy flush baseboards with 1/2" reveal, floating peninsula island, hidden doors, pivot doors, concrete (concreate.net) panel feature wall, wood panel kitchen ceiling with 1/2" gap, and LEDs galore.

contractor nailed it!