Couldn't decide which forum to put this in...hope it works here.I've worked on some projects where it sometimes makes me laugh the names of common rooms in the house that architects, real estate agents, and home owners come up with for common rooms in their houses.

The ARCHITECT is the brains, not the GC.

These 2 apartments back in the past was stated as 1 house and in the mid of the house where the stairs appear to be today , it was the house's hall, as the years passed the old owners decided to break down the hall's wall and make it practical to be 2 split apartments but they didn't change the contracts to appear as it is now and also the architect didn't change the files of the house as well.

Can someone recommend an architect in California/ Orange County/ Los Angeles area.

Disclaimer: I am an architect, but I am not YOUR architect.

My alley neighbor built an ADU by himself-2 car garage and 450 sqft living space and he gave me his drawings so I can go back to that architect to make some changes and get pretty close to what I want.

Send me a message and I will connect you with an architect I know who specialized in lean and green design. 

However, I will say that I use to get reimbursed at my old W-2 job as an architect and because I had a fairly efficient car that was cheap to maintain, I definitely came out ahead in fuel and maintenance.

What I would suggest is that you hire your contractor or architect to complete the survey, draw up the plans, provide the estimate, and then schedule it for the day the tenants move out.  

He bought that one for $550k After the reno- and ADU conversion: the home is now valued at $760k (this is just an example) We have referrals to contractors, architects etc if this is of interest.