If you hired out all the work, you are more likely to get ~$0.50 for each dollar you spent on the ADU assuming 1) in single family zoned area 2) not converted from existing habitat space. 

when you put your property on the Padsplit platform, did you purchase an existing pad split home or did you have the conversions done to make more rooms?

DSCR purchase loans for existing Padsplit properties that have rental history, AND fix and flip loans that I will need to refinance into DSCR for properties I will turn into Padsplits.   

Just a quick tip -  you can leverage your existing network of title companies, lenders, and other real estate agents to find off market deals.

We have operated STRs since 1999 and they had been around long before then (STEs have existed for many decades).  

We added windows to two rooms that previously had none and replaced 3 existing ones.

Now he says he is negotiating nationwide deals on materials that are priced so low the quality is non existent.

In my experience like other things you get what you pay for. if you go with the companies that are charging super cheap rates - 5%, $100/month or something like that they don't have enough income to sustain a supportive team to actually help you manage your home. 10% is the going rate it seems in the city and that is where the better companies tend to exist. 

This is what I’m seeing in the market: Leaning on existing lender relationships is generally the path towards originations these days.

It's essentially using multiple novel (but legal) applications of long-standing regs to an activity that largely didn't exist at the time they were created.