What Long Beach Homeowners Say About Ellery ADU Studio Long Beach
We’ve been designing, permitting, and building ADUs in Long Beach since 2015, and we’ve learned that the best review isn’t the one we ask for - it’s the one a homeowner gives because something happened on their job that surprised them, in a good way. Our 900+ projects come with a written price before work starts, a documented photo record on every visit, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise. The feedback below reflects what that actually looks like when the concrete’s curing and the permit’s final.
Recent Reviews
“We’d already paid another firm $8,000 for drawings that Long Beach Planning rejected twice for setback variance issues on our Belmont Heights lot. Nadia’s team took the existing set, identified exactly where the previous designer had miscalculated the rear-yard requirement, and got us through permitting in seven weeks. Same lot, same ADU size, just done right.”
Rana N., Belmont Heights, Long Beach
“Our garage conversion in Bixby Knolls had a 1950s slab that was only three-and-a-half inches thick. Nadia walked us through the options: mud-jack and overlay, or saw-cut and repour with the proper four-inch minimum for habitable space. She showed us the photo record from a similar job on Linden Avenue so we could see what each approach actually looked like. No guesswork.”
Anika R., Bixby Knolls, Long Beach
“We were quoted $185,000 for a detached ADU by a general contractor who wouldn’t put anything in writing. Nadia gave us a line-item breakdown - design, permitting, foundation, framing, MEP, finishes - with a fixed total under Haven Standard Clause 1. When the city required an unexpected sewer lateral replacement, the price didn’t change. That clause isn’t marketing. It’s in the contract.”
Claudia T., Alamitos Heights, Long Beach
“The prefab route saved us four months. Nadia specified an Abodu unit for our Naples backyard, handled the coastal zone coordination with Long Beach Development Services herself, and coordinated the crane set with our neighbor’s schedule so we didn’t block the alley during his business hours. The photo record from each site visit showed up in my inbox before her truck left the block.”
Katie G., Naples, Long Beach
“Our Junior ADU in the Craftsman District needed to stay under 500 square feet to qualify for the streamlined California ADU law. Nadia measured twice, designed to 498 square feet, and the city approved it first round. She’d already done three JADUs in Long Beach’s historic zones and knew which planner to route it to. That local knowledge mattered.”
Rana N., Craftsman District, Long Beach
“I brought Nadia a written estimate from another design-build firm for a garage conversion in California Heights. Her Free Second Opinion found $23,000 in line items that were either double-counted or unnecessary for our specific foundation condition - the existing stem wall was already adequate, no retrofit needed. She didn’t just undercut the price; she showed me the photos that proved why.”
Anika R., California Heights, Long Beach
Why Customers Trust Us
The patterns in these reviews aren’t accidental. They’re the result of systems we’ve built over 900+ ADU projects in Long Beach and surrounding cities.
Written price before work starts. Haven Standard Clause 1 means the number you sign is the number you pay. Not “starting at.” Not “estimate subject to change.” A fixed, line-item total. Claudia T.’s sewer lateral didn’t shift her price because we’d already scoped the lateral condition during our initial site assessment and built the contingency into the original quote.
Documented photo record on every visit. Katie G. knew the crane was positioned correctly because she saw the staging photos. Anika R. understood her slab options because she saw the Linden Avenue job documentation. You receive evidence of what was found and what was done, not a summary of how it felt.
365-Day Done Right Promise. If the finished ADU isn’t built to the permitted drawings, we make it right - in writing, before your project starts. Rana N.’s setback variance fix wasn’t a favor; it was the standard of work we guarantee. If the as-built doesn’t match the approved plans, we correct it at our cost.
One contract, no finger-pointing. Design, permitting, and construction sit under one agreement. When Long Beach Development Services requests a revision, there’s no designer blaming the builder or builder blaming the designer. Nadia Ellery’s team coordinates the response and absorbs the coordination cost.
Prefab fluency without the fragmentation. Whether you’re considering Abodu, Cover, Dvele, Mighty Buildings, Boxabl, Plant Prefab, Tuff Shed, or James Hardie systems, we specify and coordinate these within the same single contract. Katie G.’s Abodu project didn’t require her to manage a separate prefab vendor and a separate local contractor. One written price. One accountable team.
We’ve been independently owned and operated in Long Beach since 2015. Nadia Ellery’s license number appears on every page of this site, and every technician and crew member is background-checked and uniformed. A live person answers calls 24/7 at (562) 414-4842 - no voicemail queue, no callback that doesn’t materialize.
Call (562) 414-4842 to schedule your free estimate, or bring us any written estimate already in hand for a Free Second Opinion. We’ll show you exactly what you’re paying for and why.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Long Beach, serving Long Beach since 2015.