ADUs & Additions in Pasadena

City of Pasadena Planning & Community Development Department, Building & Safety Division. Residential permits are issued through the Permit Center of the Building & Safety Division, with entitlements and design review handled inside the same Planning & Community Development Department. Lots in the city's Hillside Overlay Districts require a Hillside Development Permit under Zoning Code Chapter 17.29. Properties inside a landmark district or individually designated need a Certificate of Appropriateness evaluated against the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. The Tree Protection Ordinance (PMC 8.52) requires a permit before removing protected trees, including native oaks over eight inches in diameter, and northern foothill parcels fall inside a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing the city.

Parcels range from compact 6,000-square-foot bungalow lots near the historic districts to half-acre and larger estate grounds in Oak Knoll and the San Rafael hills. Rear yards are often deep but narrow, with alley or single-drive access. In practice that means arroyo-side and foothill lots sit on coarse alluvial fan deposits, so excavation for pools and sunken patios often hits cobble and boulder layers that slow digging and raise export costs..

All of it, including Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights, Linda Vista, San Rafael Hills. We are based in Los Angeles at Cahuenga Pass, so Pasadena is a short run for our crews rather than a job we service from out of the area.

Detached ADU in this market generally runs $150,000 to $400,000+. What moves it is square footage, finish level, utility runs, and site access; garage conversions typically run well below a ground-up detached build. We give line-item pricing after seeing the site rather than quoting a number over the phone.

Plan a realistic year. Design and engineering typically take one to three months, city plan check and corrections add several more, and construction usually runs four to eight months depending on size and site access.

Usually yes, and often substantially, because the foundation, walls and roof already exist. The trade-offs are that you lose the garage, and older slabs and framing sometimes need upgrading to meet current code.

California ADU law is designed to allow long-term rental, and an ADU is one of the few ways to add rentable square footage to a single-family lot. Short-term rental rules vary by city, so confirm your local ordinance before counting on that income.

Yes. Plans, engineering, Title 24 and the city submittal are all handled in-house, including responding to plan-check corrections. That is a service we sell on its own, so it is not something we hand off.