How Ellery ADU Studio Glendale Was Born in Glendale
We opened this branch in 2015, the same year California’s ADU law changed and the permitting queue became the actual product. Nadia Ellery had spent months watching homeowners in Glendale get stuck between architects who wouldn’t pick up a hammer and contractors who couldn’t read a structural drawing. The breaking point came after walking a job on Chevy Chase Drive, a detached garage conversion where the owner had paid for plans twice and still couldn’t get a permit set past the city. The designer blamed the builder for field changes; the builder blamed the designer for dimensions that didn’t match the existing foundation. The homeowner was out sixty thousand dollars and living in the main house with three grown children.
Nadia came back from that site and called the parent company with a simple request: let us build the Glendale branch as a true design-build studio, one contract, one price, one person accountable. That is what we opened here. We have never taken a job where the drawings and the build are separate contracts. Clause 1 of the Haven Standard exists because of what we saw on Chevy Chase Drive.
Nadia Ellery’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Nadia got into this work sideways. She was managing commercial properties in Burbank in her late twenties, spending her Saturdays driving to sites with a notepad and a coffee from Porto’s, trying to understand why every contractor told her something different about the same four walls. She started showing up with a tape measure and a copy of the California Building Code. The smell of fresh lumber and sawdust in a framed unit at 7 AM became something she looked forward to more than the desk work. A tradesman who trained us on foundation work in those early years told her she asked too many questions. She kept asking them.
The personal hook set in 2014, before the law changed, on a small cottage in the hills above Glendale. The owner was aging in place and wanted her daughter nearby. Nadia watched three companies bid the job, each with a different square footage, each with a different permit path, none with a fixed price. The daughter eventually moved to Oregon. The cottage sat empty. That is what gets Nadia out of bed: the ADU is not construction, it is a family staying in the same zip code, a rental income that pays a property tax bill, a homeowner finally using the backyard they have been mowing for twenty years.
If she were not doing this, she would probably be teaching. She has the patience for it. On site she still stops to explain why a shear wall matters, why Glendale’s hillside ordinance affects the foundation depth, why the venting on a tankless water heater is not optional. She believes people make better decisions when they understand what they are paying for. That is not a marketing position. It is just how she is wired.
Meet Nadia Ellery - The Person Behind Every Job
Nadia Ellery is the Owner and Founder of Ellery ADU Studio Glendale. She holds a California contractor license and has completed the design-build coursework through the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. She is trained on the Haven Standard documentation system and personally reviews every permit set before it leaves this office.
What separates Nadia from a corporate franchise technician is simple: she lives here. She bikes the same streets her crews drive. She knows which Glendale neighborhoods have clay soil that shifts footings, which blocks have overhead power lines that affect second-story ADU heights, which planning staff at the city will take a phone call. Her personal detail: she keeps a running list of every James Hardie siding color match that has failed in direct Glendale sun, because she walks past her own jobs on weekends to check.
Her commitment to you is direct. Every ADU we design, permit, and build in Glendale carries Nadia’s name and her direct accountability. You will have her cell number. You will see her on your site.
Our Promise to Glendale Homeowners
Our values are not posters on a wall. They are the Haven Standard, and we cite it by clause.
Have it in writing. Every job starts with a flat price, a written scope, and a written warranty. We learned this the hard way in our first year, when a homeowner in the Verdugo Woodlands asked for a change mid-build and we had no system to price it fairly. Now Clause 1 means you know your number before anyone breaks ground.
Arrive on schedule. A real window, a named crew lead, a text when they are on the way. Not because we are nice, because your time is the only part of this process you cannot get back.
Verified crews. Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We do not guess. We check, and we keep the documentation.
Evidence on every job. Photos and readings of what we actually found. The foundation elevation. The existing sewer lateral condition. What was there, not what we think was there.
No surprises. No door upsell, no scope creep, no “while we are in here.” If we find something unexpected, we stop, document it, and give you a written change order with a price. You approve it or we work around it.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed - Every ADU we build in Glendale meets California contractor licensing requirements. For a homeowner, this means the work is subject to state oversight, bond protection, and the Contractor State License Board’s complaint process. We do not cut corners on who holds the license.
- Insured & bonded - Our coverage protects your property during construction and our workers on your site. We carry general liability and workers compensation as required by law. No homeowner in Glendale should pay for an injury that happens on their driveway.
- Years of local experience - This branch opened in 2015. We have worked through Glendale’s ADU ordinance updates, the 2020 state law changes, and the post-pandemic permit backlog. That history matters when your planner asks for a specific detail the code does not clearly address.
- Strong local reputation - We are known in the neighborhoods we serve. Our crews have worked on streets from Adams Hill to Rossmoyne to the Glenwood area. We do not chase jobs across county lines.
These credentials matter because an ADU is a six-figure decision that lives on your property for decades. The license is your recourse. The insurance is your protection. The local experience is your shortcut through a permit process that confuses most first-time builders. The reputation is what keeps us honest when no one is watching.
Rooted in Glendale
We opened this branch in Glendale because the city had the density, the aging housing stock, and the hillside lots that make ADUs complex enough to need a real design-build studio. Nadia lives near the border with Los Feliz and bikes past our active jobs on her weekend routes. We have worked on homes within walking distance of the Americana, up in the Verdugo Mountains foothills, and on the flat streets near Glendale Community College where the lots are deep and the garages are ready to convert. We know which blocks have the overhead power lines that complicate second-story units, which soil reports the city will accept from prior construction, and which planners will take a phone call before you file. This is not where we landed. This is where we chose to work.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Glendale, serving Glendale since 2015.