A free site visit, a check of what your lot allows and a written, line-item price.
Get your free estimateADU Company in Palo Alto, CA
Lodgewick ADU Builders handles accessory dwelling units (ADUs – a second, smaller home on your existing lot), garage conversions, and home additions across Palo Alto. We’re part of the Kingswell family of home-service companies, founded in 2010 and led by Russ Delmar. Palo Alto work brings a particular set of challenges: strict floor area ratio caps, older homes on narrow lots, and Eichler-style radiant heating systems that demand careful planning. If you’re weighing an ADU on your Palo Alto property, call (669) 266-4319 and we’ll walk you through what’s realistic on your specific lot.
Why Palo Alto Homes Are Different
Palo Alto’s planning rules shape every ADU conversation here. The city enforces a stringent floor area ratio (FAR) cap, which limits total building square footage relative to lot size, plus a 50% rear-yard coverage rule. That means your ADU has to fit within unusually tight site constraints, not just meet state minimums. A design that works in Los Altos or Fremont may not pencil out in Palo Alto without reworking the footprint. Getting this wrong means a redesign, a stalled permit, or a project that never breaks ground.
The housing stock adds another layer. Much of Palo Alto is 1920s-1950s bungalows and 1960s-70s ranch-style tract homes, many still sitting on original pier-and-beam foundations. Narrow lots complicate ADU placement and utility connections, especially when sewer and electrical lines weren’t laid out with a second dwelling in mind. Then there are the Eichler and Eichler-inspired homes in Greenmeadow and other neighborhoods. Those have radiant floor heating embedded in slab-on-grade concrete, and tying new ADU plumbing into that system requires coordination most contractors never deal with. We do.
Climate matters too. Palo Alto has a Mediterranean pattern: cool, wet winters and dry summers. Low-slope roofs and proper drainage on a new ADU aren’t optional here. Water intrusion from a bad flashing detail shows up as mold and rot within a couple of rainy seasons. We design for that from day one.
Our Main Palo Alto Services
Here are the three services Palo Alto homeowners call us about most, each with its own dedicated page covering local specifics, pricing, and answers to the questions we hear on nearly every estimate visit.
Home Addition Contractor in Palo Alto
A home addition in Palo Alto means working within the same FAR restrictions we mentioned, but at house scale. Expanding a kitchen, adding a primary suite, or building out a family room on a 1950s bungalow with a pier-and-beam foundation often requires upgrading the footings and tying into plumbing that’s been in the ground for 60 or 70 years. We handle the full scope: design coordination, permits, foundation work, framing, utilities, and finish. Russ Delmar and the crew walk Palo Alto lots with an eye toward what the planning department will actually approve. See full pricing and what the process looks like on our Home Addition Contractor in Palo Alto page.
Garage Conversion Contractor in Palo Alto
A garage conversion (turning an attached or detached garage into living space) is often the fastest path to extra square footage in Palo Alto, because the structure and foundation already exist. But the existing slab usually isn’t insulated to living-space standards, the electrical panel needs upgrading for a kitchen or bath, and – if the home is an Eichler – any new plumbing tie-in has to respect the radiant floor system. We’ve converted detached garages behind 1940s bungalows off California Avenue and attached garages on ranch homes near Midtown. Every job starts with a written price. Details are on the Garage Conversion Contractor in Palo Alto page.
ADU Builders in Palo Alto
A detached ADU in Palo Alto has to clear the city’s FAR cap and rear-yard coverage rule, which usually means a smaller, smarter footprint than what state law technically allows. A JADU (junior accessory dwelling unit – a conversion within the existing home’s walls, capped at 500 square feet) can sometimes avoid the trickiest siting constraints altogether. We work with prefab manufacturers like Abodu and Cover when the lot and budget call for it, and we build site-framed ADUs when the design needs to hug a setback line. Read about our approach and local pricing on the ADU Builders in Palo Alto page.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Brands We Service in Palo Alto
We work regularly with Tuff Shed structures, James Hardie siding, and prefab ADU systems from Abodu and Cover. Having hands-on familiarity with these brands per job means quicker design decisions and fewer surprises when materials arrive on a Palo Alto lot. See what we service and install on our brands page.
Pricing for ADU Company in Palo Alto, CA
| Service | Typical range in Palo Alto |
|---|---|
| Convert existing garage to ADU | $80,000 – $150,000 |
| Detached ADU (site-built) | $180,000 – $320,000 |
| Detached ADU (prefab, e.g., Abodu or Cover) | $150,000 – $280,000 |
| JADU (junior accessory dwelling unit) | $60,000 – $110,000 |
| Home addition (living space) | $160,000 – $350,000 |
| Kitchen addition | $80,000 – $180,000 |
| Primary suite addition | $90,000 – $210,000 |
| Family room / great room addition | $85,000 – $200,000 |
| Garage conversion (living space, no ADU designation) | $70,000 – $140,000 |
Prices in Palo Alto run toward the higher end of these ranges when the lot demands a custom footprint, when the existing foundation needs seismic or leveling work, or when an Eichler-style radiant floor system complicates utility tie-ins. Every quote we give is a written price before any work starts, under The Kingswell Guarantee – no changes at the door, no “discovered conditions” surprises that aren’t already in the contract.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Palo Alto
We work across all of Palo Alto, from the tree-lined streets of Old Palo Alto to the mid-century ranch pockets south of Oregon Expressway. Here are a few areas we’re in regularly:
- Midtown
- Greenmeadow
- Old Palo Alto
- Barron Park
- Professorville
Response time for an estimate visit in Palo Alto is typically within a few business days. Scheduling and dispatch are coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office; the crews that show up on your Palo Alto job are the same ones who’ll be there until the work is done.
Service Area – Cities Near Palo Alto
Along with Palo Alto itself, our crews serve homeowners across the South Bay and surrounding peninsula communities. If you’re just over the line in Los Altos, CA or Portola Valley, CA, the planning rules change, but our approach doesn’t. We also take on projects in Union City, CA and Fremont, CA, where the housing stock and lot patterns are different enough that we treat each city as its own conversation.
Serving Palo Alto, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Palo Alto area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About ADU Company in Palo Alto
Most Palo Alto projects take 2 to 6 months from signed contract to first day on site, depending on design iterations and city permit timelines. The FAR cap means planning review here tends to take longer than in neighboring cities, so we front-load the design work to avoid resubmissions. Call (669) 266-4319 and we’ll give you a realistic schedule for your specific lot.
Yes. Palo Alto applies its own floor area ratio cap and rear-yard coverage rule on top of California’s state ADU standards, so a project that meets state minimums can still be denied locally. We pull all permits and handle the full planning review; every contract is a written price with no change orders unless you change the scope yourself. Call (669) 266-4319 to talk through your property.
We do. Greenmeadow and other Eichler-heavy areas require special care when tying new plumbing into radiant slab-on-grade systems, and that’s part of our standard planning process here, not an add-on. If you’re not sure what’s under your floor, call (669) 266-4319 and we’ll help you figure it out. Estimates are free.
Contact: Ready to get a written price for your Palo Alto ADU, garage conversion, or home addition? Call (669) 266-4319 to schedule a free estimate. A live person answers, 24/7.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local adu pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3We come out and measureLicensed & insured, at a time that suits you - the visit and the quote are both free.
- 4You get the price in writingLine-itemed, yours to keep, and nothing starts until you say go.
What Palo Alto Customers Say
"Converted our garage into a rental studio. The crew was respectful of the neighbors and kept the site clean. It's bringing in rent now and paid for itself faster than I expected."
- Grace Yoon"Built a backyard unit for my mother in law. They handled the permits, gave me a real timeline, and stuck to it within a few days. The written price is what we paid, which anyone who's done construction knows is rare."
- Dennis Fairchild"Added a suite for my dad. They walked us through every cost before a hammer swung and stuck to it. The written price is what we paid, no change orders."
- Ingrid Salazar
