How Ellery ADU Studio San Bernardino Was Born in San Bernardino
Back in 2015, when California’s ADU law changed and the permitting queue became the actual product, we were already watching what was happening in Los Angeles. Ellery ADU Studio had started there with a simple observation: the ADU projects that went wrong were almost always the ones where the designer and the builder could each blame the other. The drawings, the permit set, and the build needed to be one contract with one price.
We opened this San Bernardino branch in 2015 because we kept meeting homeowners at the San Bernardino County Assessor’s office who had driven two hours to find someone who could explain why their permit had been rejected. A woman from Highland sat on the bench next to us with a rolled-up set of plans from a general contractor who had subcontracted the design to a drafter he’d never met. Neither would answer her calls. She had paid $8,000 for drawings that didn’t match the zoning code. That was the moment we knew San Bernardino needed what we had: a design-build studio where the person who measures your backyard is the same person who defends the plans at the planning counter.
We called the parent company that week. By the following spring, we had a local license, a local phone number, and a commitment that every San Bernardino job would leave with a written price, a written scope, and a written warranty before anyone started. That is Haven Standard Clause 1. We haven’t broken it since.
Nadia Ellery’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
I got into this work because I couldn’t stand watching people get separated from their money and their good judgment by a process that was designed to confuse them.
Before Ellery, I spent years in residential construction management in Riverside County. I remember the smell of a jobsite at 6 AM in August, the drywall dust already rising before the sun cleared the Box Springs Mountains. I remember the sound of a homeowner’s voice when they realized the “fixed price” contract had seventeen pages of exclusions. I remember the look on a man’s face in Grand Terrace when he understood that the beautiful renderings he’d paid for were never going to pass the San Bernardino County fire separation requirements.
Those moments accumulated. I started waking up thinking about the permits that could have been approved the first time if someone had just walked the lot before drawing. I started carrying the zoning code in my truck, reading it at lunch in the parking lot behind the Inland Center. I became the person other contractors called when they hit a wall with the county. That was the work I wanted to do all day.
If I weren’t doing this, I’d probably be teaching. I have that temperament, the need to explain things until they make sense. But this is better because I get to stay with the lesson through the test. An ADU takes eight months to a year from first conversation to final inspection. I see the anxiety at the beginning, the skepticism at the midpoint, the relief at the end. That arc is what gets me out of bed. The text from a homeowner in Redlands with a photo of their mother moving into the unit we built. The email from a couple in Fontana who refinanced and the ADU appraisal came in higher than they expected.
I’ve been doing this for over ten years now. Not as a credential. As a lived experience of what can go wrong and how to prevent it.
Meet Nadia Ellery - The Person Behind Every Job
I’m Nadia Ellery, Owner and Founder of Ellery ADU Studio San Bernardino. I hold a California contractor license and have completed the specialized training in fire separation, utility tie-ins, and setback calculations that San Bernardino County requires for ADU permits. Before leading this branch, I managed residential construction projects across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, learning the specific requirements of each jurisdiction by showing up at their counters with incomplete plans and refusing to leave until I understood what was missing.
What makes me different from a corporate franchise technician is that I live here. I shop at the same grocery stores as my clients. I drive the same streets and worry about the same water restrictions. I don’t fly in for a sales meeting and hand the job to a crew I’ve never met. Every set of plans that leaves this office has my review on it. Every permit submittal has my name as the responsible party.
On weekends, I restore vintage furniture. It’s unrelated work, but it trains the same patience: you can’t rush a finish, and you can’t hide a joint. That same standard applies to every ADU we build.
My personal commitment to you is simple: I will answer your questions directly, I will put every promise in writing, and I will be reachable throughout your project. Not a dispatch center. Not a call center. A live coordinator connects you with our local team, and I am involved in every job we take.
Our Promise to San Bernardino Homeowners
Our values are organized under the Haven Standard, which we reference by name because each clause is specific and enforceable.
Have it in writing. Every ADU job is quoted in writing before it starts. Not an estimate. A fixed price with a written scope and a written warranty. We learned this the hard way in our early years, watching other companies use verbal promises that evaporated when the footing hit rock. Our contracts include line-item pricing for every phase: design, permit, site prep, foundation, framing, MEP, finishes. No door upsell. No scope creep. No “while we’re in here.”
Arrive on schedule. We give you a real window, a named technician, and a text when they are on the way. This sounds basic until you’ve spent a day waiting for a no-show in July heat.
Verified crews. Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We verify it before they step on your property, and the license number goes on the page you sign.
Evidence on every job. Photos and readings of what we actually found. When we hit unexpected soil conditions in a Rialto backyard, we document it, show you, and quote the adjustment in writing before we proceed.
No surprises. This is the one that matters most. We’ve seen the alternative: homeowners in Colton who signed for a $180,000 ADU and paid $240,000 because the “allowances” were fiction. That doesn’t happen here.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed contractor - verified active status with the California Contractors State License Board
- Insured & bonded - general liability and workers compensation coverage required for all work performed
- Over ten years of local experience - serving San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, Highland, Redlands, Fontana, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Moreno Valley, Yucaipa, and Hesperia since 2015
- Strong local reputation - built through documented completion of permitted ADU projects across San Bernardino County
These credentials matter because an ADU is a six-figure investment that lives on your property for decades. A state license means someone has verified our qualifications and our financial responsibility. Insurance means you’re protected if something goes wrong. Local experience means we know the difference between San Bernardino County’s fire separation requirements and the City of San Bernardino’s utility connection rules. We’ve learned these distinctions by showing up, not by reading a manual.
Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We don’t take that on trust; we verify it, and we document it.
Rooted in San Bernardino
This branch opened in 2015 because we saw a need here, and we’ve stayed because the need persists. We know the neighborhoods: the flat lots in Del Rosa where accessory structures have to clear power lines, the hillside grades in Verdemont that trigger special foundation requirements, the older homes in Arrowhead where sewer laterals need careful assessment before adding a unit.
We attend the San Bernardino County Home Improvement Expo when it runs. We’ve walked the permit counter at the Land Use Services office in San Bernardino enough times to recognize the staff by voice. Our trucks carry the local knowledge that can’t be downloaded: which inspector prefers photos submitted with the initial application, which planner will flag a setback that the code seems to allow.
We’re not pretending to be from somewhere else. This is our license, our trucks, our neighbors. What Ellery ADU Studio contributes is the standard we agree to work to, the documentation system that proves it, and the buying power that keeps our prices honest. The local business is us. The guarantee behind it is Haven.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio San Bernardino, serving San Bernardino since 2015.