A free site visit, a check of what your lot allows and a written, line-item price.
Get your free estimateADU Company in Oakland, CA
Adding an accessory dwelling unit (ADU – a self-contained living space on your existing lot) in Oakland almost always means working with a pre-1940s home, a tight or irregular lot, and a set of seismic requirements most contractors never mention until the price changes. We’re Lodgewick ADU San Francisco, and our Oakland crews build ADUs, garage conversions, and home additions under one written rule: the price you approve is the price you pay. Call us at (707) 760-0502 and we’ll walk your lot with you, point out what’s reusable, and put a number in writing before any work starts.
Why Oakland Homes Are Different
Most Oakland single-family homes were built between 1900 and 1930. That means Craftsman bungalows in the flatlands, Victorian-era houses near downtown, and mid-century ranch homes up in the hills. What it rarely means is a modern foundation. A lot of these older homes still sit on unreinforced masonry, with knob-and-tube wiring in the walls and framing that was never sized for today’s shear loads.
For an ADU, that changes the job. Before we frame anything, we’re usually bolting the existing foundation to the sill plate, adding shear wall panels, and sometimes rebuilding a chimney or a rotted rim joist. Oakland sits close to the Hayward Fault, and the city’s building department takes lateral loads seriously for detached ADUs. The climate is mild enough that heavy insulation isn’t the battle here – but the cool, foggy summers mean natural ventilation and passive solar orientation become real decisions, especially in the hills where afternoon sun hits hard. In flatland neighborhoods like Fruitvale and parts of East Oakland, we often find long, narrow backyards with old 1920s-era foundations still buried in the soil. When those are sound, the city will sometimes let us reuse them legally, which can save thousands on concrete and excavation.
Our Main Oakland Services
Oakland homeowners call us most often about three things: adding rooms to an existing house, turning a garage into living space, and building a new ADU in the backyard. Each has its own page with local pricing and specifics.
Home Addition Contractor in Oakland
A home addition in Oakland usually means going up or going back. Hillside lots with downslope yards push additions onto pier-and-grade-beam foundations, while flatland lots on wide parcels can often support ground-floor bump-outs. We handle the structural work that older Oakland homes require, from foundation replacement to wall removal with proper beam sizing. See Home Addition Contractor in Oakland for room-by-room pricing and what Oakland’s permit process adds to the timeline.
Garage Conversion Contractor in Oakland
Oakland has thousands of detached and attached garages that were built for Model Ts and haven’t held a car in decades. Converting one into a JADU (junior accessory dwelling unit – a smaller, attached unit with its own entrance) is often the fastest permitted route to rentable space, because the footprint already exists. The catch in Oakland is usually the slab: many old garage slabs are undersized and lack vapor barriers, and the garage walls were never insulated or sheared. See Garage Conversion Contractor in Oakland for what a conversion costs here and how we handle seismic anchoring on pre-1940 garages.
ADU Builders in Oakland
New detached ADUs in Oakland range from prefab units set on a fresh foundation to fully custom backyard cottages framed on site. The city’s ADU ordinance allows units on nearly any lot with an existing single-family home, which opens up options that other Bay Area cities restrict. The real variable is the lot: Oakland’s flatlands often have long backyards built for in-law units, while the hills bring retaining walls, steeper access, and extra foundation engineering. See ADU Builders in Oakland for pricing on prefab versus custom, and what seismic upgrades add to a detached unit.
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 Oakland
We work hands-on with established ADU brands and materials, including our brands like Abodu, Cover, Tuff Shed, and James Hardie. Our crews know these systems well enough to quote them accurately and install them without the learning curve that turns a two-month prefab into a six-month ordeal.
Pricing for ADU Company in Oakland, CA
| Service | Typical range in Oakland |
|---|---|
| ADU feasibility site visit and written estimate | Free |
| Prefab ADU (manufacturer kit, we handle site prep, foundation, assembly, utility tie-in) | $180,000 – $310,000 |
| Custom detached ADU (studio to 1-bedroom) | $225,000 – $410,000 |
| Garage conversion to JADU | $90,000 – $190,000 |
| Garage conversion to full ADU (with kitchen and bath added) | $150,000 – $270,000 |
| Home addition (ground-floor bump-out, 200 – 400 sq ft) | $160,000 – $320,000 |
| Home addition (second-story, 300 – 500 sq ft) | $250,000 – $480,000 |
| Foundation repair or seismic retrofit (existing structure) | $12,000 – $45,000 |
| Site work (grading, retaining wall, utility trenching) | $18,000 – $70,000 |
What pushes Oakland prices up is almost always the lot and the existing structure, not the ADU itself. Hillside access, old foundations that need bolting or replacement, and long utility runs from the street all add cost that a flat, newer lot wouldn’t carry. Whatever the number is, we write it down before work starts, and that written price is what you pay – no change orders at the door.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Oakland
Our Oakland crews work across the city, from the flatland neighborhoods near the bay to the hillside communities east of Highway 13. Most areas in Oakland are about a 20 to 40 minute drive from our Bay Area dispatch office, and we schedule site visits in a defined arrival window you’ll have in writing.
- Rockridge
- Fruitvale
- Montclair
- Dimond District
- West Oakland
Service Area – Cities Near Oakland
We serve the surrounding East Bay as well. If you’re in Emeryville, CA, San Leandro, CA, Moraga, CA, or Orinda, CA, the same written-price and written-guarantee standard applies. Each of those cities has its own permitting quirks and lot patterns, and we’ll address them the same way we do in Oakland: by walking the property and putting everything on paper.
Serving Oakland, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Oakland 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 Oakland
Yes. We pull the permits, schedule the inspections, and stay on site through final sign-off. Oakland’s building department has specific seismic and energy requirements for ADUs, and we handle the plan review and corrections directly so you aren’t the one going back and forth with the counter.
A garage conversion to a JADU typically runs four to six months from permit submission to final inspection. A custom detached ADU with foundation work and hillside conditions usually runs seven to eleven months. Prefab units can be faster once permits clear, but plan review in Oakland still sets the pace. Call (707) 760-0502 for a realistic timeline based on your specific lot.
Yes, and that’s common in Oakland. We can include structural repairs to the main house – foundation bolting, shear wall upgrades, wiring replacement – in the same permit set as the ADU, which saves you a second round of plan review fees. The written estimate will separate the ADU scope from the house repairs so you can see exactly what each part costs.
If you’re thinking about an ADU, garage conversion, or addition on your Oakland lot, call (707) 760-0502 to schedule a free site visit. We’ll walk the property with you, answer your questions in plain terms, and put a written price in your hands before you commit to anything.
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 Oakland Customers Say
"The ADU came out beautiful and the permitting, which terrified me, was handled start to finish. They kept me updated every week so I was never wondering what was happening."
- Shauna Mills"Turned our detached garage into a little guest house. Clean crew, respectful of the neighbors, and no mystery charges at the end. Love how it turned out."
- Carmela Fontes"I was nervous about adding on but they walked me through every step and every cost before we started. No surprise change orders halfway through like I'd heard horror stories about."
- Eleanor Pratt
