How Ellery ADU Studio Riverside Was Born in Riverside
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 Riverside County stumble through the same broken process: hire an architect for drawings, hire a contractor for bidding, watch the two blame each other when the plans didn’t match the budget. The moment that stuck with us happened in a kitchen in Orangecrest. A homeowner had paid for a full design set only to learn no local contractor would touch it for less than triple the architect’s estimate. The drawings sat in a drawer. The guest house never got built. The family ate the cost and the architect moved on.
Nadia called us that evening and said, “We’re doing this differently in Riverside.” Not starting a new company - Ellery ADU Studio already existed - but bringing the design-build model here, where it was needed. One contract. One price. One person answering when things went sideways. That kitchen table conversation became our branch’s founding moment.
Nadia Ellery’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Nadia didn’t come to this work through business school. She came through job sites - the smell of fresh sawdust in morning air, the particular quiet of a house before the crew arrives, the satisfaction of a wall that squares true. The tradesman who trained us worked out of a garage in Pedley, building additions with hand tools and a patience that seemed extinct. Nadia spent two years fetching coffee and holding the dumb end of the tape before he let her cut a stud. Those mornings taught her what this work actually is: physical, exacting, and deeply personal because it happens in someone’s home while they’re living in it.
The defining moment came on a job in Glen Avon. A family needed a unit for an aging parent. The existing garage was rotted at the sill plate, the concrete cracked, the roofline wrong for any standard plan. Nadia spent a weekend on her hands and knees with a flashlight, mapping every irregularity, then redrew the foundation herself rather than force the family into a prefab solution that wouldn’t fit. The parent moved in that following spring. Nadia still drives past sometimes.
That’s what gets her out of bed: the problem that doesn’t have an obvious answer, the site that breaks the standard plan, the family that needs someone to think harder rather than charge more. If she weren’t doing this, she’d probably be restoring old houses somewhere with worse cell service and more termite damage. The work itself is the point. The 10-plus years since that garage in Glen Avon have only sharpened that.
Meet Nadia Ellery - The Person Behind Every Job
Nadia Ellery is Owner and Founder of Ellery ADU Studio Riverside. She holds the state license required for the structural and finish work we perform, and she’s completed the specialized training in California’s evolving ADU code that most general contractors never pursue. What separates her from a corporate franchise technician is simple: she’s the one who answers when something goes wrong, and she’s the one who signs the check if we have to make it right.
Outside of work, Nadia restores vintage motorcycles - a 1973 Honda CB350 sits half-finished in her garage in Sunnyslope, waiting for the winter rainy season when ADU work slows. That patience carries over. She’ll spend an hour explaining why a particular foundation detail matters to a homeowner in El Sobrante, because she remembers not knowing herself. Her commitment to you is direct: every job we take gets her attention, not just her name on the truck.
Our Promise to Riverside Homeowners
Our values aren’t poster slogans. They’re policies with consequences.
Honest pricing. We quote in writing before we start, under Haven Standard Clause 1. The price doesn’t change because we found something we should have seen. In 2019, a job in Rubidoux came in high because we missed a sewer depth issue during walkthrough. We ate the difference. The clause works both ways - it keeps us careful during estimation.
Quality parts and verified crews. Haven Standard Clause 3 requires every pro working under our name to carry the license and insurance California requires, with license numbers documented on your paperwork. We don’t send whoever’s available. We send who we trust in your home.
Standing behind every job. Clause 5: no surprises. No “while we’re in here” upsell. In Corona last year, a homeowner asked about upgrading windows mid-project. We wrote a separate scope with a separate price, dated and signed, before any additional work started. That’s not bureaucracy. That’s the promise.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed - California requires specific licensing for the structural and finish work we perform on ADUs; we meet every requirement and renew on schedule
- Insured & bonded - protection for your property and our crew, with documentation available before work begins
- Years of local experience - serving Riverside, Rubidoux, Pedley, El Sobrante, Sunnyslope, Glen Avon, Mira Loma, Norco, El Cerrito, Eastvale, Corona, and Rialto since 2015
- Strong local reputation - built project by project, with documented records under The Haven Standard for every job completed
These credentials matter because an ADU is a six-figure project that takes 8-14 months from permit to final inspection. You’re not hiring us for a weekend. You’re trusting us with your property, your financing, and your daily life while construction happens feet from where you sleep. State licensing means someone verified our competence. Insurance means you’re protected if something goes wrong. Local experience means we know which Riverside County plan checker will flag your foundation detail and how to head that off before submission. Reputation means we have something to lose if we disappoint you.
Rooted in Riverside
We’re not pretending to be from somewhere else. Nadia lives in Sunnyslope. Our trucks pass the same citrus groves you do on the 91. We’ve pulled permits at the same Riverside County counter where you’ll wait, and we know which days the line moves faster. We’ve built in the clay-heavy soils near Pedley that crack standard foundations, and we’ve navigated the HOA restrictions in Eastvale that kill projects before they start. The brands we specify - James Hardie for siding that handles our inland heat, Abodu and Cover for prefab units when the site allows, Dvele for high-performance builds - are chosen for how they perform here, not how they read in a brochure. This is our home. We’re building in it.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Riverside, serving Riverside since 2015.