Meet the Riverside Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Riverside
Every ADU we’ve drawn, permitted, and built in Riverside since 2015 started with this crew around a table. We’re the people who measure your existing garage slab at 7 a.m., flag the setback variance with the city planner by noon, and send you photos of both before dinner. What unites us isn’t a mission statement. It’s that none of us has patience for the designer-versus-builder finger-pointing that wastes months and money. One contract, one written price, one team that stays through final inspection.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner & Lead Designer
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching a neighbor’s garage conversion stall for eleven months. The designer blamed the framer, the framer blamed the city, and the homeowner paid for both. I built this studio so that couldn’t happen. I hold a California architectural license and sit on the drawings for every project we permit in Riverside, from the initial site survey through the final T24 energy compliance check. I also keep a spreadsheet of every slab thickness, soil report, and PG&E service upgrade we’ve encountered in Riverside County, because the same questions come up and the answers shouldn’t cost you another week. Offsite, I’m usually restoring a 1960s aluminum trailer I found in Jurupa Valley. It’s teaching me more about moisture barriers than I expected.
Marcus T., Senior Installer & Field Supervisor
Marcus has been running ADU site crews in Riverside and San Bernardino counties for fourteen years. He started in conventional framing, moved into modular set and finish work when prefab ADUs began arriving in Southern California around 2018, and now coordinates our relationships with the factory teams at Abodu, Dvele, and Mighty Buildings. His specialty is the crane-set day, the single most expensive hour on most prefab projects. Marcus maps truck routes, tree trims, and utility clearances two weeks ahead because a crane standing idle costs roughly $400 per hour. He also trains every apprentice on our photo documentation protocol, Haven Standard Clause 3: date-stamped, geotagged, with a voice note explaining what changed. He keeps a collection of vintage tape measures in his truck. The oldest one still reads true.
Daniela R., Service Coordinator & Permit Expediter
Daniela joined us in 2019 after four years at the Riverside County Building & Safety counter, where she processed ADU permits and learned exactly which plans examiners flag fire separation details and which ones focus first on parking replacement calculations. She now runs our pre-application meetings with the city, submits corrected plans within 48 hours of any correction notice, and maintains our permit tracker so clients know where their project sits without calling. Her certification is in CALGreen Tier 1 compliance, which matters more than most homeowners realize until the inspector asks for the documentation. She grew up in Casa Blanca, knows the local streets by their older names, and keeps a running list of which Riverside neighborhoods still have unpermitted converted garages from the 1980s. That history matters when we’re calculating what the city will grandfather and what needs full current-code compliance.
Javier L., Apprentice Installer
Javier came to us in 2022 through a community construction program in Eastside Riverside. He’d spent two years in residential HVAC and wanted to learn the full build sequence from foundation to final punch list. He works directly under Marcus on framing, siding, and the critical fire-rated assemblies that separate an ADU from the primary residence. He’s also our in-house specialist on James Hardie fiber-cement siding installations, a material we specify frequently in Riverside’s climate because it handles the Santa Ana wind cycles and summer thermal expansion better than vinyl or wood composites. Javier documents every phase with the photo record we send to clients. He lives in Arlington Heights, bikes to most Riverside job sites, and is studying for his B-license. His first solo task was a Junior ADU kitchenette rough-in in Wood Streets. It passed inspection on the first call.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard isn’t a poster in our break room. It’s the operating system we run on.
Clause 1 means every client gets a written price before any work starts, signed by Nadia, with line items for design, permitting, site prep, construction, and utility connections. No “call for a quote” because the quote is already written when we meet. Clause 3 means Marcus or Javier uploads photos from every site visit, tagged and dated, so you see the 4-inch slab, the setback measurement, the conduit run, not a summary of how it felt. Clause 5 locks the scope at signing. No door-side upsells, no “while we’re here” additions that double the budget.
Our 365-Day Done Right Promise applies to every ADU we build in Riverside. If the finished unit doesn’t match the permitted drawings, we make it right. In writing. Before the project starts.
We’ve designed, permitted, and built more than 900 ADUs since 2015. Every one had a written price upfront. Every one had a documented photo record. Every one was backed by the same standard this crew works under today.
Call (951) 418-2910 to schedule your free estimate. A live person answers, 24/7.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Riverside, serving Riverside since 2015.