How Ellery ADU Studio Santa Clarita Was Born in Santa Clarita
It was 2015, the year California rewrote its ADU laws and Santa Clarita’s planning department suddenly had a queue that wrapped around the building. Nadia Ellery was already working in the trade, watching projects fall apart in the gap between designer and builder. One afternoon in late October, she sat in a driveway on Seco Canyon Road, watching a homeowner argue with two contractors who were each blaming the other for a foundation pour that missed the setback by fourteen inches. The drawings said one thing. The builder said another. The permit was on hold. The homeowner was out sixty thousand dollars with nothing but a concrete slab and a fight.
That evening, Nadia called the national Ellery ADU Studio office. She had heard about their design-build model, one contract, one price, one throat to choke. She wanted to bring that structure to Santa Clarita because she was tired of watching neighbors get hurt. The branch opened three months later. Her promise, written into every estimate since: permitted, built, and finished to the drawings.
Nadia Ellery’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Nadia didn’t stumble into this work. She was pulled into it by the smell of sawdust in her grandfather’s workshop, though he never gave her lessons and she never asked. She learned by watching, then by doing, then by fixing what other people had done wrong. The first ADU she ever touched was a converted garage in Newhall in 2012. The contractor had left the electrical panel in the old location, which meant the new kitchen was running on extension cords buried in the walls. She remembers the drywall dust in her hair, the way the homeowner’s hands shook when she showed him, and the three days she spent rewiring it properly because she couldn’t sleep knowing it was there.
That was thirteen years ago. Since then, she has walked through hundreds of Santa Clarita backyards, measured setbacks with a wheel that clicks on gravel, and sat at kitchen tables in Saugus and Canyon Country while homeowners explained why they needed the extra space. For their aging mother. For their adult son who came back from school different. For the rental income that would let them keep the house. Nadia doesn’t build ADUs because the market is hot. She builds them because she has seen what happens when a family gets that space right, and what happens when they don’t.
If she weren’t doing this, she’d probably be restoring old motorcycles. She likes machines that reveal their logic when you pay attention. An ADU is the same. The foundation tells you if the soil was tested. The framing tells you if the carpenter cared. The permit folder tells you if anyone was steering. She gets out of bed for the moment when a homeowner opens their finished unit and understands that nothing was hidden from them.
Meet Nadia Ellery - The Person Behind Every Job
Nadia Ellery is the Owner and Founder of Ellery ADU Studio Santa Clarita. She holds a California contractor’s license and has spent over a decade in the design-build trade, with specialized training in ADU-specific code compliance, Title 24 energy calculations, and the local overlay requirements that govern Santa Clarita’s hillside zones and fire severity districts.
What separates Nadia from a corporate franchise technician is simple: she signs her name to the estimate, and she answers for it. She still visits active job sites weekly. She still reviews permit corrections personally. On weekends, she rides her 1974 Honda CB750 through the Santa Clarita hills, which taught her that maintenance is cheaper than repair and that the person who built something should be findable when it needs attention.
Her direct commitment to every customer: your ADU will be quoted in writing before we start, documented with photos when we leave, and built to the drawings we both signed.
Our Promise to Santa Clarita Homeowners
Our values are organized under the Haven Standard, which governs every Ellery branch nationwide. We reference it by clause because specifics matter more than sentiment.
Clause 1: Have it in writing. Every ADU we quote in Santa Clarita arrives as a flat price with a written scope and a written warranty. No verbal allowances. No “we’ll figure it out in the field.” In 2019, a homeowner in Valencia asked us to match a competitor’s bid that was twelve thousand dollars lower. We walked through the line items together. Their quote had no foundation specification, no insulation R-value, and a permit fee estimate that was half the city’s actual rate. We showed them the difference. They chose us. The project finished on budget. Theirs, we learned later, did not.
Clause 2: Arrive on schedule. A real window, a named crew lead, a text when we are en route. Not because we are efficient, but because your time is not ours to waste.
Clause 3: Verified crews. Every professional working under our name in Santa Clarita is required to hold the license and insurance California requires. License numbers are available on request.
Clause 4: Evidence on every job. Photos and readings of what we actually found. The moisture meter reading before we open the wall. The compaction test before we pour. The final walkthrough checklist, signed by you and by us.
Clause 5: No surprises. No door upsell. No “while we are in here” scope creep. If we find something unexpected, we stop, photograph it, and quote the repair in writing before we proceed.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed contractor - California requires this for any ADU build over $500. We exceed that threshold on every job. For you, it means the work is subject to state inspection and the license board’s complaint resolution process.
- Insured and bonded - Your property is protected if something goes wrong, and our bond ensures there is recourse even if we could not complete the work.
- Years of local experience - Nadia Ellery has worked in Santa Clarita’s specific regulatory environment since before the 2017 ADU law changes, through the 2020 updates, and into the current tiered permitting system. That continuity matters when your project crosses multiple code cycles.
- Strong local reputation - We are known in Santa Clarita’s planning department, known by the inspectors who review our work, and known by the homeowners who have referred their neighbors.
These credentials matter because an ADU is not a transaction. It is a year-long relationship inside your property line, governed by permits that outlast the build, with consequences that affect your home’s value and your family’s safety. You need someone who can be found, who can be held accountable, and who has already proven they understand how Santa Clarita actually works.
Rooted in Santa Clarita
Our office sits within the Santa Clarita Valley, and our work extends through Stevenson Ranch, Castaic, and the canyon communities that fall under LA County’s ADU rules but Santa Clarita’s practical orbit. Nadia has measured lots in Sand Canyon where the slope triggers geotechnical requirements most designers miss. She has navigated the HOA restrictions in Valencia’s planned communities that ban detached units outright. She has sat in the parking lot of the Santa Clarita Planning Division, coffee going cold, waiting for a correction letter that would unlock a permit for a family in Saugus.
We are independently owned and operated. The Haven Standard comes from Ellery ADU Studio’s national framework. The trucks, the license, and the neighbor you wave to are local. That is the balance we try to keep.
Call (747) 294-4817 to schedule your free written estimate. We are here Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Santa Clarita, serving Santa Clarita since 2015.