How Ellery ADU Studio Pasadena Was Born in Pasadena
We remember the exact afternoon in late 2015 when we knew this city needed something different. Nadia Ellery had just finished walking a bungalow on Los Robles, the kind of 1920s Pasadena cottage you see everywhere from Bungalow Heaven to the Caltech neighborhood. The homeowner, a woman in her sixties who had lived there thirty years, showed us the garage. She wanted her mother to live there. Three other companies had given her bids. One was sixty thousand dollars higher than the others with no explanation in writing. Another promised “permit included” but couldn’t name the Pasadena planning counter where permits get submitted. The third wanted half the money upfront before she’d seen a single drawing.
Nadia stood in that garage and smelled the eucalyptus coming through the open door, the way it does in Pasadena in autumn, and made a decision. We would open a branch here that operated the way this homeowner deserved. Every price in writing before anyone lifted a hammer. Every permit set drawn by people who knew Pasadena’s hillside ordinance and its historic district overlays. Every build documented with photographs the homeowner could see. That was the day Ellery ADU Studio Pasadena started, not as a new company but as a promise to this specific city.
Nadia Ellery’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Nadia didn’t stumble into ADU work. She was pulled into it by watching what happened when design and construction spoke different languages. Early in her career, she spent time on job sites in the San Gabriel Valley where the architect had drawn one thing, the framer had built another, and the homeowner was left paying for both versions. The smell of fresh lumber and the sound of a nail gun still take her back to those mornings. She learned to read a foundation plan the way some people learn to read music, by standing in the actual trench and matching the lines on paper to the rebar in the ground.
The work means something personal to her because an ADU is never just square footage. It’s the daughter who can afford to stay in Pasadena because her parents converted the garage. It’s the teacher who rents the unit behind his Altadena-adjacent home and walks to the Gold Line. Nadia has sat at kitchen tables in Madison Heights and Chapman Woods while families spread out their tax returns and tried to figure out if this was possible. She has seen the relief when someone finally says, “So we can actually know the price before we start?”
If she weren’t doing this, she’d probably be restoring old houses, the kind of careful, patient work that doesn’t reward speed. She collects mid-century pottery from estate sales in South Pasadena. She walks the Arroyo Seco on Sunday mornings. These things matter because they explain why she runs an ADU studio instead of a volume construction company. She likes knowing where every project stands. She likes the phone call six months after move-in when the homeowner says the unit stayed warm through the January cold snap. She gets out of bed for the specific, not the abstract.
Meet Nadia Ellery - The Person Behind Every Job
Nadia Ellery is the Owner and Founder of Ellery ADU Studio Pasadena. She has spent her career in the design-build world, moving from field coordination to project management to running her own branch. Her training came from years of working alongside tradespeople who taught her what actually happens when a drawing meets existing conditions, which is almost never what the drawing predicted. She holds the state license required to perform this work in California and maintains the insurance and bonding that protect every homeowner she serves.
What separates Nadia from a corporate technician is that she still visits active job sites weekly, still reviews permit comments personally, still takes the call when a homeowner is worried about a drywall seam. She believes in showing her work. Her commitment to you is direct: every conversation, every drawing, every change order goes through her or someone she has trained to her standard. She answers for this branch because her name is on it.
Our Promise to Pasadena Homeowners
We operate under The Haven Standard, five commitments that govern every job we take in Pasadena and the surrounding cities.
H. Have it in writing. Before we pull a permit or pour a footing, you receive a flat price, a written scope, and a written warranty. This is Clause 1. We learned its importance from the homeowner on Los Robles in 2015, and we have applied it to every project since.
A. Arrive on schedule. We give you a real window, a named point of contact, and a text when we are en route. Pasadena traffic on the 210 is unpredictable. We don’t pretend otherwise. We communicate instead.
V. Verified crews. Every professional working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. Their documentation is available to you.
E. Evidence on every job. Photographs and readings of what we actually found, not what we expected to find. This is how we prevent the blame-shifting that ruins ADU projects.
N. No surprises. No door upsell. No scope creep. No “while we are in here.” The price we write is the price you pay.
Our Credentials
State-Licensed - We maintain the California contractor license required to design, permit, and build accessory dwelling units in Pasadena and throughout Los Angeles County. This matters because unlicensed work on an ADU can void your homeowner’s insurance and create title problems when you sell.
Insured & Bonded - Our coverage protects your property and our team while we work in your home. This matters because an ADU is a year-long project with heavy materials, excavation, and multiple trades passing through your property.
Years of Local Experience - Since opening this branch in 2015, we have worked in Pasadena’s varied terrain, from the flat lots near Old Town to the hillside properties above the Arroyo where grading and drainage require specific expertise. This matters because Pasadena’s planning department has its own requirements, its own review timeline, and its own expectations for how a submittal should look.
Strong Local Reputation - We are known in the neighborhoods where we work. Homeowners in this market research extensively before contacting a contractor, and they read the critical reviews as carefully as the positive ones. We have earned our standing by documenting our work and standing behind it.
These credentials are not decorations. They are the minimum a homeowner should demand before allowing a crew to excavate near their foundation and rewire their electrical service. We encourage you to verify any contractor’s license status through the California Contractors State License Board before signing a contract.
Rooted in Pasadena
This branch lives in the details of this city. We know that a garage conversion in Bungalow Heaven faces different design review than one in the Linda Vista hillside zone. We know the Pasadena planning counter opens at eight and which days the line is shortest. We have submitted permits that had to account for the Colorado Street Bridge viewshed and others that needed oak tree protection plans for the specimens on the property. Our team lives in or near this city. We shop at the same hardware stores, wait at the same DMV, and worry about the same parking tickets. When we say we are independently owned and operated, we mean Nadia Ellery answers the phone, signs the checks, and walks the final inspection with you.
Call (626) 427-9813 to schedule your free estimate. We’ll bring a written price, a clear scope, and no pressure.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Pasadena, serving Pasadena and surrounding communities since 2015.