ADU Contractor in Burbank
Burbank has some of the most straightforward ADU lots in Los Angeles County — and one part of the city where that stops being true.
What ADUs look like in Burbank
The flats, including Magnolia Park and the grid south and west of it, are largely 1920s–40s bungalows and postwar tract houses on flat, regular, rectangular lots with a detached garage at the rear off a straight driveway. That configuration is close to the ideal ADU candidate: the footprint exists, access is easy for equipment, and the setbacks are usually already satisfied. Above Glenoaks, in the hillside streets toward the Country Club, it is a different project — slope, a geotechnical report, engineered footings and possibly a Hillside Development Permit, plus fire-zone construction requirements.
On a flat Burbank lot, a garage conversion is often the cheapest legal unit you can build anywhere in the county. Above Glenoaks, price the foundation before the finishes.
Three ways to add an ADU in Burbank
Almost every Burbank ADU we build is one of three things, and the right one is usually decided by what is already standing in the back yard rather than by preference.
| Route | Suits a Burbank lot when | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Detached new build | You have rear yard to spare and want the unit to feel like a proper small house — full-height ceilings, its own entry, real separation from the main house | New construction triggers the solar requirement, and on the hillside streets it triggers engineered foundations too |
| Garage conversion | There is a sound detached garage at the rear, which on the flats there usually is. The slab, walls and roof already exist and the setbacks are already satisfied | You lose the garage. Slabs from the 1920s and 30s often need work, and an unpermitted garage has to be legalised before it can be converted |
| Junior ADU inside the house | You have a bedroom with exterior access you can give up, and you want the cheapest route to a legal second unit | Capped at 500 square feet, and it takes a room out of the main house. Rarely the right answer if the garage is available |
On the flats the garage conversion wins more often than people expect, because the expensive parts of an ADU — foundation, roof, exterior walls — are already paid for. We walk through that trade in detail in detached ADU vs garage conversion, and garage conversions covers how we handle the structure itself.
What an ADU costs in Burbank
What moves a Burbank project inside our published ranges: Hillside lots above Glenoaks add a geotechnical report, engineered footings and possibly a Hillside Development Permit. Fire-zone construction brings Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents and ignition-resistant siding. The third and least expected is a Burbank Water and Power service upgrade or underground conversion — this is one of the main reasons ADU quotes in Burbank vary so widely, because some bidders leave it out and discover it later.
| ADU type | Typical all-in budget |
|---|---|
| Garage conversion | $100,000–$200,000 |
| Detached, about 500 sq ft | $180,000–$260,000 |
| Detached, 700–800 sq ft | $225,000–$350,000 |
| Detached, 1,000 sq ft | $300,000–$450,000+ |
These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.
Budgeting ranges, not quotes — see the full ADU cost breakdown.
How the permit process works in Burbank
Plans are submitted through ProjectDox to Building and Safety, then reviewed by Planning, Public Works, BWP Electric, BWP Water, Fire and the school district. State law requires a decision within 60 days of a complete application, but Burbank’s first review realistically runs up to eight weeks — which is exactly why we clear every correction in a single cycle rather than trickling responses back and restarting the queue each time. Zoning pre-clearance with the Planning Division at 150 N. Third Street comes first, covering zone, transit-map height allowance and Hillside Area rules.
What we check on a Burbank lot first
- Zone (R-1, R-1-H or fire zone) and Hillside Area rules
- Transit-map height allowance, which decides 17 ft versus 18 ft plus roof pitch
- BWP electric and water service capacity, and whether an upgrade is needed
- Rooftop solar, which the energy code requires on a new detached unit
That site walk is free, and it is deliberately where we tell people if a lot does not work.
How long a Burbank ADU takes, end to end
The 60-day statutory clock above applies to one step: the City’s decision on a complete application. It is not how long your project takes. This is the honest version of the whole timeline.
| Phase | What happens | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Feasibility | Site walk, zone and Hillside check, BWP capacity, a straight answer on whether the lot works | 2–4 weeks |
| Design and engineering | Layout, structural, Title 24, a 3D rendering you approve before anything is ordered | 2–4 weeks |
| Plan check | ProjectDox submittal, multi-department review, corrections cleared in one cycle | 4–8 weeks |
| Construction | Garage conversion at the short end, detached new build at the long end | 3–6 months |
| Inspections and close-out | Final sign-offs, utility connections, certificate of occupancy | 1–4 weeks |
Add the phases up and a detached unit runs roughly five to ten months from first conversation to keys, with a garage conversion at the short end of that. The phases that slip are almost always feasibility, when a lot turns out to need something nobody checked, and plan check, when corrections get answered piecemeal. How long an ADU takes breaks the same timeline down across Los Angeles generally.
Burbank Water and Power: the part most quotes miss
Burbank is one of the few cities in the region with its own municipal utility for both electricity and water. That is genuinely good for residents — but it means an ADU here is reviewed by BWP Electric and BWP Water as separate departments, on their own terms, and it is the single most common reason two Burbank ADU quotes come in tens of thousands of dollars apart.
Three things we price before anyone signs anything:
- Electric service capacity. A new dwelling with its own kitchen, laundry, heat pump and a required solar system is real additional load. Older Burbank houses often sit on a panel that cannot carry it, and the upgrade is a cost, not a formality.
- Overhead to underground. Depending on how your property is fed, a new service can trigger an underground conversion. It is not exotic, but it is expensive, and it is the classic item a low bid leaves out.
- Water service and metering. Whether the ADU shares the existing service or takes its own affects both the up-front cost and what you can do later if you ever want to meter the unit separately.
None of this is a reason not to build in Burbank. It is a reason to get it priced honestly at the start. If a quote does not mention BWP at all, that is not a cheaper builder — it is an incomplete quote.
Where we build
We build throughout Burbank and the eastern San Fernando Valley — see everything we build in Burbank, plus North Hollywood and Glendale next door.
ADU questions Burbank homeowners ask us
Why do Burbank ADU quotes vary so much?
Usually the utility. A BWP service upgrade or an underground conversion is easy to omit from a bid and expensive to add mid-project. When you compare quotes here, ask each contractor in writing whether the electrical service upgrade is included or excluded.
Is a Magnolia Park garage a good ADU candidate?
Typically yes. Flat lot, rear detached garage, straight driveway for equipment access and setbacks that usually already work. The variables are the slab condition and the panel, both of which we check on the site walk.
Do you handle the permits in Burbank, or do I?
We do — design, engineering, submittal and every correction, dealing with the Burbank reviewers directly.
Can you build it while we carry on living in the house?
For a detached unit, yes, and most Burbank clients do. The work happens in the rear yard with its own access down the driveway, and the disruption is noise, dust and a skip out front rather than losing rooms. A garage conversion is similar. The exception is a junior ADU inside the house, where you are handing over a bedroom and part of the plumbing, and that one is worth planning around.
What if my garage was never permitted?
Very common on the older Burbank streets, and it is not a dead end. The structure has to be brought into the permit record before it can legally become a dwelling, which usually means opening up sections so an inspector can see the framing and foundation, then correcting whatever is found. It adds time and cost, and it is far better discovered during feasibility than during plan check. We check the permit history on every conversion before we quote.
Does the ADU need its own utility meters?
It depends on the configuration and on what BWP requires for your service. Separate metering makes the unit easier to rent and bill independently; sharing the existing service is usually cheaper up front. It is a decision worth making deliberately at design stage rather than discovering after the walls are closed, because retrofitting a separate service later is the expensive version.
Will you tell me if my lot is a bad candidate?
Yes, and the site walk is free precisely so that we can. A hillside parcel above Glenoaks that needs a geotechnical report and engineered footings, a lot where the BWP service upgrade swallows the budget, a rear yard that cannot take the setbacks — we would rather say so in the first two hours than take a deposit and hand you the bad news at plan check. You get a written proposal within 48 hours of that visit, and it either has a real number in it or it explains why we do not think you should proceed.
Next steps
For what the code allows on your lot, see Burbank ADU rules or run the ADU rules calculator. For our scope, process and warranty, see ADU construction, garage conversions and how we run a project. Our garage-to-ADU conversion is photographed at every stage. Green Design and Build is CSLB #1110975, licensed, bonded and insured.