More home.Same lot.

Most likely yes. Under current state law most single-family lots in California can add at least one ADU, and many can add a detached ADU plus a JADU carved out of the existing house. Multifamily lots have their own, more generous allowances.

What the ordinance permits and what your lot can actually take are two different questions, though. Setbacks, existing structures, easements, where the sewer lateral and the panel are, and how a crew would physically get equipment into the back yard all narrow it. That is exactly what the free site walk settles, and it is the only honest way to answer for a specific address.

The honest answer is that we do not quote a price without seeing the property, and we will not give you a cost-per-square-foot number over chat. Two lots on the same street can differ by a lot once utility runs, grade, access, and the condition of what is already there come into it, and a number pulled from a blog is not a quote.

What we will do is give you a real number after the free site walk, with the scope written down. Bayfront's model is fixed scope and fixed schedule, with no change-order surprises — which only works if the number is built on an actual look at the property.

If you want to work the numbers yourself in the meantime, the feasibility calculator gives you a cost range, the monthly payment, and whether the rent covers it, with every assumption adjustable.

State law puts two clocks on the city, and both were tightened in January 2026.

The city has 15 business days to tell you in writing whether your application is complete — and if it is not, to list exactly what is missing and how to fix it. Once the application is complete, it has 60 days to approve or deny it where there is already a house on the lot. The statute now says "approve or deny" rather than the older, weaker "act on," and a denial has to come back in writing with a full list of what is deficient and how to remedy it.

The statutory clock is not the whole calendar, though. Real timelines turn on how quickly plan-check corrections get cleared, which is the part we manage rather than hand back to you.

For an ADU, no. A city cannot impose an owner-occupancy requirement on an ADU. The old sunset date on that prohibition was removed, so it is the standing rule rather than a temporary one. The single exception is an ADU that has been sold separately to a qualified buyer.

For a JADU, it depends — and this changed on January 1, 2026. Owner occupancy is required only if the JADU has shared sanitation facilities with the main house. If the JADU has its own separate sanitation facilities, owner occupancy is not required. Where it does apply, the owner can live in either the JADU or the remaining part of the house.

Almost everything written before 2026 says a JADU always requires an owner on site. That is out of date, and it is worth knowing if you ruled a JADU out on that basis.