ADU Before & After in San Francisco, CA
Photographs do what promises can’t. A written guarantee matters, a line-item price matters, a badge at the door matters. But seeing a cramped Sunset District backyard become a rentable one-bedroom home, or a Bernal Heights garage give way to a sunlit studio, tells you more in five seconds than any paragraph we could write. Here’s the work, start to finish.
Recent Transformations
Detached Backyard ADU in the Sunset District
The lot had a patch of dirt and a rotting retaining wall where a second home should have been. The owner wanted rental income but assumed the grade change made it impossible. We worked with the natural slope rather than fighting it, which meant less excavation, a tighter budget, and a one-bedroom unit that steps down to a small private patio. The result rented within two weeks of the final inspection.
Garage Conversion in Bernal Heights
This garage had a sloped floor, a single bare bulb, and about forty years of accumulated storage. The owner wanted their mother close by but not under the same roof. Converting the footprint made more sense than building new because the foundation was already there and the setback (the required gap between the structure and the property line) stayed untouched. We replaced the slab, insulated the walls, added a bathroom and compact kitchen, and gave her a private street-side entrance.
Room Addition Over an Existing Footprint in the Richmond District
The family needed a third bedroom but had no yard to build out. Going up was the answer, and because the original kitchen wing could carry the load, we saved them the cost of a full foundation pour. A new primary suite with a walk-in closet and a modest bathroom now sits where attic joists used to be. It added about 350 square feet to the house without moving a single property line.
Abutting Lot ADU in the Outer Mission
Fifty feet long and only eighteen feet wide. Most contractors told this owner the side lot was too narrow to build on. It wasn’t. A modular frame, a custom floor plan that put the bathroom at the far end and the kitchen along the long wall, and careful window placement made it feel twice its actual size. The owner now collects rent from a space that produced nothing for twenty years.
Tuff Shed Conversion Accessory Unit in Outer Sunset
This one surprised even us. The shed had good bones, and because we work with Tuff Shed structures regularly, we knew exactly what the framing could handle. Insulation, drywall, a mini-split, and a dedicated electrical run turned a storage box into a quiet, climate-controlled office about thirty feet from the back door. Total cost came in well under a from-scratch build of the same size.
Prefab Detached ADU with Dvele in Noe Valley
The site had a 14% grade and a mature magnolia tree the owner refused to remove. A stick-built project would have meant months of open trenches and a crane schedule that dominated the block. We recommended a Dvele prefab unit instead. It arrived in two modules, set in a single day, and the tree never lost a branch. The family had renters by spring.
Want Results Like These?
Every project above started the same way: a homeowner with a question about their lot and a phone call. You’ll get a written price before any work starts, not after. Call (831) 272-7212 and let’s walk your property together. The first visit costs you nothing but about forty minutes.
Written by Miles Hartwell, Owner at Sutton ADU San Francisco, serving San Francisco since 2006.
