Your ADU Contractor in Santa Paula

Pick the contractor who asks which permit track your lot takes before quoting a size. In Santa Paula that means telling Chapter 16.227's building-permit-only path from the ADU-permit path, reading the FEMA zone on a creek-side parcel and the fire map on a foothill one, and filing the separate Ventura County Fire package without being asked. Master Construction has worked in Santa Paula since 1994 as a family-owned general contractor, license #1027281, with electrical, plumbing, concrete and finish crews on payroll. We design, permit and build under one contract and put the feasibility answer in writing before you spend on drawings.

Unit type sets the number first. A garage conversion inside the state safe harbor costs the least because it keeps the shell, the setbacks and the existing sewer connection, and pays no connection charge. A detached unit adds a foundation on expansive clay, its own solar array under the energy code in force since January 2026, and a separate sewer and water connection billed by floor area. After that come the utility runs, whether the main panel can carry a subpanel, size relative to the impact-fee line at 750 square feet, flood or fire construction if the address calls for it, and finish level. We walk the lot, then write a fixed-price scope with every allowance listed.

Plan on several months from first sketch to keys, with the permit clocks now fixed by state law. Design and engineering come first, including the geotechnical report and Title 24 calcs on the city's submittal sheet. Once filed, Santa Paula has 15 business days to confirm the application is complete and 60 days to approve or deny; city plan review has been running about 30 days, and the county fire district reviews on its own track at the same time. A garage conversion builds faster than a detached unit with a new foundation, utilities and roof. A flood zone or a WUI address adds engineering time up front, not at the end.

In draft form only, as of 2026. Building & Safety posts six ADU Standard Plans named A350, A400, A400R, AG436, A640 and A750, sized roughly by the numbers in their names, and the city's page states that all plans are draft at this time. No fee reduction is published. We check the current status with the division at the start of every job, because a finished city plan would shorten review: state law requires a 30-day decision on a detached ADU built to a plan the city has already approved in the current code cycle. Until then, a custom set drawn to Chapter 16.227's objective standards is the reliable path.

Yes, and it takes the lightest permit path in town. A conversion of an existing garage takes the building-permit-only track under Chapter 16.227, keeps the garage's existing setbacks, may add up to 150 square feet for a new entry, and needs no replacement parking because Santa Paula requires none for any ADU. It pays no sewer or water connection charge on a single-family lot and, as a conversion, needs no solar array. The work is in the shell: insulation, a slab moisture check, egress windows, a subpanel, and often a sewer tie-in with the right fall. A garage converted before 2020 without a permit can be legalized under state amnesty.

Possibly, and the rule is about siting rather than style. Chapter 16.227 says an ADU on, or within 600 feet of, a property listed in the California Register of Historical Resources must be placed so it is not visible from any public right-of-way. Main Street and the surrounding early-1900s blocks hold listed resources, so a lot within a couple of blocks of downtown can fall inside the radius. In practice the unit goes behind the house, screened by the house itself, the fence or the required landscape planting, and materials still match the primary dwelling. Review stays objective; there is no design hearing. We confirm the 600-foot question with Planning before drawing.

Yes, for terms of 30 days or longer. Santa Paula bars any ADU or JADU from renting for a shorter term regardless of when it was built, so a vacation listing is out and a monthly or annual lease is fine. No owner-occupancy rule applies to an ADU, which suits landlords who live elsewhere; a JADU that shares a bathroom with the house still requires the owner to live in one of the two. The unit cannot be sold separately from the house. Impact fees do not apply at 750 square feet or less, and a conversion unit on a single-family lot pays no sewer or water connection charge.

No. Civil Code 4751 voids any CC&R provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts an ADU or JADU on a single-family lot, and since June 30, 2025 a board's reasonable restrictions cannot include fees or other financial requirements. That covers Harvest at Limoneira and any other Santa Paula association. The board can still apply objective standards on materials and style that are no stricter than state ADU law, and its architectural review can run in parallel with the city's, but it is a third party to the permit and cannot influence the city's decision. We submit the same drawings to the board and the city so neither waits on the other.

Yes, under one contract and one project lead. Feasibility starts with the zoning check and optional sketch review at Planning, the FEMA and fire maps for the address, and a look at the panel, the sewer lateral and the meter. Design follows, with the geotechnical report, Title 24 and structural calcs the city lists on its submittal sheet. We file to Building & Safety and to Ventura County Fire Protection District, track corrections through both, then build with our own electrical, plumbing, concrete, framing, roofing and drywall crews. Inspections by the city and the fire district run through the Certificate of Occupancy, and we hand over keys with the permit closed.