Meet the Lancaster Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Lancaster
We’re the crew that shows up at your property line with a tape measure, a permit checklist, and a written price already in hand. Every person on this page has pulled a permit in Los Angeles County, has stood on a Lancaster job site when the Santa Ana winds were kicking up dust, and has explained to a homeowner why their existing garage slab either will or won’t work for conversion without extra foundation work. We don’t share resumes. We share who actually answers the phone, draws your plans, and runs the inspection.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching too many Lancaster homeowners get handed off between a designer who didn’t understand footing depths and a builder who hadn’t read the energy compliance forms. Before that, I spent seven years as a project manager on commercial tenant improvements across the Antelope Valley, which taught me that the gap between drawings and finished work is where most ADU budgets die. I still review every permit set before it goes to the city, and I still answer calls at odd hours because a live person picking up is Haven Standard Clause 3, not a suggestion. My dry observation for Lancaster clients: the city’s planning turnaround has improved since 2019, but you still want your Title 24 calculations perfect the first time, because their energy desk does not give casual feedback.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been on our crew since 2018, which means he’s shepherded ADU projects through Lancaster’s inspection cycle back when the city was still figuring out its own ADU ordinance. He’s ICC-certified for residential building inspection and holds a C-36 plumbing license, which matters more than you’d think on garage conversions where the existing sewer lateral needs to be verified before you commit to a bathroom layout. Marcus is the one who climbs into your attic to confirm whether your HVAC can handle the additional load, or whether you’re looking at a mini-split line item you didn’t expect. He keeps a laminated copy of Lancaster’s setback requirements in his truck glovebox, which he replaces every time the city updates it. Off hours, he restores vintage motorcycles and has strong opinions about which Lancaster auto shop does honest carburetor work.
Sofia R., Senior Installer
Sofia came to us from a commercial framing crew in Palmdale and brought with it an intolerance for studs that aren’t plumb. She runs our new detached ADU and prefab coordination jobs, which means she’s the person on-site when a Dvele module or Abodu unit gets craned over your existing roofline. She’s factory-trained on Mighty Buildings’ 3D-printed panel system and has coordinated three Boxabl installs in the Antelope Valley, including one where the access road was too narrow for the delivery truck and she figured out the alternate rigging plan before the driver called to complain. Sofia will tell you directly if your site prep budget is realistic for the grade differential on your lot, and she documents every footing pour with photos that go straight to your client portal. She grows drought-tolerant succulents in her Lancaster backyard and has been trying to convince the rest of us that gravel landscaping is not depressing.
Darnell K., Service Coordinator
Darnell answers the phone when you call (661) 528-5298, schedules your free estimate, and tracks every permit submittal through Lancaster’s planning and building departments. He’s been with us since 2021 and has learned the city’s electronic plan check system well enough to know which plan checker tends to flag fire separation details and which one focuses on parking calculations. Before joining us, he coordinated logistics for a regional HVAC contractor, so he understands what “trades sequencing” actually means on a tight lot where the concrete truck and the electrical trench can’t occupy the same space. Darnell sends you the photo record after every site visit, and he’s the one who catches if a document is missing before it delays your inspection. He coaches youth basketball in Lancaster on weekends and has a running bet with Marcus about whether the city will ever fully digitize its historical septic records.
Jesse P., Apprentice
Jesse joined us in 2024 through a California community college construction technology program and is working toward his B-general contractor license. Right now he assists on site prep and utility rough-in, which in Lancaster often means hand-digging near existing lines because the as-builts from the 1980s can’t be trusted. He’s already passed his OSHA 30 certification and is learning to read geotechnical reports, the ones that tell us whether your soil is going to require over-excavation and import before we pour a slab. Jesse asks questions that remind the rest of us what we stopped explaining, which makes our pre-construction meetings better. He lives in a converted garage himself, in a family property near Avenue J, so he understands the actual experience of ADU living in a way that shows up in small details he notices on walkthroughs.
One Standard, Every Job
Every person on this page works under the same contract, the same written price guarantee, and the same documentation requirements, whether we’re designing a junior ADU in a Lancaster duplex or coordinating a Plant Prefab delivery to a sloped lot in Quartz Hill. The Haven Standard doesn’t vary by crew member. Clause 1 means your price is locked before work starts, no matter who measures your site. Clause 2 means your photo record comes from whoever visited. Clause 5 means no scope creep, whether it’s Nadia at the initial walkthrough or Jesse confirming conduit depth. We’re independently owned and operated here in Lancaster, not a franchise, and we answer to the same standard as every Ellery ADU Studio crew in California because that standard is what protects you from the design-build handoff problem that still wastes time and money across this industry.
Call (661) 528-5298 to schedule your free estimate. You’ll speak to a live person, and you’ll get a written price before any work starts.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Lancaster, serving Lancaster since 2015.