Meet the Van Nuys Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Van Nuys
We’re the crew that shows up in Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, and across the Valley with the same license number on every truck and the same rule on every job: written price first, photo record every visit, done right or we make it right. What ties us together isn’t a handbook. It’s that none of us will sign off on work we’d hesitate to put our own name on. Nadia Ellery set that tone in 2015, and it’s how we still operate on ADU design, garage conversions, detached units, junior ADUs, and site prep across Los Angeles County.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner & Principal Designer
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching too many Van Nuys homeowners get passed between an architect who didn’t build and a builder who didn’t read drawings. I hold a California contractor’s license and spent my first five years in the field before I ever sat behind a principal designer’s monitor. I still walk every site we take on in Van Nuys, North Hills, or Sherman Oaks, and I still write the price myself before we start. What I ask of the team: name the problem in plain language, name the fix in plain language, and if something’s off, call it out before the client has to. I live in Valley Glen with two dogs who have zero patience for my spreadsheet habit.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been with us since 2019, which in ADU years means he’s shepherded roughly 200 units from permit set to final inspection. He’s certified in Title 24 energy compliance documentation and handles our most complex garage conversions in Van Nuys, especially the 1950s slabs with no rebar and the surprise oil tanks we find behind old stucco. Marcus grew up in Pacoima and still coaches youth basketball at the park where he played. He has a habit of photographing foundation cracks with a quarter for scale, then texting the homeowner before I even see the file.
Elena R., Senior Installer
Elena joined us in 2021 after eight years with a modular manufacturer in Riverside, which means she can spot a prefab panel that’s been racked out of square before it clears the truck bed. She leads our installs for Abodu, Cover, and Mighty Buildings units in Van Nuys and the surrounding Valley, and she’s the one who translates manufacturer specs into what our concrete crew actually needs to pour. Elena is certified in OSHA 30 and holds a HAZWOPER 40-hour for the occasional mid-century garage with asbestos siding. She commutes from North Hollywood on a motorcycle she rebuilt herself and keeps a running list of every restaurant that will let her park where she can see it.
David K., Service Coordinator
David is the voice most Van Nuys clients hear first, and he’s the one who makes sure the live-answer promise actually happens when someone calls at 6:47 on a Saturday. He’s been with us since 2017, which means he’s coordinated permits through LADBS, Burbank, Glendale, and San Fernando’s separate systems enough times to know which plan checker will flag a setback variance and which one wants the fire separation detail on sheet A3. David holds a certification in construction document technology from ACI and speaks enough Spanish to walk a Spanish-speaking homeowner through a scope change without putting them on hold. He keeps a wall map in the office with push pins for every ADU we’ve completed, color-coded by year, and he’s running out of wall.
Jin W., Apprentice
Jin started with us in 2023 through a union carpentry apprenticeship and splits time between field installs and permit research. He’s already handled three full junior ADU conversions in Van Nuys start to finish, under Marcus’s supervision, and he’s the reason we finally standardized our photo-naming convention (he wrote a script that timestamps and geotags every image automatically). Jin is working toward his contractor’s license and has passed the law and business exam already. He lives in an apartment in Panorama City and is quietly saving to build his own ADU in his parents’ backyard in Koreatown, which means he asks the questions a homeowner would ask before they know to ask them.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard isn’t a poster on our wall in Van Nuys. It’s the contract language Nadia wrote in 2015 and still signs on every project. Clause 1: written price before any work starts. Clause 5: no surprises, no scope creep, no door-side upsells. The 365-Day Done Right Promise means if your finished ADU doesn’t match the permitted drawings, we fix it, documented and in writing before we break ground. Every visit produces a photo record you receive, not a summary of how it felt. Across the ten brands under Haven, that standard travels with us. But this crew, in this Valley, is who you’ll actually see on your property. Call (424) 523-8492 to schedule your free estimate.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Van Nuys, serving Van Nuys and the San Fernando Valley since 2015.