Turn your backyardinto income.

Byld Partners is an end-to-end ADU development company in San Diego. I take a project from feasibility through final inspection — underwriting, design, permitting, and the build — as one point of accountability. It's a different job than the ones you've probably been quoted: an architect sells you drawings, a contractor sells you construction, a design-build shop sells you their one team. A developer runs all of them, in the right order, against your numbers. That's what I do, and it's all I do.

Almost every residential lot in California is allowed some form of ADU — that part is settled state law. The real question is what your lot specifically supports: site conditions, utility capacity, the fine print of the code, and what you're building for — your goals and your budget. Just because something can be built doesn't mean it should be. Figuring out the right project — not just a possible one — is what a developer is for, and it's the first thing the feasibility study puts on paper.

The ranges you've seen online won't answer this. When people get a quote, they're usually being quoted the structure — materials and labor, foundation up — not the whole project. The real number moves with your lot, your utility capacity, the unit type, and the design you choose. Square footage works as a spectrum, too: the bigger the build, the less each square foot costs — a kitchen costs what a kitchen costs, whether the unit is 300 square feet or 1,200. The feasibility study puts your cost, your rent, and your resale picture in writing before you commit to anything. And if the numbers don't work, I'll tell you not to build. I've done it before.

One of my vetted builders. I keep several I've built with for years, and I match the builder to your project — scope, bandwidth, fit. That's the difference from a design-build shop: there, you get plugged into the one team they have, sold by someone whose job is to close you — not to underwrite the deal or scope the work. I pick the right builder for your project, and the builder answers to me. You make the decisions; I own the outcome.

It's the first real work on the project: what your lot supports, the scope, the hurdles, the sequencing, and the numbers — in writing, before design starts. Go slow to go fast. Every project gets a feasibility study eventually, whether you call it that or not — done late or done shallow, it shows up as change orders and lost months. Done first, by someone who knows the whole process, it sets the project up right. After 500+ projects, including my own, I wouldn't build without one.

Like cost, it's a spectrum. Size and complexity set the baseline — a garage conversion and a multifamily build don't run on the same clock. The team is the multiplier: the more experienced the people running it, the fewer mistakes, the more accurate the plan, and the faster and smoother the build goes. Most delay isn't work — it's rework. The feasibility study puts your specific timeline in writing, and I run the City back-and-forth so it doesn't drag.

Most surprises aren't surprises — they're things nobody checked. In San Diego that's usually sewer or water capacity charges that surface during plan review, or an SDG&E transformer that can't handle the new load. I check those up front, price a contingency, and lock the construction cost with the builder before a shovel hits the ground. If there's a real unknown left, it goes in the study as a priced risk. You decide with it on paper.

Most people use one of these: a HELOC, a cash-out refinance, a construction or renovation loan, or cash. I'm not a lender and won't pretend to be, but I'll point you to people who do this every week. One thing that helps: lenders underwrite against a written scope and a locked cost — which is exactly what you'll be holding before you ever sit down with one.

For a detached ADU, almost always — nearly all of the work stays outside your walls. Garage conversions and attached units are more disruptive. No way around it. We plan the sequence around how your household actually runs: kids, dogs, working from home. You'll know what gets loud before it does, and you'll decide knowing exactly what you're in for.

During design and permitting, nothing changes for them — that part of the project happens on paper. Once construction has a date, tell them early and keep them posted. The more runway people have, the better they handle the disruption, and on my own projects a temporary break on rent during the loudest stretch has bought a lot of goodwill. Either way, the noisy work gets planned with your tenants in mind — it's part of the sequence, not an afterthought.

Bring them to the call. It's 30 minutes, directly with me, and you both hear the same thing: what's likely possible on your lot, where the risks usually show up, and whether this is worth studying at all. Nothing secondhand to relay and referee later. And tell the skeptic: some of my studies end in a written don't-build. If the numbers don't work for your family, that's the answer you get.

If you want to run the project yourself — vet and bid-level your own architects and contractors, underwrite your own numbers, sequence the studies and permits, and push the whole team forward every week — you don't need me, and I'll tell you that. But if you want one accountable person who owns the outcome start to finish — someone who's done this on his own properties and 500+ more — and you want it done with the least time, effort, and costly mistakes: book the call.