Meet the Rancho Cucamonga Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Rancho Cucamonga
We’re the crew that shows up to your property in Rancho Cucamonga with a tablet full of measurements, not promises. Every person on this page has pulled a permit in San Bernardino County, crawled through a crawl space in Etiwanda, and sat in the planning department long enough to know which reviewer handles ADU setbacks. What ties us together isn’t a handbook. It’s the Haven Standard, and the fact that none of us can stand watching a homeowner get surprised by a price they never agreed to.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner & Principal Designer
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching my parents get quoted three different prices for the same garage conversion in Ontario, none of them written down. That won’t happen on our jobs. I hold a California contractor license and spent my first four years in the field before moving into design-build coordination. These days I run preconstruction meetings and review every permit set before it leaves our office. I’m the person who will tell you that your existing sewer lateral slope is boring but load-bearing, because getting that detail right now saves you six weeks of corrections later. When I’m not on site, I’m usually updating our prefab specs, Abodu to James Hardie, so we can price modular options against stick-built without sending you to three different companies.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been with us since 2019 and runs our site prep and utility rough-in crews across Rancho Cucamonga and Alta Loma. He’s certified in trenchless sewer lateral installation and holds a C-36 plumbing license, which matters more than most homeowners realize until the city inspector asks who sized the water service for the second dwelling unit. Marcus grew up in Fontana and still lives there with two dogs who have no respect for his work schedule. His detail: he photographs every trench before backfill, every time, because he once had to re-dig a 40-foot line on his own dime when a photo didn’t save. He won’t let it happen again, and neither will we.
Diana R., Senior Installer
Diana handles our garage conversion ADUs from framing through final inspection, and she’s particularly sharp on the Title 24 energy compliance that trips up a lot of first-time ADU builders in Rancho Cucamonga. She came to us from commercial tenant improvement work, where she learned to build fast and document faster. Her OSHA 30 certification is current, and she’s our go-to for any job that involves working around an occupied main house, where dust control and schedule noise actually matter to the people paying the mortgage. Diana commutes from Upland and brings her own coffee maker to longer jobs, which the crews have learned means she’s planning to finish on time.
James K., Service Coordinator
James is the voice you hear when you call (909) 506-1121, and the person who makes sure your documented photo record actually reaches your inbox instead of sitting on a server. He’s been with Ellery ADU Studio since 2021 and manages our scheduling, permit tracking, and the handoff between design and construction. Before this, he worked in San Bernardino County’s planning department for four years, which means he knows the difference between a correction notice that stops the clock and one that doesn’t. James lives in Rancho Cucamonga proper, near Victoria Gardens, and he’s oddly proud of the fact that he can tell you which plan checker is back from vacation without checking the calendar.
Tomás V., Apprentice
Tomás joined us in 2024 through a local construction apprenticeship program and splits his time between site prep, material runs, and learning the prefab coordination side of our business. He’s already certified in forklift operation and working toward his CSLB license. What he lacks in years he makes up for in the kind of questions that catch errors early, like whether the Abodu unit we’re specifying will clear the power lines on a specific Etiwanda lot. Tomás was born in Rancho Cucamonga and still lives with his parents while he builds his hours. He takes the photos when Marcus is in the trench, and he’s surprisingly good at making sure the timestamp is visible.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard isn’t a poster in our break room. It’s the reason Marcus won’t backfill without photos, why Diana checks every Title 24 form herself, and why James knows your permit number before you do. We’ve designed, permitted, and built over 900 ADUs since 2015, and every single one started with a written price and ended with a documented photo record. The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies whether you’re in Rancho Cucamonga or any of the fourteen other cities we serve. If it’s not built to the permitted drawings, we make it right, in writing, before we start. No designer blaming the builder. No builder blaming the designer. One contract, one price, one team that answers the phone when you call.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Rancho Cucamonga, serving Rancho Cucamonga since 2015.