Garage Conversion in San Jose

Our client had an unusual design: a garage with a couple of bedrooms in the back, connected to the upstairs home via a staircase. The client wanted to separate the two bedrooms from the house upstairs, and add them to the garage, and convert the lower area into a separate 1,000 SqFt home through a garage into an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) conversion.

The overall plan was for my client to live upstairs, with his growing family, and for his parents to live downstairs. This would provide accessibility to the parents, without the need to climb stairs. In addition to the garage conversion, we remodeled the upstairs area.

Converting a garage into an ADU is an excellent way to maximize the potential of a property by transforming an underutilized space into a functional living area. This process involves repurposing an existing garage or carport into a self-contained unit complete with its own entrance, kitchen, bathroom, and living quarters. Such conversions offer a cost-effective and efficient solution to expand living space, accommodate family members, or generate rental income. By leveraging the existing structure, homeowners can avoid the complexities and costs associated with building a new addition, making garage conversion ADUs a practical and cost-effective choice for many.

When two adjacent living spaces are created, whether through a garage-to-ADU conversion, through a JADU, or through an attached ADU, additional design and construction considerations come into play, for the purpose of fire safety. Building codes require fire-rated walls in certain places, local fire-access requirements have to be followed, and we have to deliver a higher level of fire safety, so that a fire doesn’t immediately spread from one to the other dwelling. Since we build entire homes from the ground up, we have ample experience in dealing with fire codes, and city and county fire departments. Our experienced team puts the appropriate detail in the building plans, and we build to the plans and pass inspections by the building and fire inspectors.

This project exemplifies our commitment to delivering high-quality, sustainable housing solutions that meet the diverse needs of our clients, setting a new standard for affordable and efficient living in San Jose.