Case Study: 400 sqft Studio Garage Conversion ADU in Burbank

The Challenge: Turn an Aging Garage Into a Real Home — Without a Ground-Up Budget

This Burbank family needed a private home on their property for extended family — close enough to share a backyard, separate enough to live independently. A ground-up detached ADU would have delivered that, but at ground-up cost. The smarter play was sitting at the back of the lot: a detached garage that hadn’t housed a car in years.

Garage conversions are the most cost-effective path to an ADU in Los Angeles County, but they’re not a shortcut. A structure built to park cars has to be rebuilt to housing standards — foundation, framing, insulation, and all-new plumbing and electrical for a kitchen and bathroom that never existed. And at roughly 400 square feet, there was zero room for wasted space: the floor plan had to deliver a full kitchen, a real bathroom, laundry, and comfortable living and sleeping areas inside the original garage footprint.

The Design: A Full Home in 400 Square Feet — Skylights, a Real Kitchen, and a Private Patio

The design solves the small footprint with one move: a completely open plan where the kitchen, living area, and sleeping area share light, sight lines, and ceiling height. Skylights in the kitchen and bathroom pull daylight into the center of the unit, so even the deepest point of the old garage feels bright.

The finishes don’t read “converted garage” — they read new construction:

• A full kitchen, not a kitchenette — a navy island with butcher-block counters and a farmhouse sink, white shaker cabinetry with glass-front uppers, a full-size range with chimney hood, tile backsplash, and globe pendant lighting under a skylight.
• A spa-grade bathroom with in-unit laundry — frameless glass walk-in shower with a built-in bench and niche, black hex tile floor, matte black fixtures, and a stacked washer and dryer so no one shares laundry with the main house.
• A private pergola-covered patio — glass doors open from the studio onto a paver patio with a dining setup under a wood pergola, effectively adding an outdoor room to the floor plan.

Outside, the white stucco exterior, dark-framed glass entry door, and drought-tolerant landscaping with corten planter beds tie the ADU to the main house — it reads as a small home that belongs on the property, not a retrofit.

The Result: Permitted in 3 Months, Built in 4 — A Private Home for Family

From submittal to permit took three months in Burbank. Construction took four. Seven months after drawings went to the city, a structure that used to store boxes was a finished, light-filled studio with everything a household needs — full kitchen, walk-in shower, in-unit laundry, and private outdoor living.

Today it houses family: independent living on the same lot, with the shared backyard in between. And because the unit was designed as a complete standalone home rather than a guest room, it keeps every future option open — long-term rental, aging in place, or housing for the next family member who needs it.

This is the case for the garage conversion: reusing the existing structure saved this family roughly 20% versus building new — about $40,000 — but the bigger win was the backyard they kept. A ground-up ADU would have claimed the yard where the pergola, patio, and garden beds now sit; the conversion gave them a new home and a backyard to enjoy and entertain in. If you have an underused garage in Burbank or anywhere in LA County, that’s equity waiting to be converted. Explore our garage conversion plans, browse the nine Signature Homes, or see what a custom design can do with your lot.