Custom modern ADU plans. Designed by our in-house ADU designers, for your lot.

What is a modern ADU?

“Modern” in residential architecture refers to a set of design choices that emerged from the Mid-Century Modern movement and evolved through the contemporary architecture of the 2000s and 2010s. For ADUs specifically, modern means:

• Clean horizontal lines — long, low rooflines and minimal vertical ornament.
• Flat or low-slope roofs — flat-roof variants (sometimes with a small parapet) or pitched roofs at very shallow angles.
• Large glazing — floor-to-ceiling windows on at least one elevation, often facing the rear yard for privacy.
• Indoor-outdoor integration — sliding glass doors connecting living space to outdoor patios or decks.
• Minimal exterior ornament — no decorative trim, brackets, or shutters. Material and form do the work.
• Contemporary materials — smooth stucco, fiber cement panels, standing-seam metal roofing, board-form concrete accents.

Traditional ADUs lean Craftsman, Spanish Colonial Revival, or other period styles with pitched roofs, exposed rafter tails, decorative trim, and natural materials. The same CALI ADU Signature Home floor plan often comes in BOTH styles — the Sunset, Melrose, and Wilshire each have modern flat-roof variants AND traditional gable variants. The choice is aesthetic, not structural.

How the custom modern plans offer works

The custom modern offer is structurally different from our Signature Home lineup. With Signature Homes, we sell a fixed-price plan package — architectural design and full permit processing — with construction arranged separately through an independent licensed GC. The custom modern plan offer is the same design + permit product:

• Custom design — fixed plan fee. Plans designed by our in-house ADU designers, tailored to your lot, orientation, neighborhood context, and aesthetic. Same plan-quality standard as our productized Signature Homes.
• Permit processing — included in the plan fee. We handle the city submittal, plan check corrections, and ministerial approval coordination through to issued building permit. State law requires the city to approve or deny within 60 days of a complete application (Gov. Code § 66317).
• Construction — the homeowner's to arrange. Build it yourself, bring your own licensed contractor, or build with one of our vetted construction partners. The independent licensed GC prices construction based on your specific lot conditions, finish selections, and site complexity — never a CALI ADU price.

The model fits homeowners and developers who want bespoke modern design without the rigidity of a productized line:

• Homeowners who want a modern ADU that responds to their specific lot, view orientation, or design intent.
• Architects and designers looking for a plan-and-permit foundation they can customize for specific clients.
• Developers and builders who already have construction crews and want pre-engineered modern plans they can permit and build.

If you want CALI to also coordinate construction through a vetted partner, our Signature Home lineup includes modern style variants on every model — covered in the next section as a secondary alternative.

Modern style variants across the single-story lineup

The two-story trio is the differentiator, but every single-story Signature Home also comes in modern variants. The full modern options across the 6 single-story models:

• Wilshire (400 sqft Studio): stucco gable, modern farmhouse exterior, warm horizontal siding.
• Sunset (480 sqft 1BR): modern flat-roof, Spanish flat-roof, modern farmhouse.
• Westwood (550 sqft 1BR): standard exterior, modern farmhouse, side-view variants.
• Laurel Canyon (660 sqft 2BR): modern flat-roof Spanish, modern flat-roof contemporary.
• Melrose (800 sqft 2BR/2BA): modern flat-roof, Spanish flat-roof, modern farmhouse.
• Lincoln (1,000 sqft 3BR/2BA): modern variant available on request.

Every variant is the same fixed plan fee as the standard model. The roof profile, cladding, and trim package change — the floor plan, dimensions, structural envelope, and plan fee stay the same.

Floor plans + sizes

The full modern Signature Home lineup, sized from studio to 1,200 sqft three-bedroom two-story:

Every model is available in modern style variants. See each model page for the full floor plan, exterior renderings of all available variants, and 3D walkthrough.

Where a modern ADU fits best

Modern ADU style is broadly appropriate across LA County, but a few markets are particularly strong fits:

• Westside neighborhoods. Mar Vista, Venice, Culver City, West LA, Cheviot Hills — modern style is the dominant residential aesthetic on a meaningful share of the housing stock. A modern ADU reads as appropriate, even welcomed.
• Hillside lots. Modern style’s clean horizontal lines work especially well on hillside terrain where the unit must be embedded into the slope.
• Tight-lot two-story builds. The Fairfax/Venice/Culver two-story trio is the strongest case for modern — the small footprint with full vertical living suits Westside lot constraints exactly.
• Investment / rental focus. Modern aesthetic photographs well, rents at the upper end of the local market, and signals quality construction to prospective tenants.
• Multifamily developer projects. When the modern ADU is one of multiple new units on a multifamily lot, design coherence with the existing building matters — modern Signature Homes are often the best match for mid-century or contemporary multifamily.