Meet the Thousand Oaks Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Thousand Oaks
We’re the crew that shows up in Thousand Oaks with the same truck, the same tools, and the same checklist every morning. Every person on this page has pulled a permit in Ventura County, walked a Conejo Valley inspection, and sat in a living room explaining why a setback variance adds three weeks to the timeline. What unites us isn’t a handbook. It’s that none of us will sign off on work we wouldn’t put our own mother in.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner & Principal Designer
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching my parents lose six months and $14,000 to a contractor who subcontracted the design to one firm, the build to another, and the blame to whichever one wasn’t in the room. That won’t happen here. I hold a California B-General Contractor license and spent my first four years in the field before I ever picked up a permit set. I still review every foundation plan that leaves this office, and I’ll tell you straight if your existing garage slab in Old Conejo needs a stem wall retrofit or if we can work with what’s there. On weekends I’m usually hiking Wildwood with my dog, a cattle mix who has zero respect for property lines.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been running ADU site prep and utility rough-ins for eleven years, the last four with us. He’s the person who notices your sewer lateral is clay pipe from 1978 before the excavator does, and he’ll stop the job to show you the photo rather than bury the problem under concrete. Certified in trenchless utility installation and holder of a Cal-OSHA 30-hour card, Marcus coordinates our relationships with Southern California Gas and Golden State Water on every Thousand Oaks project. He keeps a laminated copy of the city’s Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plan in his truck, which tells you everything about how he thinks. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles and will talk carburetors until you beg him to stop.
Dana K., Senior Installer
Dana came to us from commercial framing, where she spent seven years building spec offices in Oxnard and Camarillo before deciding residential work had better problems to solve. She specializes in prefab and modular integration, meaning she’s the one who makes sure your Abodu or Cover unit actually lands on the foundation we poured, not the one the manufacturer hoped we’d pour. Dana holds a C-5 Framing and Rough Carpentry classification and has completed manufacturer certifications with Dvele, Mighty Buildings, and Plant Prefab. She grew up in Newbury Park and still lives there with two kids who think every ADU we build is a “tiny house for grandma.” Her pet peeve is discovering that a previous contractor used non-structural screws on shear walls, and she will photograph every single one she finds.
Rosa V., Service Coordinator
Rosa is the live voice that answers when you call (424) 395-4555 at 10 PM on a Sunday because you’re panicking about a permit correction notice. She’s been with Ellery ADU Studio since 2019 and knows the Ventura County Planning Division’s filing requirements well enough to catch errors before the counter staff do. Rosa manages our documented photo record system, ensuring every client receives dated images of what we found, what we did, and what the inspector signed off on, not a summary paragraph that could’ve been written by anyone. She speaks Spanish and English and will walk your abuela through the permit process if that’s who answers the door. In her other life she’s a competitive amateur baker, and she brings the test batches to the office, which has ruined our ability to enjoy grocery store cookies.
Jake P., Apprentice Installer
Jake joined us in 2023 after completing the carpentry program at Ventura College and deciding he wanted to build things that outlast the decade. He’s Dana’s regular partner on framing and weatherization, and he’s currently working toward his C-5 classification while logging hours across our garage conversion and new detached ADU projects in Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village. Jake has taken manufacturer training with Tuff Shed and James Hardie siding systems, and he’s the reason we finally standardized our nail gun maintenance schedule, something the rest of us had been “getting to” since 2019. He surfs Rincon when the swell is right and once spent an entire lunch break explaining to Nadia why a particular fin design matters. It did not, but his enthusiasm did.
One Standard, Every Job
Every person on this page works under The Haven Standard, the same agreement our clients sign. That means a written price before any work starts, Clause 1, no exceptions. It means a documented photo record on every visit, so there’s no dispute about whether the existing slab was cracked or the electrical panel had capacity. It means the 365-Day Done Right Promise, backed in writing, if the finished ADU doesn’t match the permitted drawings.
We’re independently owned and operated here in Thousand Oaks, not a franchise, not a satellite office taking orders from somewhere else. When Marcus calls Rosa about a field condition, or Dana flags a drawing conflict to Nadia, the conversation happens in real time, between people who ate lunch in the same break room. That’s how we’ve completed over 900 ADUs since 2015 with no designer-builder finger-pointing. One contract. One written price. One crew that answers the phone.
Call (424) 395-4555 to schedule your free estimate, or bring us a written estimate from another firm for a free second opinion. Either way, you’ll speak to a person, not a queue.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Thousand Oaks, serving Thousand Oaks since 2015.