What ‘We Handle the Permits’ Should Mean on a Salinas Backyard ADU

Almost every week I get a message from a homeowner in Salinas, Marina, Seaside or Pacific Grove who already has the whole thing worked out. Square footage, bedroom count, where the door goes. What they do not have is any idea whether their lot allows it, or who is supposed to find that out.

One homeowner near Salinas put it about as plainly as it gets: she did not know where to start, how much she was allowed, or whether a second story was even possible. So let me answer the main question first. If you are wondering who handles ADU permits for a detached backyard build in Salinas, it should be a licensed local general contractor, and at Aldridge Construction (California license 1081584) that work starts before anyone draws a line.

Here is my position, and it is the reason this article exists. Every contractor you call will say “we handle the permits,” but that phrase covers three or four very different levels of work. Knowing which level you are actually buying is the single most useful thing you can learn before you sign anything.

Who Handles the Permits on a Detached Backyard ADU in Salinas?

On a detached backyard unit in Salinas, our team handles the permit track end to end. That means we walk the property first, prepare and submit the application package, respond to plan check corrections in writing, sequence the separate agency reviews, and carry it through inspections to final sign off.

What the service covers on a typical detached build:

• Lot screening: setbacks, lot coverage, access for equipment, where utilities actually run
• Design and drawings sized for the jurisdiction reviewing them
• Application submittal and tracking through plan check
• Corrections, which are normal and expected, answered by us rather than handed back to you
• Agency and utility coordination, including the power service work
• Inspections from foundation through final

What moves price and timing the most: lot slope, distance from the main house to the sewer or septic connection, electrical service capacity, whether the design is custom or follows a plan set the city has already reviewed, and finish level. Detached ADU budgets on the Central Coast vary widely, and the honest answer is that nobody can give you a real number before someone stands on the dirt. We give exact pricing after a site visit.

On the day of that first visit, expect about an hour. I measure, look at the panel, find the cleanout, and tell you what I think is realistic. We usually schedule that walk within a week of your call.

The Four Jobs Hiding Inside “We Handle the Permits”

When a bid says permits are included, ask which of these four jobs it actually covers. The gap between a bid that covers one and a bid that covers all four is often where the surprise invoices live.

1. Lot screening before you spend design money. Someone has to confirm your lot can hold the unit you want before drawings start. Setbacks, coverage limits, fire access, sewer or septic capacity. If this happens after design, you pay for the design twice.

2. Drawing a complete application package. Not a concept. A set with the structural, energy, and site details the reviewing agency expects, prepared for that specific jurisdiction.

3. Answering plan check corrections. Corrections are routine. The question is who writes the response and resubmits, and how fast. This is where weeks quietly disappear.

4. Sequencing the separate agency reviews. Planning, building, environmental health where septic is involved, and the utility. These do not run at the same time unless someone starts them in the right order.

The exact wording I would use with any bidder: “Which of these four are you doing, and which are you expecting me to do or pay a third party for?” A straight answer tells you a lot. For more on what happens before any of this, read what happens on the site walk before anyone can price your ADU.

Three Levels of “Permit Handling” and How to Tell Them Apart

This is the comparison I wish more homeowners had in front of them when they are reading three bids side by side.

The 60 Day Approval Clock Does Not Start When You Submit

You have probably read that an ADU gets a ministerial approval within 60 days. That is real, but the part most national articles leave out matters more than the number.

The clock starts when the jurisdiction deems the application complete, not the day you drop it off. An incomplete or generic plan set can sit in a correction loop for months before the 60 days ever begins.

This is why I push back on speed promises and push hard on local plan sets. A set drawn for a jurisdiction that has already seen and approved that format clears the completeness bar faster, every time I have watched it happen.

The biggest lever you control on the permit calendar is the plan path you choose:

• Salinas offers a small set of pre approved detached ADU plans
• Unincorporated Monterey County offers its own pre designed plan options
• A custom design is often the right call, but it should be a choice you make knowingly, not by default

Requirements shift, so confirm current rules with your own city or county agency before you budget around a date. State law has also moved recently, which I covered in SB 543 and what it changed about the ADU permit clock.

The Real Order of Operations on a Detached ADU

A detached ADU in Salinas is not one permit. It is a sequence, and the agency that most often sets your finish date is not the building department.

What a Contractor Controls, and What We Can Only Chase

I want to be straight about this because it is where trust gets built or broken.

We control the quality and completeness of the package, how fast corrections get answered, trade scheduling, and site cleanliness. We do not control agency review queues or utility scheduling. What we can do is start those early and stay on them.

Power service is the clearest example. One homeowner we built a garage conversion ADU for wrote that the project took a little longer than expected, and she pointed directly at PG&E scheduling and availability as the reason. She still rated the work five stars, because she knew about it the whole way through instead of finding out at the end.

Two local wrinkles worth knowing:

• Septic lots add an Environmental Health review that runs on its own schedule. More on that in what Environmental Health looks for on a septic lot.
• Coastal zone addresses in places like Pacific Grove, Carmel and parts of Santa Cruz County add a planning layer that Salinas proper does not have.

If your address is inside Salinas city limits, you skip the coastal layer. That alone can be worth months.

Catalog ADU Companies vs a Local General Contractor

Let me be fair here. A model based ADU company selling four or five predesigned units can do good work, and on a flat, clear, standard lot with easy utility access, that path can be efficient and predictable.

Where it breaks down is specific and I see it often:

• Constrained access, where no crane or truck can reach the back lot
• Slope, which changes foundation and drainage entirely
• An existing structure you want converted rather than removed
• A custom layout, like a two story attached unit on a small lot
• An ADU combined with main house work, which is one of the most common requests I get

There is also an accountability question. Ask who signs the permit application, who shows up for a correction meeting, and who is responsible if the plan set does not match the lot. A catalog company often cannot answer that locally.

One more thing to watch for. Some ADU marketing still tells homeowners that state construction grant money is available. That program closed at the end of 2023. I wrote about the current status of the $40,000 ADU grant because the question still comes up almost monthly. If you are weighing a factory unit, modular or site built on your lot walks through the tradeoffs.

Homework You Can Do Today, Without Calling Anyone

If you have three names on a list and no way to compare them beyond price, here is a routine that takes about fifteen minutes. This is normal homework, not suspicion.

• Get the license number from each bidder. It should be printed on the bid and on their website.
• Look it up through the CSLB contractor license check. Confirm it is active, confirm the classification covers general building (B), and check the workers compensation and bond status.
• Ask for a permit application record from a recent ADU the contractor permitted in your same city or county. Not a photo of a finished unit. The application record.
• Ask who answers corrections and whether that time is already priced in.

That last one separates bids faster than anything else. A contractor who has actually run packages through your jurisdiction will answer it in one sentence.

What One Accountable Relationship Changes

We are a Salinas based general contractor holding California license 1081584, led by a third generation contractor who walks the property himself before anything gets drawn. That is not a sales structure. It is just how the work gets done here.

It also means we routinely bid projects a catalog builder cannot touch: garage conversions, attached units squeezed onto tight lots, and ADU work combined with a main house remodel on the same schedule.

One contractor coordinates framing, electrical, plumbing and finish work, and the same person who screened your lot is the one standing in front of the plan checker. From planning to completion, you are dealing with one point of accountability instead of a handoff.

Frequently Asked Questions About ADU Permits in Salinas