Meet the Chino Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Chino
We’re the crew that shows up in Chino, Chino Hills, and Ontario with the same trucks, the same checklists, and the same rule: name the number before we touch anything. Nadia Ellery built this studio in 2015 because she was tired of watching homeowners get handed a “rough estimate” that doubled by framing. Every person here has a license number that prints on every page, a background check that cleared, and a uniform with their name on it. What unites us isn’t a motivational poster. It’s the Haven Standard, Clause 1 through 7, and the fact that none of us want to explain to Nadia why a client got a surprise invoice.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner & Lead Designer
I’ve been drawing ADU permit sets since 2015, back when most of Chino still called them “granny flats” and the city planner needed convincing that a 600-square-foot unit wasn’t a hotel. I started Ellery ADU Studio after watching my own parents get quoted three different prices for the same garage conversion by three different contractors, none of whom would put it in writing. That still happens, and it still makes me irritable. I hold a California architectural certification and specialize in Chino’s specific zoning overlay, which means I know where the R-1 zones allow 850 square feet versus where you’re capped at 600. I also know that the permit turnaround at Chino City Hall runs about 8-12 weeks if your setback calculations are clean, and I’ve had one take 16 because the reviewer wanted a revised drainage plan. I’ll tell you which one your project looks like before we file. On weekends I restore mid-century furniture badly and own three chickens named after city planners.
Marcus T., Lead Technician & Site Supervisor
Marcus has been running ADU site prep and utility tie-ins for eleven years, the last four with us in Chino. He’s the person who walks your property first, finds the sewer lateral, and tells you whether we’re looking at a 4-foot trench or a 12-foot trench before you sign anything. He holds a C-36 Plumbing Contractor classification and a C-10 Electrical, which matters because most ADU crews subcontract both and you end up with two schedules, two markups, and two people blaming each other when the rough-in fails inspection. Marcus doesn’t blame anyone. He documents everything with photos, writes the scope, and if the existing slab is 4 inches instead of 6, he tells you what that means for your foundation line item before we cut. He grew up in Ontario, still lives there, and coaches a youth baseball team that loses gracefully.
Elena R., Senior Installer & Prefab Systems Specialist
Elena joined us in 2019 after five years installing modular units for a national builder that wouldn’t let her talk to homeowners. We fixed that. She’s our specialist on prefab and modular brands - Abodu, Cover, Dvele, Mighty Buildings, Boxabl, Plant Prefab, Tuff Shed, James Hardie - and she can tell you within an hour which system makes sense for your Chino lot versus which one looks good on Instagram but won’t clear your setback variance. She holds a General B Contractor license and a manufacturer’s certification from Cover and Mighty Buildings. Her detail work is obsessive in the useful way: she once caught a 2-inch discrepancy between a Dvele foundation spec and the actual Chino soil report that would’ve cost a client $8,000 in a re-pour. She makes her own hot sauce, brings it to site, and we’re all slightly afraid of it.
David K., Service Coordinator & Apprentice Installer
David started with us in 2022, fresh out of Chaffey College’s construction technology program, and he’s the reason our scheduling actually works. He coordinates permits, inspections, and material deliveries across Chino, Chino Hills, and the fourteen cities we serve, which means he’s on the phone with Chino Building Department at 8:01 AM and with a homeowner in Ontario at 6:47 PM. He’s also apprenticing under Marcus on site prep and rough carpentry, and he’s completed his OSHA 30 and is working toward his General B. David’s the one who noticed that Chino’s online permit portal crashes every third Tuesday, so he files on Mondays now. He drives a 2009 Tacoma with 187,000 miles and refuses to replace it until he buys a house, which he’s saving for in San Bernardino County where the ADU regulations are, in his words, “slightly less of a puzzle.”
One Standard, Every Job
Ellery ADU Studio Chino operates under The Haven Standard, the same framework that governs every ADU design-build project across our network. That means Clause 1 - a written price before any work starts - applies whether you’re converting a garage on Cypress Avenue or building a new detached unit near Prado Regional Park. Clause 5, No Surprises, locks your scope at signing. No door-side upsells, no scope creep, no “we found something” that costs another $4,000 and isn’t in the photo record. Every visit produces documented evidence: what we found, what we did, what it means for your timeline and budget. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every project we touch in Chino. If the finished ADU doesn’t match the permitted drawings, we make it right, in writing, before we start. A live person answers calls at (909) 323-1107, 24 hours a day. No voicemail queue, no callback that doesn’t materialize. If you already have a written estimate from another builder, we’ll give you a free second opinion. We’ll tell you what’s accurate, what’s optimistic, and what’s missing.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Chino, serving Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, and surrounding cities since 2015.