Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
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AfterFast, Reliable Home Additions & ADU Across Redlands
Home additions and ADU construction in Redlands typically run $45,000 to $130,000 for a room addition, with detached ADUs landing between $90,000 and $220,000 depending on size, site prep, and whether your property sits in a designated historic district. Those are real numbers from this market, not a national database. Barrett & Sons Construction has been owner-operated since 1998, and our crews know what opening up a pre-1940 Redlands home actually turns up: wiring that hasn’t been touched in a century, framing that sags under loads it was never sized for, and sill plates that gave up years ago. Call (877) 610-1318 for a free estimate, and we’ll walk the property with you before we ever put a number on paper.
We’re the Home Additions & ADU crew that homeowners in Redlands call when they want permits pulled, change orders in writing, and a builder whose sons are on-site, not a rotating cast of subs.
Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is Redlands’s Preferred Home Additions & ADU Company
Our name is on the truck, not on a franchise agreement. Tom Barrett publishes his name, his address, and his license number, and the L.O.C.A.L. values code we run on hasn’t changed since 1998: Local roots, On time, Community first, Accountable, Loyal. A live person answers the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that matters when you’re trying to reach someone about a permit question or a roof that started leaking mid-project.
We’ve built additions and ADUs from Smiley Heights to the 92374 ranch tracts south of town, and we’ve sat through enough Redlands Historic Preservation Commission reviews to know what gets flagged before the agenda is even printed. Background-checked, uniformed crew members carry the Barrett & Sons name on every visit, and every scope, every allowance, every price change arrives as a written change order before work happens. Our 90-Day Done Right Promise is written on every contract: if it’s not done right, Tom comes back and makes it right, one call.
Our Home Additions & ADU Services in Redlands
ADU Design & Permitting
Redlands has its own permit path for ADUs, and properties in the city’s designated historic districts add a second layer: the Historic Preservation Commission reviews alterations to homes built during the 1880s to 1920s citrus boom. We handle both tracks. Our team prepares the drawings, submits to the city and the HPCo when required, and schedules the inspections. You get a permit set that’s actually buildable, not a set of pretty drawings that die at plan check.
Garage Conversion ADU
Converting a pre-1930 garage in north Redlands is rarely a paint-and-walls job. Many original stem-wall footings sit on unreinforced 12-inch concrete that fails today’s seismic lateral-load calculations, which triggers an underpin and a new permit before any framing starts. We pull a soil report where the zoning requires it, verify the existing foundation depth, and write the underpin work into a change order you approve first. Garage conversions in Redlands run $30,000 to $80,000.
New Detached ADU
A new detached ADU on a flat 92374 lot is a different job than one slotted into the sloped side yard of a Smiley Heights Craftsman. In the older neighborhoods, we contend with mature tree canopies, setback constraints, and adobe clay soils that shrink and swell with every rainy season. That soil behavior is exactly why we compact a 4-inch sand base and run a rebar grid under every new slab. Skip it, and the slab heaves within one rainy season. Detached ADU construction in Redlands runs $90,000 to $220,000, and we’ll give you a written line-item quote before we mobilize.
Junior ADU & Interior Conversion
Turning a finished attic, basement, or oversized laundry room into a legal Junior ADU in Redlands means bringing the space up to current code. That often includes a separate entrance, a kitchenette with its own GFCI circuits, and a hardwired smoke and CO system. In older Victorians and Craftsman bungalows, the biggest cost driver is electrical: original 60-amp fuse panels were never sized for a second dwelling. We price that as an allowance in the contract, not as a surprise at the end.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Redlands
When we form flatwork for a new ADU foundation or a patio off a room addition in Redlands, we pour with Quikrete or spec Oldcastle products from local supply yards off the 10 corridor. If the addition includes hardscape edges or a paver walkway, we quote Techo-Bloc and Cambridge Pavers lines that hold up under Redlands’s freeze-thaw cycles. Named materials you can look up before you sign, delivered and installed by our own crew members, never a mystery brand off a van. That’s the standard across every trade we touch.
Common Home Additions & ADU Problems We See in Redlands Homes
- Knob-and-tube wiring spliced into modern Romex. Open the rear wall of a 1910 Craftsman in the north-of-Citrus corridor and you’ll find it more often than not. City inspectors in Redlands require the old wiring removed or fully decommissioned before new circuits go in, and that upgrade alone can move a quote by thousands.
- Undersized ceiling joists under second-story additions. Many Redlands Victorians were framed with 2×4 or nominal 2×6 joists that never accounted for a load-bearing second floor. We sister joists to L/360 deflection before rough-in, and the inspector signs off only after the new framing calcs are on file.
- Adobe clay soil heaving under new flatwork. The shrink-swell cycle in older Redlands neighborhoods is aggressive. Pour directly on the native clay and your slab moves. We compact, add a sand base, and run steel, and we write that prep into the quote so you know exactly what you’re paying for.
- Rotted rim joists from failed stucco waterproofing. Original stucco at grade level traps water against the mudsill. When we open walls for a room addition, we routinely find the outer band board is gone. We replace with pressure-treated lumber and re-flash before any new framing ties in.
Pricing for Home Additions & ADU in Redlands, CA
A room addition in Redlands runs $45,000 to $130,000. That range reflects what we find when we open the house, not an arbitrary markup. Here’s how the line items break down for the most common Redlands projects:
| Project | Redlands Price Range |
|---|---|
| Home Addition | $45,000 - $130,000 |
| ADU Construction | $90,000 - $220,000 |
| Garage Conversion | $30,000 - $80,000 |
What moves a number in Redlands: historic district review on pre-1940 properties, the condition of the existing foundation and electrical panel, and whether your lot sits on expanding adobe clay. We write allowances into every contract, and any allowance that isn’t on paper is a surprise waiting for a date. Estimates are free. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll walk the property. You’ll get a written line-item quote, not a voice-mail promise.
We Also Serve Cities Near Redlands
Our crews cover Mentone, Loma Linda, Highland, and Colton, with dispatch and scheduling coordinated from our Inland Empire office. If you’re in a neighboring city and planning a home addition or ADU, call (877) 610-1318. We’ll bring the same written change order discipline and the same 90-Day Done Right Promise to your project, no matter which side of the county line you’re on.
Serving Redlands, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Redlands area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Home Additions & ADU in Redlands
On a home built before roughly 1940, a Redlands inspector will require existing knob-and-tube wiring to be removed or decommissioned before drywall goes back on, fire-blocking stops to be installed in open balloon-frame wall cavities, and any structural framing that’s undersized or rotted to be sistered or replaced. We budget for exactly this with written allowances, so you approve the scope before we spend a dollar. Call (877) 610-1318 to get a specific allowance built into your quote.
HPCo review adds anywhere from two to six weeks to the front end of a Redlands ADU project, and it can add material costs when the commission requires period-compatible windows, rooflines, or siding that cost more than off-the-shelf equivalents. We prepare submittals the commission is used to seeing and sit through the review with you. The added cost is written into your quote as a line item, never a surprise. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll pull your parcel’s historic-district status before we even talk numbers.
Because what the original framers built in 1912 was never sized for a second story. We routinely find 2×4 ceiling joists sagging under previous roof additions, rotted rim joists at the mudsill, and missing fire-blocking in balloon-frame cavities. The allowance covers sistering joists to L/360, replacing rotted band boards with pressure-treated lumber, and installing the fire-stops the Redlands inspector will flag before drywall. If we don’t need the full amount, you don’t pay the full amount. Call (877) 610-1318 for a quote that spells this out in writing.
South Redlands sits on post-tension slabs over expansive clay soils, and Redlands building code requires a structural review plus often a soil report before you convert a garage to habitable space. San Bernardino has different soil makeup and a less aggressive review track in many of its older districts. The added cost in 92374 is the price of doing it right the first time, and it’s written into your quote. Call (877) 610-1318 for a free estimate specific to your parcel.
You do, but you approve the number before we do the repair. We write a dried-in allowance into every Redlands addition contract, so when we strip the original plaster and find the lath or studs have turned to powder, we show you the scope, the line item cost, and the photos. You sign the change order, then we proceed. That’s what an allowance that’s on paper looks like. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll walk the room with you and point out exactly where we expect the rot to be.
Schedule Your Free Home Addition or ADU Estimate in Redlands
You’re not buying a renovation on the first call. You’re pricing it, and we respect that. Call (877) 610-1318 to schedule a free estimate with Barrett & Sons Construction. Tom Barrett will walk the property with you, look at what’s behind the walls, and give you a written line-item quote with every allowance spelled out. No surprises, no national hotline, just a local builder who answers his own phone and stands behind the work for 90 days after the last nail goes in.
Written by the team at Barrett & Sons Construction, serving Redlands and the surrounding Inland Empire since 1998.