Meet the Pomona Team Behind Ellery ADU Studio Pomona
Every ADU that leaves our drafting table and passes final inspection in Pomona has a name attached to it. Not a logo, a person. Our crew lives in the same zip codes we build in, which means when we specify a foundation detail for the clay-heavy soils near Ganesha Hills, we’re specifying it for our own neighbors. Here’s who you’ll actually talk to, meet on-site, and hold accountable.
Our People
Nadia Ellery, Owner
I started Ellery ADU Studio in 2015 after watching too many Pomona homeowners get passed between an architect who didn’t understand California’s Title 24 energy code and a builder who’d never read the drawings. Before that, I spent seven years as a project manager on commercial tenant improvements, where I learned that the gap between design and construction is where money disappears. I hold a California contractor’s license and keep it current, and I personally review every permit set before it goes to the city of Pomona or Los Angeles County, depending on your parcel. I live in the Pomona Valley with two dogs who have zero respect for construction schedules. I will cite a specific dollar figure or a code section before I offer general reassurance, because vague comfort doesn’t survive a plan check.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus runs our site-prep and utility rough-in crews, which means he’s the one who discovers whether your existing sewer lateral is terracotta or PVC before anyone else has committed to a floor plan. He’s been in the field since 2011, holds a C-36 Plumbing license, and specializes in the sewer and water tie-ins that garage conversion ADUs in Pomona’s older neighborhoods almost always require. Marcus keeps a weathered notebook where he sketches each property’s utility layout from memory, and he’s been known to flag a gas-line conflict from fifty feet away that the as-builts missed. He grew up in Ontario and still won’t work a job without calling the local utility locator himself, even when the homeowner swears they already did.
Rosa C., Senior Installer
Rosa handles the finished carpentry, siding, and weather-sealing on our new detached ADUs and garage conversions, which means she’s responsible for the details that inspectors in Pomona actually look at twice: flashing integration, door thresholds, and the thermal bridging that can fail a Title 24 compliance test. She came up through the carpenters’ union in San Bernardino, spent four years on custom home framing in Claremont, and joined us in 2019 because she wanted to see projects start and finish instead of moving on after the rough. Rosa speaks Spanish with our Spanish-speaking homeowners and subcontractors without making a performance of it, and she keeps a small collection of vintage hand planes that she uses for finish work even when power tools would be faster. Her pet peeve is finding a wall out of plumb because someone rushed the layout, and she will stop a crew to fix it.
Darnell J., Service Coordinator
Darnell is the live person who answers when you call (657) 286-7915 at 10 PM on a Sunday because you’re staring at a competitor’s estimate and something about the line items doesn’t add up. He’s been with us since 2017, which means he’s coordinated permits through Pomona’s Community Development Department enough times to know which plan checker will flag a parking waiver and which one wants the fire separation detail called out in the notes. Darnell schedules every site visit, tracks every photo record upload, and maintains the written scope documents that Haven Standard Clause 1 requires us to lock before any work starts. He commutes from Chino and has a running spreadsheet of every city’s current plan-check turnaround time, updated weekly, which he treats with the seriousness other people reserve for fantasy sports. If your permit gets held up, Darnell already knows why and has drafted the response.
Yuki N., Apprentice
Yuki is in her second year of our formal apprenticeship, rotating through each trade discipline before she specializes. Right now she’s shadowing Rosa on finish carpentry and Marcus on utility connections, which means she’s the one measuring twice and asking the question that reveals a conflict before it becomes a change order. She came to us from Pasadena City College’s construction technology program with a certificate in CAD drafting, and she’s already caught two dimension errors in permit drawings that would have cost real money in the field. Yuki lives in La Verne, bikes to Pomona jobs when she can, and takes photos of every stage for the documented photo record with more thoroughness than some people apply to their own weddings. She will be a lead technician within three years if we don’t slow her down.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard isn’t a poster on a wall. It’s the written price before work starts, Clause 1. It’s the documented photo record on every visit, so you see what we found, not what we felt. It’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, backed in writing, that says if the finished ADU doesn’t match the permitted drawings, we make it right. Every person on this page has signed the same standard, which means Nadia can’t override it for speed, Marcus can’t shortcut it for convenience, and Rosa can’t decide it’s good enough when it isn’t. The standard travels with the team, not with the owner. When you hire Ellery ADU Studio Pomona, you’re hiring people who live here and answer to the same document you do.
Call (657) 286-7915 to schedule your free estimate. A live person answers, 24/7.
Written by Nadia Ellery, Owner at Ellery ADU Studio Pomona, serving Pomona since 2015.