California ADU Law: A Homeowner’s Guide

Breakthrough Builders is an outstanding company to work with They are very friendly responsible and always punctual on every project Their professionalism and communication make the entire process smooth and stress-free highly recommend

Kamal and his workers guided us through an exceptionally challenging period of design, planning, and completion of our 2BR, two bath ADU over many years, necessitated by issues during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortages of commonly available materials and workers and often glacial delays in utilities and permitting steps would have defeated a less resourceful and knowledgeable builder. On several occasions, he went above and beyond, rescuing our project by personal initiative when we lost track of several deadlines caused by pandemic-related delays. Kamal's ethical standards and attention to detail are of the highest caliber. So high, that it takes a while to fully appreciate how different he is from most contractors. "Honorable," is the word that comes to mind.

We hired Kamal/Breakthrough Builders after interviewing other contractors converting our one detached car garage to an ADU in Palo Alto. It was awesome working with him from planning to finishing stage. He is very professional, competent, honest, responsive, patient and friendly which made communication as easy as possible. He met with us personally with our architect Jessica Resmini before drawing the plans. Both are very knowledgeable with the city & state requirements & building codes. Both gave us detailed estimates of the project. He explained the process and expectations during the construction. He always gave us a detailed estimate of the extra job to be done by his subcontractors. City inspections went well. He frequently did site visits. There are few delays due to the materials, windows, appliances back order, subcontractors and city inspectors availability. Things that were done by subcontractors that didn't meet our satisfactions or expectations were fixed in a timely manner. His subcontractor Cruz did a wonderful job restoring our garden lights, water fountain, landscaping and hardscape in our backyard. We get a lot of compliments of our ADU from our friends & other family members. We are so happy and pleased with our new beautiful ADU and rented it quickly. Definitely will recommend and hire Kamal again in our future projects.

Kamal built our garage ADU in the Bay Area. He was fantastic. He was diligent in working with the city on permits and making sure we passed every inspection. He sourced discounted material using his network. He stayed within budget with lower cost engineering. He finished the project in a timely manner, even though we had to relocate midway. Superb communication as well. Highly recommend Kamal.

We couldn't be more thrilled with the exceptional work done by Kamal/Breakthrough builders on our entire home renovation project that include kitchen, bathroom, flooring and landscaping. They transformed our home into a masterpiece, delivering a result that exceeded our expectations. They helped us with finish items and got us discounts from retailers. Not only did they complete the project on time and within the budget, they also managed it with such precision that there were no surprises or cost increases. Their attention to detail, craftsmanship, and commitment to customer satisfaction make them a top-notch choice for anyone seeking a reliable partner for their project.

Kamal works hard to provide his clients with best services starting from design to the implementation process.

Kamal Hyder of Breakthrough Builders is professional responsive and a pleasure to deal with. As a realtor who does a substantial volume of business I'm always looking for good solid professionals who get the job done and Kamal and team have come through for myself and my clients every time. He is familiar with building codes and is detailed in his research. Our clients always have great things to say about the quality of his work and the efficiency of his crew. Highly recommend.

I've used Kamal and his crew for two ADU projects, and it has been nothing short of a great experience. Kamal shows up when he says he will, gives you access to all his resources (including contractor discounts), uses technology to simplify processes, explains trade-offs clearly/honestly, and has a way to negotiate with cities to drive the best outcome for the customer -- I've worked with other contractors and these are NOT common in the industry. As examples of where he's gone above and beyond: he purchased a tankless water heater and delivered it to my home; he offered my handyman access to resources to help him learn; he also created a detailed spreadsheet for me to understand the return on investment. Kamal is amazing. You cannot go wrong with him.

TL DR: I did two projects with Kamal. Although the end product was good, the stress that he put me through was not worth it. I regret hiring him and would not recommend his services. Please go somewhere else for construction/remodeling Kamal kept failing drywall inspections which delayed the projects for 3 months. He doesn’t know the building code so he can’t build it correctly the first time. So he keeps failing at my expense Kamal failed 8 consecutive final inspections and charged me money every time he failed. With his sheer incompetence, he prevented me from moving in on a timely manner. He kept saying “I don’t make any profit every time i fail” but I think he’s lying. Kamal also lost all of the city inspection forms and blamed it on me. His crew that worked on-site were slobs. They kept smoking on-site and left a cigarette butts all over my lawn and yard despised multiple pleas to stop. He also sent me a free gate installation and when I tried to claim it he refused. His reasoning was that it is “expired”. Looking back he purposely set the expiration date 7 days after I signed so that I would not be able to claim.

We hired Breakthrough Construction to legalize an ADU in San Francisco. Kamal sold us as the one-stop expert in handling ADU projects in the Bay Area, which would reduce all the hassles dealing with the permit department, building department, and all the subcontractors. First of all, Kamal isn't knowledgeable about building codes and ADU requirements in SF. We had to reach out to the city and do our own research to find out which program to go with. Second, his designer never visited the place, and drew the plans based on pictures and measurements that we had to take. The final plans submitted were very amatuer and incomplete, and the city came back with pages of comments. Third, the worst part, Kamal collected all fees (in 5 digits) and then ignored us when the city asked for revisions. We understand that SF isn't an easy place for any sort of construction projects, and we were very patient with Kamal for a year and a half as he was late for every deadline. It turned out that it was a total waste of our time and money, on top of many stressful and many sleepless nights! If you are interviewing for a contractor for your ADU project, look somewhere else. Don't let his promises fool you.