How Lodgewick ADU Builders Was Born
We started Lodgewick ADU Builders in 2010 after watching too many homeowners get burned by the same story. A family would save for years, finally pull the trigger on an accessory dwelling unit, and then the contractor would go quiet for three weeks. Or the price would creep up mid-project. Or the crew would vanish after demolition and leave a torn-up backyard for months.
Russ Delmar had been in residential construction for years by then, and the pattern bothered him more than any botched framing job ever did. The problem wasn’t a shortage of skilled tradespeople. It was a shortage of plain talk. Nobody would tell a homeowner what the job would cost, when it would finish, or what happened if something went wrong after the final check cleared.
So we built a company around a simple idea: say the price before the work, put the guarantee in writing, and come back if it fails. Room to grow, right on your lot. That’s the mission that still guides every location in our network today, from the founding office to the teams serving homeowners across Southern California.
Russ Delmar’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Russ Delmar found his way into this work through a stubborn refusal to walk away from a problem. Early in his career, he kept getting called out to fix other people’s half-finished jobs. A detached garage conversion where the electrical rough-in never got inspected. A backyard unit where the roofline leaked into the bedroom every time it rained. Homeowners would show him the paperwork, show him the photos, and ask the same question: can you make this right?
He’d walk the site with a flashlight and a notepad, smelling damp drywall and seeing the frustration on people’s faces. And he realized something that stuck with him for good. Most of these disasters weren’t caused by bad craftsmanship alone. They were caused by bad promises. Someone had been told one price and charged another. Someone had been told four weeks and waited four months. The workmanship failed because the honesty failed first.
That’s what gets him out of bed in the morning, all these years later. Not the thrill of a freshly poured foundation, though he still enjoys that. It’s the moment a homeowner reads a written price, looks up, and says “that’s it?” Not because the number is low, but because the number is real and it’s not going to move. He’d rather lose a job to a straight answer than win one with a vague one.
If he weren’t building ADUs, he’d probably still be fixing what other contractors left behind. Some people are built for the rescue work. The trade found him because he hated watching people get cheated, and it kept him because every finished unit is proof that doing it right costs less than doing it twice.
Meet Russ Delmar – The Person Behind Every Job
Russ Delmar is the Owner & Founder of Lodgewick ADU Builders. He has spent more than a decade in residential construction, with deep experience in accessory dwelling units, garage conversions, and backyard builds. His training came the old-fashioned way: on job sites, from tradespeople who cared about the craft, and from years of fixing what went wrong when others cut corners.
What separates Russ from a corporate franchise technician is simple. He’s the one who set the standard, not the one hired to follow it. Every policy at Lodgewick ADU Builders exists because Russ decided years ago that homeowners deserve better than they were getting.
He’s also a believer in leaving things better than he found them, whether that’s a job site, a client relationship, or the trade itself. If you hire us, you’re getting the work of someone who genuinely cannot stand a sloppy job, a hidden fee, or a broken promise. He’s built his entire career around the opposite.
Our Promise to Homeowners
Every Lodgewick ADU Builders location works to the same set of commitments. We call them The Kingswell Way, and they’re not suggestions. They’re the terms of doing business under our name.
- Say the price before the work. You get a written price before any work starts. If something changes, we tell you first and put it in writing.
- Show up in the window we gave. We set a real arrival window and we honor it. No vague “sometime Tuesday” promises.
- Leave the place cleaner than we found it. Job site cleanup isn’t a courtesy. It’s part of the job.
- Put the guarantee in writing. Every job is covered by The Kingswell Guarantee. You’ll see exactly what’s covered and for how long before you sign anything.
- Come back if it fails. If a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That’s the whole point of a guarantee.
We know these sound like basics. They’re basic because too many homeowners have learned the hard way that basics aren’t guaranteed anywhere. We put them in writing so you never have to wonder.
Our Credentials
Every pro working under the Lodgewick ADU Builders name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. That’s not a perk. That’s the standard for every location in our network, and it’s non-negotiable.
- State-licensed. Required for every operating location, no exceptions.
- Insured & bonded. Every location must carry the coverage their state and local jurisdiction demand before we’ll let them operate under our name.
- Rooted in the trade. The people running our locations are experienced ADU builders, not sales reps with a logo.
- The Kingswell Guarantee. Every job is covered in writing. If a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge.
Why does this matter to you? Because the person working in your backyard is someone who had to prove they were qualified before they ever knocked on your door. That’s the way it should be.
Rooted in the Communities We Serve
Lodgewick ADU Builders was founded in Los Angeles, and that’s where our story begins. But we don’t pretend to be from every town we serve. Each location is an independent local business that agreed to work to the Kingswell Guarantee. Our teams serve homeowners across Los Angeles, Long Beach, Anaheim, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, San Bernardino, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Oxnard, and Huntington Beach. The name Lodgewick comes from a simple image: a lodge is a small house on a larger property. That’s exactly what an ADU is.
Call (254) 602-5618 to be connected with the local team that covers your address. We’ll answer your questions, walk you through the process, and give you a written price before any work starts. Free estimates, always.
Written by Russ Delmar, Owner at Lodgewick ADU Builders, serving Southern California since 2010.