Your neighbors are building them: Reseda pulls more ADU permits than any other Valley ZIP in the City of LA. On a typical Reseda lot the rules usually say yes. What sinks the budget is underneath: the sewer line, the electrical panel, the water meter and the old garage. Check yours before you pay for plans.
Here is how it usually goes. You get excited, you hire someone to draw plans, and you wait. Then plan check comes back: the sewer main is too far away, the electrical panel is too small, the tree by the garage is protected. Now you're paying to redraw, and the budget you were counting on is gone.
None of these surprises are hidden. A new 1-inch LADWP water meter is $6,715. A panel upgrade runs $3,500 to $7,500. A sewer main more than 200 feet away has to be extended. Every one of them can be found on your lot before anyone draws a line.
The catch is who you ask. The people who know where to look are usually hoping to be hired for the build. We aren't. We don't build anything, so the only thing we sell you is the truth about your lot.
A written report on your address, about fourteen pages, in plain English. Every section ends with a stoplight answer and what to do about it. It's yours to keep and hand to any architect or builder you choose.
Example lot · Reseda 91335 · 50' × 130' · R1
YesWhat it would takeNo
↑ settle these four before you pay for plans
Detached 800 sf, 2 bed · example figures
Illustrative example, not a quote. Meter from the LADWP fee schedule.
| Option | What it looks at | Who it works for | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online ADU checkers | The zoning rules for your parcel | Nobody visits, so sewer, power, slope and trees are guesses | Free |
| A builder's free consultation | Whether they can build their product on your lot | The builder, who hopes to win the job | Free, then you're in their sales process |
| A builder's paid site study | Your lot, in person | The builder. The fee is usually credited if you build with them | About $500 to $1,200 |
| Greenlight | Your lot against the city's rules and records, from the air, and in person if you want the visit | You. We don't build, and we don't pass your details to builders | $97 to $497, refunded if it wasn't worth it |
The full report with a site visit is $497: less than a tenth of the $6,715 water meter a price-per-square-foot quote never mentions. And whatever size you pick, if it isn't worth it to you, it costs you nothing.
Your lot's records, checked by a person and written up in plain English.
By email within 2 business days
Everything in Small, then a construction manager works your lot from the air.
By email within 5 business days
Everything in Medium, plus the one thing no desk can do: someone on your lot.
Within 7 days of the visit · 20 visits a week
Every size: if it wasn't worth it, you get your money back within 30 days, and you keep what we sent.
Every Greenlight report comes from a construction manager whose job, on every project, is catching the problems that cost money before they cost money, and making sure work passes inspection the first time.
Greenlight works only for homeowners. We don't build and we don't take money from builders, because the moment we did, our answer about your lot would stop being worth anything. Our job is to make sure you go in knowing what the people selling to you already know.
Start with your free Lot Snapshot. If your lot looks promising, pick your size right from it. You pay nothing until you decide.
Visits are done in person, so we can only take 20 a week, grouped by neighborhood on set days. When this week fills, the next one goes to the following week. Small and Medium aren't limited.
If it wasn't worth it, you get your money back. Read your report. If you don't think it was worth what you paid, tell us within 30 days and we refund every dollar. No reason needed, and you keep the report. You take no risk; we take all of it.
Don't see yours?
The San Fernando Valley neighborhoods inside the City of Los Angeles, including Van Nuys, Reseda, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Northridge, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Sylmar, Sun Valley, Tarzana and the rest. Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando and Calabasas are separate cities with their own rules, so we don't cover them yet.
A builder's consultation is how that builder finds out whether you'll hire them. Some are very good, but they're looking at your lot to sell you their build. We don't build anything, so the only thing we sell is the answer.
Often, yes. Plans in Los Angeles can require a licensed land survey or a soils report, and we don't provide either. We tell you whether your lot is likely to need them and roughly what they cost, so they're in your budget from the start.
No, as long as we can get into the yard. Most people like to be there and ask questions while we walk it.
Then you found out before paying for a design, not after. A no always comes with the reason, and when there's a way around it, we tell you what it would take.
No. We don't sell or pass your details to builders, lenders or anyone else.
Not in the City of Los Angeles yet. A state law, AB 1033, lets cities allow it, and the City Council voted in September 2025 to start that process, but no ordinance has passed. If your plans depend on selling the unit on its own, your report will say where that stands when we write it.
An accessory dwelling unit is a second, smaller home on the same lot as your house. It can be a detached backyard house, a converted garage, or a junior unit inside your home. People build them for family, for rental income, or to move into themselves.
P.S. The most expensive way to find out your lot can't take a backyard house is after you've paid for plans. The cheapest is to check it first: from the records for $97, or with someone walking it for $497, with your money back if it isn't worth it. Check your address now →