Design-build and ADUs, Northern California
Ecostep is a licensed design-build firm working across six Bay Area counties. We take a project from the first feasibility study through stamped drawings, permits and construction, and we build the cabinetry ourselves in our own wood shop.
Design and construction under one licence, from the feasibility study to the final inspection. Four CSLB classifications sit on the same contract, which means the framing, the insulation, the cabinetry and the plumbing stay with one company and there are fewer gaps between trades for the schedule to fall into.
We prepare and submit the drawings and pull the permit under CSLB #1006147. You are not the general contractor on your own project.
A five by twelve foot CNC router and a full bench shop, where modern production methods sit alongside traditional craft. Cabinets, built-ins and trim are made, not ordered.
Feasibility, planning, conceptual design, code analysis, stamped construction drawings and interior design, then the crew that builds it.
Services
Our own crews hold the general building, insulation, millwork and plumbing classifications. Other trades come in only where the work sits outside them.
Detached and attached ADUs for homeowners who want more usable space or a rental unit on a lot they already own. An ADU is usually the largest amount of finished square footage you can add to an established property, and on a built-out street it is often the only option the zoning leaves open.
We take care of full compliance with local regulations and obtain every permit before work starts, and the design is yours to shape rather than something picked off a sheet of three standard plans.
Permitted ADU work on record in Alameda, Berkeley and Concord
Feasibility studies, project planning, conceptual design, code analysis, stamped construction drawings and interior design, all inside one licensed firm. The people who draw it are in the same conversation as the people who build it.
B general building classification
Layout changes, structural work, cabinetry, counters and finishes. The cabinets are drawn and cut in our own shop rather than ordered from a catalogue, so the run fits the room you actually have.
On record in San Francisco, Belmont and San Leandro
Full gut and rebuild, including the plumbing. Our C-36 classification means the rough-in is done by the company holding the contract rather than a sub whose calendar you are waiting on.
C-36 plumbing held in house
Reworking an older home end to end, with the insulation and acoustical work handled under our C-2 classification. That is uncommon on a residential contract and it shows up in how the finished house holds temperature and sound.
On record in Berkeley and Fremont
Custom furniture, reception desks, custom trim, built-ins and high-end cabinets, designed and made in our own shop. The five by twelve foot CNC router is what makes curved slat walls and one-off millwork ordinary work rather than a special order.
C-6 cabinet, millwork and finish carpentry
General construction and project management, with fine woodworking at the middle of it. Our carpenters frame the house and fit the siding, windows and doors, then build and hang the cabinetry and the trim.
Same crew from rough framing to final trim
Start with the ground
A feasibility study answers that. The lot, the setbacks, the existing structures, the utilities and the access decide what is buildable long before anyone picks a worktop. If the thing you have in mind does not fit the parcel, you should hear it before you have spent money on design.
Accessory dwelling units
State ADU law has been loosened almost every year since 2017, and three more changes landed on 1 January 2026. Here is the shape of it, current as of September 2026. The full ADU guide goes into fees, unit counts, selling separately and utility connections.
Most residential lots can take a detached ADU of up to 1,200 square feet. An 800 square foot unit is protected, which means a local ordinance cannot zone it out of existence.
For a new attached or detached ADU, a city generally cannot demand more than four feet from the side and rear property lines. A conversion inside an existing structure, or a replacement on the same footprint, needs no new zoning setback at all.
Sixteen feet is the base, eighteen within half a mile of a major transit stop or on a lot with a multistory multifamily dwelling, then two feet more to match the main house's roof pitch. Attached units go to twenty-five feet.
A city must approve or deny a complete application within sixty days, and a denial has to list exactly what needs correcting. Since 1 January 2026, SB 543 also gives the agency fifteen business days to tell you whether your application is complete.
No parking can be required within half a mile of public transit, and no replacement parking is required when you convert a garage. Most homeowners never pour a new driveway.
A junior ADU is capped at 500 square feet and carved out of the existing house. Owner occupancy is no longer required for a standard ADU. For a junior ADU, AB 1154 narrowed it from January 2026 so it applies only where the unit shares a bathroom with the main house.
Which one suits your property usually comes down to the lot, the slope and where the utilities already run.
A standalone unit in the rear yard. The most private option, the most rentable, and usually the largest addition to the property's value.
Built off the existing house, sharing a wall and often a utility run. Good on narrow lots where a detached unit cannot clear the setbacks.
The cheapest route to a permitted unit, because the shell and the footprint already exist. No new zoning setback and no replacement parking required.
Up to 500 square feet carved out of the existing house, with its own exterior entrance and an efficiency kitchen. One attached, one detached and one junior unit are allowed on a single-family lot, so up to three in total.
The public record
Residential building permits are public record. Each one carries a licence number, a scope and a valuation. Ours are below.
How a project runs
Each stage in detail, plus the twelve trade divisions a lump-sum bid is built from, is set out on our construction process page.
We walk the property and look at the lot, the setbacks, the utilities and the existing structure, then tell you plainly whether what you have in mind will work there.
Conceptual design, code analysis and a written scope, so you can see what each decision costs while it is still a decision.
Stamped construction drawings prepared and submitted, plan check comments carried through to an issued permit. The licence number on the application is ours.
Framing, siding, windows, doors, insulation, cabinetry and plumbing under our own classifications, with other trades brought in only where the work sits outside them.
Inspection sign off, a walkthrough with you, a punch list, and that list closed before we call the job finished.
What it costs
Homeowners usually arrive with a figure from a cost-per-square-foot article. On an ADU that number is close to meaningless, because the expensive parts of the job are decided by the parcel rather than by the kitchen you pick. These are the things worth looking at first.
See exactly how the construction half of a budget is broken down in the twelve trade divisions.
A homeowner who hired Ecostep for a major renovation described Amer as experienced, professional, honest and responsive, called him a skilled woodworker, and said the subcontractors he brought onto the job were just as skilled and just as trustworthy.
Verified homeowner review, major renovation, 2018
Who you are hiring
Amer Abusafieh was born in Jordan and served in the Royal Jordanian Air Force from 1980 to 1985. He moved to the United States permanently in January 1986 and went straight into construction, completed a union apprenticeship and earned his Journeyman Heat and Frost Insulator card in 1995.
The work that followed was refineries, power plants, pharmaceutical plants, offshore platforms and ships. He became a licensed California general contractor in 2003, opened a cabinet shop in Pittsburg, spent years on energy audits and mechanical insulation upgrades, and founded Ecostep in 2015.
That industrial background is why a residential contract here treats insulation and acoustical work as part of the job rather than as an upsell, and why the wood shop sits at the centre of the company rather than at the edge of it.
Amer Abusafieh, President and responsible managing officer on the licence. Brandon Cody Sr. Brian Newth.
Portfolio
Where we work
Our permitted residential work sits in Alameda, Berkeley, Concord, Fremont, San Francisco, Belmont and San Leandro. We take projects anywhere in the counties below.
San Ramon, Danville, Alamo, Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Martinez, Clayton, Pittsburg, Antioch and Brentwood.
Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, Fremont, San Leandro, Hayward, Castro Valley, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Union City, Newark, Albany and Emeryville.
The full city and county, including Noe Valley, the Sunset, the Richmond, Bernal Heights, Glen Park, Potrero Hill and the Excelsior.
San Mateo, Belmont, Burlingame, Redwood City, Menlo Park, San Carlos, Millbrae, Foster City, Hillsborough, Half Moon Bay, Daly City and South San Francisco.
San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Los Altos, Cupertino, Campbell, Saratoga, Los Gatos and Milpitas.
San Rafael, Mill Valley, Novato, Larkspur, Corte Madera, Sausalito, Tiburon, Fairfax, San Anselmo and Ross.
Before you call
Start here
We will walk the property, tell you what is feasible there, and give you a scope and a price in writing before you commit to anything.
