Garage-to-ADU Conversion in Sacramento — The Honest Guide
Garage conversion is the fastest, cheapest path to a permitted ADU in Sacramento — but it's also the path with the widest gap between what's marketed and what gets built. This guide walks through what a code-compliant garage conversion actually involves, what it really costs, and how to avoid the pseudo-conversions that won't pass inspection and won't appraise.
What "converting a garage" actually means in 2026
A garage-to-ADU conversion takes an existing attached or detached garage structure — slab, walls, roof — and converts it into a permitted residential dwelling unit with a kitchen, bathroom, and code-compliant systems. The structure stays; almost everything inside it gets replaced, upgraded, or added.
The work that's required for code compliance: replacing the garage door with a real exterior wall and window, raising the floor to meet living-space code (or insulating the slab edge if floor height is sufficient), adding a real HVAC system, running new electrical and plumbing, installing insulation in the walls and ceiling to meet Title 24 energy code, installing tempered glass at egress windows, installing carbon monoxide and smoke detectors per current code, and providing proper egress from the new sleeping space.