Studio City Showrunner Upgrades Stucco ADU With Cedar Shingles

Sam Donnelly, an executive producer on "America's Got Talent," built a 700-square-foot accessory dwelling unit behind her Studio City home in the Woodbridge Park neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. Working with architect Ryan Perella, she converted a two-car garage into a guesthouse, keeping costs down with pared-back finishes such as polished concrete floors and wood countertops. The stucco-clad box, which she estimates cost about $250,000 to build, was visible from most rooms of the main house and bothered her aesthetically.

A few years after completion, she replaced the stucco with cedar shingle panels from Ganahl Lumber, which cost roughly $6,000. She chose prefabricated panels over individual shingles because they were faster to install, and left parts of the exterior near hedges uncovered. She also painted the doors a warm brick color. The full update took three days and about $9,000 in total.

The ADU now serves as extended-family lodging, a quiet workspace and occasionally a rental venue.

For builders and financiers, the takeaway is that exterior cladding and finish choices can change how a backyard unit reads on a site at a modest fraction of original construction cost.