How Lodgewick ADU San Diego Came to San Diego
When the Lodgewick ADU Builders family decided San Diego needed a branch, it wasn’t because the map showed a gap. It was because the phone kept ringing from Southern California homeowners who had the same story. They had a lot with room to grow. They had the idea for an ADU. And they had no one they trusted to build it.
We’d hear the same frustration each time: three different bids, three wildly different numbers, and nobody willing to put the real cost in writing before the first shovel hit dirt. A homeowner in La Mesa told us she’d been quoted a price over the phone, only to watch it climb once the crew arrived. That call stuck with us. It’s the reason we brought the Kingswell Guarantee to San Diego in 2010: a written price before any work starts, every single time.
Russ Delmar came on to lead the San Diego branch. He knew this market wasn’t lacking for contractors. It was lacking for a crew that would say the price, show up in the window they gave, and leave the place cleaner than they found it. Those aren’t slogans around here. They’re the Kingswell Way, and they’re what a San Diego homeowner should expect from the first conversation.
Russ Delmar’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Russ didn’t grow up dreaming about accessory dwelling units. He grew up watching people make room for the people they loved. A couch pulled out for a cousin who needed a month to get back on his feet. A garage cleared out so a grandparent wouldn’t have to move into a facility. The houses he remembers from his childhood always had one more person in them than the floor plan intended. That stuck with him.
When he got into construction, the work was straightforward: framing, foundations, rooflines, the smell of fresh lumber on a cool San Diego morning. But the projects that mattered to him were the ones where a family was building something for someone specific. A mother-in-law suite. A space for an adult child saving for a first home. A quiet room for a caregiver. Those jobs had a purpose you could feel in the walls.
Ten years of that work taught him something important. The structure matters, sure. But what matters more is the promise you make to the people living inside it. He’s walked onto job sites that other crews left behind, tarps flapping, pressure-treated wood warping in the sun. He’s seen the exhaustion on a homeowner’s face when they explain they’ve already paid for a roof that still leaks. Those moments shaped the way he runs the San Diego branch.
What gets him out of bed isn’t the framing or the finish work, though he loves both. It’s the walkthrough at the end of the job, when a homeowner looks at a finished ADU and says the same thing: “I didn’t know we could have this.” That’s the point of the work. Room to grow, right on your lot, built by people who said what they meant and did what they said.
If he weren’t running the branch, Russ would still be working with his hands. Probably timber framing. The kind of joinery that rewards patience and punishes shortcuts. But he’d miss the conversation with a family figuring out what their property can become. That’s where the real craft lives.
Meet Russ Delmar – The Person Behind Every Job
Russ Delmar is the Owner & Founder of the San Diego branch of Lodgewick ADU Builders, a Kingswell company. He leads a local team that works to one standard: the Kingswell Guarantee. Every job gets a written price before any work starts. Every customer gets a real arrival window. Every site is left cleaner than it was found. Every guarantee is in writing.
Russ isn’t a distant name on a franchise plaque. He’s the person who walks the job site, reviews the written estimate, and makes sure the work matches the promise. His background is in residential construction, and his approach reflects that: measure twice, communicate clearly, and don’t hide from a mistake. He’d rather have a hard conversation at the start than a disappointed customer at the end.
You’ll find him at the lumberyard early, or standing in a backyard in Chula Vista with a tape measure while a homeowner points at a fence line and says, “What about over there?” He listens first. Then he talks straight. That’s the job, and he takes it personally.
“Every ADU we build is someone’s plan for their family. I don’t take that lightly.”
Our Promise to San Diego Homeowners
The Kingswell Way isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s the way we run every job, and it was built for homeowners who have been let down before. The person who got a quote over the phone and a different number at the door. The one who took a day off work and waited for a crew that never showed. The one whose repair failed a month later and couldn’t get a call back.
So we say the price before the work starts. We show up in the window we gave. We leave the site cleaner than we found it. We put the guarantee in writing. And if something fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That last sentence is the one that matters most. It’s easy to promise quality. It’s harder to promise a return trip. We’ve put it in writing.
Our Credentials
Every pro working under the Lodgewick ADU San Diego name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. That’s not a marketing bullet. It’s a standard set by the brand, and the brand doesn’t bend it.
- State-licensed: Required for every professional on the job. We’ll show you the paperwork if you ask.
- Insured & bonded: Also required. Not optional. You shouldn’t have to wonder whether the crew in your backyard is covered.
- Local team: The people on your job know San Diego’s neighborhoods, its slopes, its soil, and its permit offices.
- The Kingswell Guarantee: A written guarantee on the work, honored by every Kingswell company. If a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge.
Why does this matter to you? Because anyone can claim to be a contractor. A license means a state board has looked at the work and the paperwork. Insurance means mistakes don’t become your financial problem. And a written guarantee means you’re not taking anyone’s word on a handshake. You deserve all three when someone’s building on your property.
Rooted in San Diego
We work across San Diego County, from the coastal lots in Coronado and Solana Beach to the inland neighborhoods of La Mesa, Poway, and Lemon Grove. Each property has its own character, which is why we never bring a one-size-fits-all plan to a site visit. The right ADU for a flat lot in National City is not the right ADU for a canyon-adjacent property in Rancho San Diego. That local knowledge is earned by spending our days on these streets, not by reading about them online.
We’re here, we answer the phone, and we’d rather show you what we mean than tell you.
Written by Russ Delmar, Owner & Founder of Lodgewick ADU San Diego, serving San Diego County since 2010.