Leon Lai locks in precision with the jigsaw, cutting flooring for the Luma Dwellings Concord remodel.
It was about a year ago that Omar and Karym Vilchez realized that they needed to do something.
They had just moved their older daughter from a bedroom she shared with her sister to her own room. Shortly after, when family visited, they were forced to crowd into the girls’ playroom, battling for space with the toys and boxes of art supplies. Omar and Karym, eight-year residents of Orinda, said to each other, “We need more space.”
And of course, they’re not the only ones. Lots of homeowners have a need for a dedicated office, or a place for their parents to live, or a bedroom for out-of-town visitors or summer returnees from college.
One popular answer is an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), which can add a modest-sized independent living space, either attached to, or detached from, a main residence. But such additions come with a bit of sticker shock, a shock Orinda residents Leon Lai and his wife Diana Coleman would like to lessen.
The demand is definitely there, especially in areas like Orinda, so Lai and Coleman founded Luma Dwellings, a home remodeler and ADU builder. The goal is to be a mini-disruptor of a local industry that all too often blithely imposes an“Orinda tax” based on the assumption that anyone who lives in the city will pay premium prices, even if they aren’t warranted.
Lai, an engineer by training, and Diana, an interior designer, had firsthand experience of this unwelcome phenomenon when they were soliciting quotes for contracting services for a new house where they plan to raise their three daughters, now all in elementary school.
What? It would cost $20,000 to clear weeds on a hillside! No, thank you.
So Lai got two friends to help him and they did the work in one day. Quotes for other services were also exorbitant, causing the couple to start up their company at the beginning 2025, aiming to provide quality ADUs at a more affordable price..
Helping the project along is the City of Orinda’s approval process, which makes it as easy as possible for ADU plans to get approved. As long as a proposed project complies with all objective standards of the Orinda Municipal Code, the city not only will, but must, approve the project. There are no discretionary decisions made, no public hearings and no neighborhood notification.
Terry Murphy, a former three-term member of the Orinda’s Planning Commission, said the key information is spelled out for them on the city’s website and if the guidelines are adhered to, the project should be approved.
