Manzanita DB
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Manzanita Design Build operates as a general contractor and design-build firm with roots deep in Oakland and the East Bay hills. The company is registered as a California S-Corporation under the DBA Temescal Design Inc, holding Contractors License #1034108. The name Manzanita refers to a native California shrub, a bit of symbolic grounding that fits the firm's approach to creating spaces that belong in their environment rather than imposing a template on the landscape. Operating from a Martin Luther King Jr Way address in Oakland, the firm serves the neighborhoods where it lives: Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, El Cerrito, Albany, Alameda, and Lafayette. These are the East Bay communities where many lots are steeply sloped, where hillside geology matters as much as codes, and where homeowners often value architect-designed, custom work over prefab standardization.
The firm's philosophy is stated simply: creating spaces that are warm and naturally lit, reflecting the people who will inhabit them. This framing, reflective rather than imposing, warm rather than sterile, light-conscious rather than generic, signals a design-forward approach. Manzanita Design Build is not a production shop running numbers and pushing units through the pipeline. It is a smaller operation where an architect likely sits in the design process, not just a draftsperson translating a template. This matters for ADUs, because a good ADU adapts to its site rather than forcing the site to adapt to the ADU. A hillside lot in Piedmont or Oakland with deep setbacks, a specific view, or mature trees demands design thinking, not a prefab box.
The company offers two core service lines. The first is full-service design-build, where Manzanita manages the entire journey from concept through completion, including design, planning, permitting, and construction. You meet once, describe your vision and constraints, and the firm handles everything with a single point of contact. The advantage is coherence and efficiency; the designer and builder are not separate entities playing phone tag and disagreeing on feasibility. The second service is general contracting for clients who have already completed design work with an architect or designer and need someone to build it. This option suits homeowners who have relationships with a specific designer or who want to control the design process separately.
Manzanita's project portfolio includes several ADU examples, each named by the street or intersection where it is located. The Skyline project (a remodel), Shafter, West, Harwood, Adeline, and Chaucer are highlighted on the website. Ridge Road, Blair Avenue, Parker Street, and Ascot Court round out the named work. Some of these are remodels, some are ADU additions, and some are new construction. The fact that projects are referenced by street address rather than marketing names signals a contractor that works in real neighborhoods, for real people, and does not need to invent promotional language. You can look up these streets (most are in Oakland, Berkeley, or Piedmont) and get a sense of the neighborhood character and lot types where Manzanita works. This is a more useful portfolio than a generic "ADU example" with stock photography.
The East Bay focus, while narrower geographically than some competitors, is deeper. East Bay neighborhoods present design challenges that reward specialized knowledge. Piedmont is known for steeply sloped lots where a building needs careful foundation work and often retaining walls. Berkeley and Oakland's Oakland Hills neighborhoods sit on terrain where site drainage and geotechnical engineering are not optional. El Cerrito and Albany are more modestly scaled communities where design review boards scrutinize additions and ADUs for compatibility with existing neighborhoods. Lafayette is growing but conservative. An ADU firm that has done work repeatedly in these neighborhoods knows how to navigate planning boards, understands soil and slope conditions, and can design units that fit these specific contexts. A firm that claims to serve the entire Bay Area often means it serves no one particularly well; Manzanita's East Bay concentration suggests genuine expertise in this region's particular constraints.
The company maintains full licensing and insurance, which is baseline for any contractor you hire but worth confirming. Insurance matters because construction is risky. If a worker is injured, if a crane drops something, if a foundation crack appears in your neighbor's house, or if a unit is damaged by fire or weather before completion, you need a contractor whose insurance covers the liability. Verifying licensing and insurance coverage before signing a contract is essential, not something to accept on faith. Manzanita's emphasis on this point suggests the firm takes risk management seriously.
The design-build model that Manzanita uses is particularly effective for ADUs because of a simple fact: ADU feasibility often cannot be determined from drawings alone. A site walk, a careful reading of slopes and utilities and tree roots and view corridors, and a conversation between the architect and the builder about what is actually possible on this lot will almost always surface solutions or constraints that pure design-at-a-distance misses. A hillside lot that looks fine on a survey map might have soil conditions that require special foundation engineering. A lot that seems spacious might have underground utilities or water lines that constrain placement. An architect who has never worked with a builder on this property might design something beautiful but impractical. Manzanita's unified design-build approach means these constraints surface during design, not during construction, and the architect and builder work together to solve them rather than blame each other. This is particularly valuable in the East Bay's complex terrain.
The firm handles the complete ADU journey: design, planning, permitting, and construction. This spans a typical ADU workflow. Design involves either selecting and customizing an existing design or creating a custom design with Manzanita's architect. Planning and permitting involve pre-application meetings with the city, design review if required, and submission of all required permits. Construction is the physical building, from foundation through final inspection. Handling all of these internally means no coordinate delays between a designer, a permitting consultant, and a builder. The cost of this integrated approach is that it typically requires a visit to the site and a detailed conversation rather than a quick online estimate. Manzanita does not appear to offer an instant calculator or templated pricing; you contact the firm to discuss your specific project.
For East Bay homeowners in communities like Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, or Lafayette who value design quality and want an architect involved in the planning, Manzanita Design Build represents a natural fit. The firm's hillside experience is particularly relevant if your lot slopes significantly or if you need retaining walls or geotechnical solutions. The site-built approach, rather than prefab, gives flexibility for unusual topography and allows customization to the neighborhood and the people who will live in the ADU. The unified design-build model reduces delays and coordination friction. The project portfolio, named by street address in East Bay neighborhoods, shows the actual work the firm does in the communities where it operates. If you are looking for a contractor that designs and builds ADUs with the same care that architecture demands, and you live in the East Bay, Manzanita should be in your conversation.