Module 12 · Lesson 6
From Permit to Framing: How an ADU Gets Built
Follow one real ADU from permit issuance to a framed building in about 90 days — with the dates, pauses, and inspections that shaped the calendar.
Companion to lesson 12.5, and built on the same real project — this one compresses the first 90 days from permit issuance to completed framing into one time-lapse story. The value is in the dates: seeing how calendar time actually distributes.
Day 1 — Permit issued. The card goes up (Module 10.8's finish line). Note what had already happened by day 1 on this project: contractor under contract, utility applications in progress, materials with long lead times ordered. Lesson 10.9's advice — permit day as starting gun, not planning kickoff — is why this project's day 1 was fast.
Days 2–10 — Site prep. Demo, clearing, grading, trenches (12.2). Watch the time-lapse: the yard transforms daily. Deceptive speed — enjoy it.
Days 11–24 — Foundation. Forms and under-slab plumbing (with its pressure test), steel, pre-pour inspection on day 18 — note that scheduling the inspector cost two days; this is normal and was built into the schedule — pour on day 20. Then the site goes still.
Days 21–32 — The cure pause. Eleven days where the time-lapse shows… concrete, sitting. This is the pause that panics uninformed homeowners (12.1's rhythm; 12.3's chemistry). This project's GC used it well: framing lumber delivered day 28, staged and ready.
Days 33–61 — Framing. First walls day 34. Building recognizable by day 40. Roof structure complete day 52; sheathing and detail work through day 61. Framing inspection day 63 — passed, with one correction (a missed row of shear nailing, fixed same day; even good crews get corrections, and same-day fixes are the mark of a good one).
Day 65 — Windows arrive. And the shell begins to close — where this film ends and lesson 12.7 picks up the question everyone asks at this exact moment.
What the 90 days teach: roughly a third was motion (demo, pour, framing), a third was precision (forms, steel, plumbing, inspections), and a third was waiting that belongs in the schedule (cure, inspector slots, deliveries). A project that "sat idle for weeks" and a project on schedule are usually the same project, described by two different observers. Now you're the informed one.
Key takeaways
- Fast day-1 starts are earned before day 1: contracts, utility applications, and material orders during permitting.
- Of 90 typical days, roughly a third each: visible motion, precision work, and scheduled waiting.
- Inspection scheduling and concrete cure are calendar items, not delays.
- Same-day correction fixes are the signature of a good crew — corrections themselves are normal.