We start with your design. Modular is how we build it, not what you settle for.
Shape Homes · Projects
Every project with the town it sits in, what it took, and the one constraint that decided the design.
Palo Alto, California · 2012
Held to 750 square feet so the project stayed on the state ministerial pathway, which is what kept the protected oak at the rear of the lot out of the argument entirely. Shell stood in six days. The neighbor thought the owners were re-roofing.
750 exterior square feet · ADUs in Palo Alto
Portola Valley, California · 2016
Sited along the contour rather than across it, so the review turned on soil and not on slope stability. The owners paid in draws like any build and the total never moved off the March number; the only change order was theirs.
750 exterior square feet · Building in Portola Valley
Menlo Park, California · 2019
A unit over a two-car garage, reached by an exterior stair so no floor area was lost to a hallway downstairs. Two square feet of margin on the size exemption, which on a lot this tight is the difference between a second unit and no second unit.
748 exterior square feet · ADUs in Menlo Park
Los Altos, California · 2026
A courtyard home arranged around a pool, with the living spaces opening straight onto the water and the site utilities routed to suit the pool layout.
Delivered 2026 · Building in Los Altos
Atherton, California · 2021
The heritage oaks at the edge of the lot decided the footprint before anything else did. The single-story plan wraps a courtyard around the pool, with the living room opening straight onto it, and the detached second unit went on the same permit set so the site was only opened once.
4,180 exterior square feet · Building in Atherton
Los Altos, California · 2026
A replacement home on a narrow infill lot. The plan keeps the wet rooms stacked along the side closest to the sewer lateral, which kept trenching short and left the backyard open.
Delivered 2026 · Building in Los Altos
Hillsborough, California
A Japanese-inspired home set among tall trees. Deep roof overhangs frame concrete walls and wood screens, while the wood-lined entry looks into a quiet courtyard garden through full-height glazing. The same restrained materials carry from the garden to the interior.
Woodside, California · 2024
A shared driveway and a tight grading limit. The home sits on a level pad set close to the existing grade, which kept earthwork under the threshold that would have sent it to a Planning Commission hearing, and every delivery came up the shared drive on ordinary trucks.
3,640 exterior square feet · Building in Woodside
Each page carries that town's own setback, height and review rules, not a generic summary.
We pull your parcel, your town's ordinance and a street view of the driveway before the call.
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