Meet the San Jose Team Behind Sutton ADU San Jose
An ADU is a year-long relationship, not a one-day transaction. You’ll see the same faces pulling up to your San Jose lot from the first soil probe through final paint, and you’ll know their names before they arrive. Our crew has built detached units in Willow Glen, converted garages in Japantown, and managed second-story additions in Almaden Valley. What binds them is a shared allergy to vague pricing and surprise change orders. Every person below works under the Threshold Standard, which means background-checked, identity-verified, and accountable to a written price and the 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Our People
Marcus R. – Lead Technician, ADU Construction
Marcus has run point on over 60 ADU projects across Santa Clara County since joining Sutton ADU San Jose in 2016. He holds the crew’s deepest knowledge of James Hardie cladding systems and is the guy who walks a lot with a level and finds the 3/8-inch grade issue before it finds us. Before Sutton, he framed custom homes in Morgan Hill for nine years. Marcus speaks fluent Spanish, which has saved more than one jobsite conversation with a subcontractor. On weekends, he rebuilds old Toyota pickups in his Berryessa garage and will absolutely talk your ear off about carburetors if you let him.
Dana K. – Senior Installer, Prefab & Modular ADUs
Dana is our prefab specialist. She has completed factory-certified training with Abodu, Cover, and Plant Prefab, and she oversees every modular unit from factory delivery to final set. Her specialty is the tight interface work, getting a factory-built module seated correctly on a San Jose foundation with the plumbing and electrical connections done clean the first time. Dana spent five years as a finish carpenter before moving into ADUs, and it shows in her trim work. She keeps a laminated soil-classification chart in her work truck, which tells you a lot about how she approaches a project. Ask her about the time a shipment arrived at a Cambrian Park lot with the roof panels reversed.
Priya S. – Service Coordinator, San Jose Projects
Priya is the voice on the phone when you call (669) 444-4530. She has managed schedules for over 100 local builds and knows the City of San Jose permit process well enough to tell you, off the top of her head, whether your setback question needs a planner or just a patient afternoon. Her job is to keep homeowners informed before they have to ask: what day the crew arrives, who’s on the truck, and what the next two weeks look like. Priya grew up in Cupertino and worked in construction dispatch for seven years before joining us. She bakes a sourdough loaf every Sunday and will not apologize for how seriously she takes it.
Leo T. – Apprentice, Field Operations
Leo joined the crew in 2023 after two years at a San Jose trade program, and he’s the reason we can keep a job moving on the small stuff while the veterans handle the critical path. He’s learning the ADU trade from the ground up: site prep, material staging, rough framing, and the endless art of keeping a jobsite clean enough to pass a city inspection. Leo is a San Jose native, born and raised near Lincoln High School, and he commutes to job sites on an electric bike he built from a kit. His apprenticeship log is nearing 1,200 hours, and Marcus swears he may be the first person on the crew who actually enjoys rebar layout.
One Standard, Every Job
The four people above, plus Miles Hartwell, are the crew you’ll work with on a San Jose ADU. What ties them together is the system they operate under, not just good intentions. Every technician Sutton sends to your property is background-checked, identity-verified, uniformed, and photo-badged. Their name and photo are sent to you before the visit, so you’re never opening your door to a stranger. Every project carries a written price before work begins, no exceptions. Every build is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if a defect in workmanship shows up within one full calendar year of completion, we fix it. That promise is not a conversation. It’s a written guarantee stamped on every project we deliver in San Jose.
Sutton, for what it’s worth, is an old English name for a south farm. Adding a second home to your lot is exactly that kind of settled, rooted decision. We built this San Jose crew because we want you to have the same people from first call to final walkthrough, people whose names you know and whose work you can vet. If you’re thinking about an ADU, a room addition, or a second-story build, call (669) 444-4530 and talk to Priya. She’ll get you a free estimate with Miles or one of the crew, at your lot, on your schedule.
Written by Miles Hartwell, Owner of Sutton ADU San Jose, serving San Jose and surrounding Santa Clara County since 2006.
