How Benson ADU Woodland Hills Was Born in Woodland Hills
When we looked at the San Fernando Valley in 2006, Woodland Hills stood out for a simple reason: the lots are large, the homes are older, and the families are growing. Backyard space sat unused while people squeezed into houses built decades before anyone dreamed of a home office or an aging parent moving in. The need was obvious. The service wasn’t there.
Troy Eastman remembers driving Ventura Boulevard and counting the backyards that could hold an accessory dwelling unit but didn’t. Driveway gates, pool equipment, old sheds. Space that could become rent, or a bedroom for a mother-in-law, or a studio for a kid who couldn’t afford to move out. The contractors who did show up quoted prices that changed after the first inspection. Permits got “forgotten.” Callbacks went unanswered. Homeowners in Tarzana and Canoga Park were telling us the same stories: they wanted the space, not the headache.
So we brought Benson ADU Builders to Woodland Hills with one commitment: a written price before any work starts. No surprises at the door. The brand’s promise is simple, and we’re the ones who keep it here.
Troy Eastman’s Personal Connection to the ADU Trade
Troy Eastman started in construction the way a lot of people in the Valley did: on someone else’s job site, watching and learning. He spent years in residential framing and remodel work, the kind where you show up at 6:30 in the morning and the sawdust is still settling from the day before. He learned to read a foundation the way you read a face, to know when a wall was carrying weight and when it was just standing there.
What changed him was an ADU job in West Hills. The homeowners, a couple in their late sixties, had hired a contractor to build a granny flat for the wife’s mother. The framing went up. The roof was sheathed. Then the contractor disappeared. Left them with an unfinished shell, a tarp flapping in the Santa Ana winds, and a bank account that was lighter than it should have been. Troy was called in to look at it. He stood in that half-finished room and saw the plywood floor covered in pine needles that had blown through the open walls. The couple stood behind him, not saying much. You don’t need words to understand that kind of disappointment.
He finished that ADU. Fixed what was wrong, pulled the permits properly, got it signed off. The day the final inspection passed, the wife’s mother walked into her new kitchen and turned on the faucet. Just stood there running her hands under the water like it was the first time she’d had her own place in years. That’s the moment Troy will tell you about if you ask him why he does this. Not the framing. Not the money. The look on that woman’s face.
Since then, Troy has spent more than ten years building and finishing accessory dwelling units across the Valley. He knows what works in Calabasas soil and what doesn’t. He knows how the afternoon heat hits a west-facing wall in Encino and why insulation matters more there than it does in Topanga. He knows which City of Los Angeles planning questions slow down an ADU in Chatsworth and which ones move fast in Reseda. He’s walked into enough backyards to know that every site tells you something, if you’re willing to listen.
If he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be building furniture. Something about taking raw material and making it useful never left him. But ADUs are bigger than furniture. They’re rooms where people live, work, and visit. That matters more.
Meet Troy Eastman – The Person Behind Every Job
Troy Eastman is the Owner & Founder of Benson ADU Woodland Hills. He came up through the trades, starting in residential framing and remodel work before finding his calling in accessory dwelling units. He’s the one who walks every site in the Valley, who checks the grade before the forms go in, and who makes sure the price on the estimate matches the price on the final invoice.
What separates Troy from a corporate franchise technician is simple: he lives here. He drives these streets every day. He has knocked on doors in Winnetka, walked alleys in Brentwood, and stood in backyards in Bel Air explaining to homeowners what their property can actually support. A local owner who knows the neighborhood can’t be replaced by a rotating crew from somewhere else.
Off the job, Troy is a woodworker. He builds things that last, which is exactly what he tries to do for every homeowner who trusts him with their property. He holds himself to a simple standard: if he wouldn’t put it in his own backyard, he won’t put it in yours.
Our Promise to Woodland Hills Homeowners
The Benson ADU Woodland Hills promise is a written one. Before any work starts, you get a price in writing. Not a ballpark, not a range that might change, not a handshake. A number. That price covers the work we agree on, and we don’t pretend a change order is a surprise when it isn’t.
This comes from the brand’s Relay Standard, and every pro working under our name is required to work to it. You book in a tap, no phone tag. You get a live arrival time, not a four-hour window. You get photos of the work before and after. You get a digital invoice you can pay from your phone. These aren’t perks. They’re the minimum.
For a homeowner paying for an ADU, the biggest fear is the price that moves. We don’t move it. If something changes on the job, we tell you before it does, in writing, and we explain why. No surprises, ever.
Our Credentials
Benson ADU Woodland Hills is a local branch of Benson ADU Builders, part of the Relay Home Co. family. We work to a set of standards that are the same no matter which city you’re in:
- State-licensed: Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. That means the person on your job site has met the legal bar to be there.
- Insured & bonded: Coverage is required before any work begins. If something goes wrong, you’re not left holding the cost.
- Local experience: Our team has worked in Woodland Hills and the surrounding Valley communities for more than a decade. We know the soil, the building codes, and the planning offices.
- Written pricing: Every job gets a written price before any work starts. No verbal estimates, no “we’ll figure it out later.”
- The Relay Visibility Guarantee: A live arrival time you can track, photo updates of the work before and after, and a written price before anything starts. You always know who is coming, when they will be there, and what it will cost.
Why does this matter to a homeowner? Because the person building an ADU in your backyard is going to be on your property for weeks, maybe months. You need to know they’re legal, insured, and accountable. You need to see the work as it happens, not wait for a final walkthrough. And you need a price that doesn’t change when the first invoice arrives. That’s what these credentials protect.
Rooted in Woodland Hills
Benson ADU Woodland Hills doesn’t pretend to be from every town. It’s an independent local business that agreed to work to the Relay Visibility Guarantee, and it serves Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Brentwood, Bel Air, Canoga Park, West Hills, Winnetka, Calabasas, Reseda, Topanga, Encino, and Chatsworth. The backyards, the street grid, the way the sun drops behind the hills at the end of the day – that’s the ground we work on. It’s not a territory. It’s home.
Written by Troy Eastman, Owner at Benson ADU Woodland Hills, serving the San Fernando Valley since 2006.