House Plans and Custom Drafting in Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield Keeps Building While the Rest of California Slows

The 2025 California Department of Finance report (covered by KGET and Bakersfield.com) tells an unusual story: statewide population slightly declined, yet Kern County cities posted notable housing gains, and Bakersfield ranked among the top five California cities for net housing gains with 1,765 units added in 2024. The city reached 419,238 residents as of January 1, 2025, making it California's 9th-largest city and the fastest-growing of the state's 10 largest. The wider metro sits around 751,000 people, up 1.35% year over year (Macrotrends).

One honest caveat: the DOF report tracks net housing units, not building permits, and we have not independently confirmed a precise count of single-family permits issued in Bakersfield, so we cite the unit figure instead. What the confirmed numbers do show is a city producing new housing at a pace almost no other large California city matches, and every one of those projects starts with a set of drawings.

What a $397K Average Home Value Means for Your Design Budget

Zillow puts the average Bakersfield home value at $396,712 as of April 30, 2026, down 0.3% year over year, with homes going pending in about 21 days. That is roughly a quarter of San Jose's average value. The design math follows directly: when the finished home is worth about $397K instead of four times that, the drawings have to be priced for volume, not prestige.

This is why Bakersfield is, at heart, a stock-plan market. Our stock house plans start at $799 and can be adapted to your lot and the City of Bakersfield's submittal requirements, which keeps per-house design cost low for builders putting up multiple homes and for owner-builders watching every line item. And when the lot or the wish list calls for something the catalog cannot deliver, custom house plans remain realistic here in a way they often are not in the state's priciest metros, because the overall budget leaves room for them. The local drafting field is small, mostly solo practices; Apex adds remote capacity on top of it across eight residential services.

Bakersfield ADU Rules: State Law Sets the Floor, City Code Adds Detail

California has the most permissive statewide ADU framework in the country, and unlike states such as Texas or New York, where no statewide ADU mandate exists, that framework applies in every California city, Bakersfield included. AB 68, AB 881, and SB 13 (2020) made ADU approval ministerial with a 60-day clock and guaranteed the right to at least an 850 sq ft unit. SB 897 (2023) set height minimums, AB 976 (2023) permanently eliminated owner-occupancy requirements for standard ADUs, and AB 2533 (2025) opened an amnesty path for unpermitted ADUs built before 2020. Newest of all, SB 543 (2026) requires cities to confirm application completeness within 15 business days and deems an ADU automatically approved if the city misses the 60-day deadline. AB 1033 (2024) lets cities allow ADUs to be sold separately as condos, though the adopters so far (San Jose, Santa Monica, and San Diego city and county) do not include Bakersfield.

Locally, Bakersfield Municipal Code Chapter 17.65 fills in the details: one ADU per single-family property, plus a junior ADU of up to 500 sq ft if the owner lives on site; ADUs up to 850 sq ft with one bedroom or 1,000 sq ft with two; a 16 ft height limit for detached units (25 ft attached); 4 ft rear and side setbacks; and no parking requirement within half a mile of transit. A site plan review application is required. One important wrinkle: the state Department of Housing and Community Development issued Bakersfield an ADU ordinance technical-assistance letter in October 2025, which means the local rules are under state review and some provisions may change. Our ADU plans and design work is drawn to satisfy both the city ordinance and the state minimums that control where the two conflict.

• 1 ADU per single-family lot, plus a JADU if owner-occupied
• Up to 850 sq ft (1 bedroom) or 1,000 sq ft (2 bedrooms)
• JADU capped at 500 sq ft
• 16 ft detached height limit, 25 ft attached
• 4 ft rear and side setbacks
• No parking required within half a mile of transit

The Apex Services That Fit the Bakersfield Market

With the average home value down 0.3% year over year, some owners choose to improve rather than trade up; our home addition and remodel drafting covers that path too.

How Remote Drafting Works for a Bakersfield Project

Bakersfield Drafting and ADU Questions

More California Service Areas

Bakersfield is part of our California service area, where the same statewide ADU framework applies. We also draft for Los Angeles and San Diego, and you can browse every market we cover from the service areas hub.