ADU construction, plans to final
A second dwelling on your lot, as a rental, a place for family or a home to live in while the main house is rebuilt.
An ADU as part of a rebuild
On a cleared lot, building the ADU first can put you back on the property sooner, living in the small house while the main one goes up. It can also be designed into the rebuild from the start, sharing utilities and a single site plan.
We look at both orders and show you how each one affects the schedule and the budget.
Plans, permits and what the city checks
Every ADU needs plans that show where it sits on the lot, how it connects to utilities and how it meets the building and energy codes. We prepare the plans package, submit it, answer the plan checker's corrections and carry it through to an issued permit.
Building the unit
The build follows the same staged order as a full house: foundation, framing, roof, rough trades, insulation, drywall and finishes, each one inspected. On a parcel inside a mapped fire hazard area, the ADU gets the same ember-resistant details as the main house.
ADU Construction: questions
The drawings and engineering a qualifying one-story ADU of up to 500 square feet needs for its permit application. Agency fees, unusual engineering and the build are priced on their own after a site visit.
If the ADU is permitted and finished first, yes, subject to the rules of your city. We plan the order of work so you can move in as early as the permits allow.
Often. We check the slab, the walls and the roof to see whether the structure can carry a dwelling, then price the conversion against a new detached unit.
Plan your ADU
Send the address and what the unit is for. We reply with how the plans package applies and what the build involves.