California is so eager for homeowners to build ADUs, it’s helping them save on architect fees

In California thanks to a number of state-level interventions in latest years building an accessory dwelling unit or ADU is easier than ever Still construction projects even of a tiny home are a major undertaking for the average homeowner Before lining up contractors and latest ground a property owner might spend thousands of dollars and wait weeks just to get architectural plans drafted and approved by a local permitting agency Now though California is trying to reduce those up-front impediments as part of a broader push to address its housing predicament In an effort to make it easier and cheaper for homeowners to build backyard units a state law passed in requires local governments to provide homeowners with a slate of pre-approved ADU plans from which they can choose The homes sometimes called granny flats appeal to several families looking for multigenerational housing while other owners use them as an assets opportunity Under the law AB which went into effect this year homeowners choosing a pre-approved plan must have their permits approved in days or less The typical timeline to get ADU permits approved is to days Reducing costs reducing confusion reducing delays all of that goes a long way to help everyday homeowners who are trying to build new housing noted Jonathan Pacheco Bell vice president of procedures and programs with the Casita Coalition an ADU advocacy group Homeowners must still pay the architectural firm that drafted the plans a fee for the right to use them but the costs range from to which is far below the typical cost of custom plans which can run between and disclosed Samantha Dolgoff who manages ADU permitting for a number of cities in Santa Clara County A scarce plans drafted by the nonprofit HEART of San Mateo County can be used for free That s a huge thing especially for homeowners who might not have a lot of money and want to save as much as they can for construction costs Dolgoff disclosed in an interview Construction of an ADU typically ranges from to per square foot so a small -foot one-bedroom ADU might cost Hookup costs for water and electricity add around to the total cost Preparing the foundation of a site can itself cost around for an ADU-sized parcel Related Articles Berkeley s Homeless Response Crew has room for improvement audit finds Developers sue Los Gatos over builder s remedy project application California the top choice for Chinese homebuyers who spent more on US homes this year Silicon Valley Pain Index finds poverty inequality continue to plague South Bay San Jose has just as a great number of homeless people as it did two years ago despite sheltering various of them The contemporary law is just one of a great number of avenues the state of California is trying to empower residents to build more ADUs sometimes in the face of local opposition Homeowners are responding last year one in every five of the new housing units built in California was an ADU Chosen cities are making it particularly easy for homeowners to consider their options A collection of South Bay cities this month rolled out an online gallery called Santa Clara County ADU with renderings of pre-approved backyard units ranging from small studios to two-bedroom bungalows Other jurisdictions like Oakland and San Mateo County share links to architectural plans directly on their websites For someone who s not versed in construction even just getting started and finding an architect can be a big hurdle disclosed Christian Murdock group rise director for Mountain View This lowers one of those hurdles Of program even a heavily subsidized set of blueprints doesn t eliminate all the headaches Homeowners still need to produce a site plan a map showing where the ADU will go and how it connects to utilities like water lines and power Various architects or pre-manufactured ADU companies bundle this institution into their offerings Others charge extra Homeowners should be cautious of any initial price estimates they see attached to pre-approved plans disclosed Sara Dean principal at IF THEN Studios which has a number of pre-approved ADU options California is complicated she explained We have a great number of different seismic zones and soil types all of which require different structural work Ask lots of questions to the company selling plans and if you get answers that are too simple be wary of that ADUs have all the complexity of design and permitting that a home does but without the square footage Still in countless of the Bay Area s the majority expensive communities where the housing stock is composed of mansions and large-lot homes an ADU might be one of the only affordable options available to renters In Los Altos for example the median home sold is square feet and costs million according to material from MLSListings Even a modest two-bedroom home rents for upward of a month For program engineer Aditi Nagaraj those prices put the locality where she grew up out of reach But when her father in decided to build a two-bedroom ADU in the backyard of her childhood home Nagaraj and her husband Casey Davis moved in seizing the chance to raise their two children ages and near family They pay Nagaraj s parents a month in rent The ADA home that Aditi Nagaraj and her husband Casey Davis with their two children live in is located behind Nagaraj's parents' home in Los Altos California Taka Taira-Kaplan Photography Locality Planning Collaborative It s such a rare opportunity to be in this area at this price Nagaraj explained Nagaraj s sister who lives with her parents in the main home routinely stops by for breakfast Nagaraj and Davis bring their kids to the main house for dinner a insufficient times a week It s area living Nagaraj announced We re all caretakers of the whole space and we re looking out for each other Several cities are offering residents more than just plans In South San Francisco unincorporated Alameda County and Marin County homeowners can also access free building and design sponsorship via a partnership with the nonprofit HelloADU In San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan sees ADUs as a vital part of the city s housing strategy especially in areas that aren t good candidates for the type of dense multifamily housing the city is building downtown Over of our residential land in San Jose is dedicated to single-family homes he noted We believe that ADUs will continue to play a critical role in expanding housing supply through gentle densification of these neighborhoods The ADA home that Aditi Nagaraj and her husband Casey Davis with their two children live in is located behind Nagaraj's parents' home in Los Altos California Taka Taira-Kaplan Photography Society Planning Collaborative