Zoning question from sfr to multi-units in san diego

[David Morrison]

I am currently trying to buy a property in San Diego.  The property is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house and it has 2500 square foot on a .33 acre of land.

The county records indicate it is zoned as a R7.

I believe R7 means medium density residential. 7-14 units per acre and is intended for wide range density.  But the property is on a .33 acre of land.  

I would like to add two more units to this property.  Making the property a house plus the duplex.  So making the property a tri-plex (house plus 2 one bedroom one bathroom unit)  

My questions are:

1.  What would my challenges be?

2.  Any companies in San Diego to help me make this happen?

3.  cost per unit?

I own several houses in San Diego but never tried to add any units and looking for any advise.   

[Justin R.]

@David Morrison Pedro has experience in this too, so he's a good resource.

I have experience with the SD city limits, but no experience in Santee.  What I'm writing here could be wrong for Santee, but most stuff applies across City borders.

I'm not sure what you're copying from (that link doesn't display anything for me), but here's what I see when reading Santee code:

That term "multiple family attached" means zoning could support duplex as you're proposing.  It sounds like density is discretionary ("7-14 DU/acre") - that means it supports 2 units at the low end and 5 at the high end ... in theory.

You'll have to get friendly with reading the Santee code to figure out what other challenges you'll have. Big things to look out for include: enough parking to meet requirements (you should have plenty of space in this case if your lot is flat), fire and mechanical requirements (should be fine if your new duplex is detached from the house), utility upgrade and install costs, and vertical building costs.  It's expensive, plain and simple.  Labor is particularly pricey right now.

There are consultants who help with this sort of stuff.  Or, a good architect can work through this.  You'll pay retail in both cases.  Or, you could go with a contractor who has experience and hope s/he can drive the process.  

My first development project was just like you describe - buy an SFR, build two more units. I hired a drafter for plans and a GC once permits were pulled, but otherwise did everything myself. FANTASTIC learning experience. Incredibly difficult and time consuming to finally get it done. Contractors and Architects earn their pay when doing this.