All Forum Posts by: Whitney Hill

Andy, hi! Can you share any high level details about the nature of the trickiness so we can also help others learn on this thread? E.g. location, site constraints, your general questions

To your question, I'd also be happy to hop in with recommendations. You'll want to consider full costs upfront and an architect + contractor team is helpful in that process.

I'd strongly suggest looking for an architect that works hand in hand with a builder, or look for a design/build firm. You'll want to bring that cost-focus from day 1, and designing independently from the builder can lead to an expensive ADU. A good architect will of course consider cost if you tell them that's important to you, but it's tough for them to truly consider all of that because it's not their area of expertise. An investor-focused contractor should be eager to work with your architect to provide feedback in the process... the repeat business (from investors) is worth the additional work/coordination upfront in the design phase.

To echo @Sue Hough, the contractor will provide an important perspective on building to code. They will also help ensure you can build the project on budget, which is why we like to get involved during the design phase if possible to work hand in hand with the architect to make adjustments as needed before finalizing construction drawings.

In this case since you already have plans... sending them out to bid with 2-3 contractors should turn up fairly comparable quotes, so pay attention to how they each handle processes, what systems are in place etc... that will heavily impact timeline and adherence to budget. 

For reference, figure on $275-325/sqft for all-in ADU project costs…so an 500 sqft 1BR standalone ADU would typically cost around $160K.

Pre-construction costs: $10K for design, construction drawings, title 24 energy report & electrical layout, permit processing. $5K or so for permits, assume 10X the sqft of ADU (500 sqft = $5K fees).

Construction costs: $250/sqft + $10K sitework (e.g. preparing the building pad, connecting utilities, plus a small amount of landscape and concrete work)

Great suggestions from others here. We design & build ADUs in San Diego and are always happy to give ballpark pricing to tire kickers :) I'm sure the same would apply to good contractors out in your area too. 

An advantage of working with a design-build firm (= general contractor that also oversees the design portion of the project, either with on staff architects or partnerships) is that you will be working with a budget target from the beginning. If you go the architect route separately, it's often the case that the focus is on design and it's easy to add expensive details... so you may end up spending thousands to design something you can't afford to build.

Size... You can fit a lot in 1200sqft... I've seen 3BR/3BA. Typically we'd do a 500 sqft 1BR (bc no engineering review <500 sqft), 750 sqft 2BR (bc no impact fees <750), and a 3BR/2BA at 1200 sqft. So sure, you could have a giant 1BR and we've done that, but you can add additional beds and baths... can't have 2 kitchens though (e.g. you can't make a duplex ADU)

Vertical building... construction of building itself. Leave out the sitework and plans/permitting etc. This is since that last part varies a lot - like if you had demo or grading or a septic system to put in before you could start building the structure.

Floors... we typically go for luxury vinyl plank vs either laminate or engineered wood. Imagine @Kevin Chen is talking about laminate being less resilient than engineered, so if same price... would also pick engineered! Echo Kevin's point about what should be included... quartz countertops & appliances applies for what we include as well.

As a good rule of thumb, figure on $275-325/sqft for all-in ADU project costs…so an 500 sqft 1BR standalone ADU would typically cost around $160K. You can think of costs in two phases… Pre-construction and Construction:

• Pre-construction costs: $10-15K
• -Design: if using a stock plan, the design work costs about $5K. If going with a full custom plan (e.g. you have a unique lot layout that will require a customized layout)… closer to $10K, including construction drawings, title 24 energy report & electrical layout, permit processing
  
• -Permits: $5K is typically what the total costs to the city will run for an ADU, even with the waived fees
• Construction costs: $250/sqft + $10K
• -Building costs: typically $250/sf to start, for vertical building only. This is higher than for single family homes, since the cost is spread out over a much smaller footprint (e.g. still a kitchen+bath, but only 1-2 BRs).
• -Site work: typically $10K is a good number to start with, which includes preparing the building pad, connecting utilities, plus a small amount of landscape and concrete work.
• Other costs (not typically required): Additional structural engineering, Civil engineering, Soils engineering

Also, the cost would be around $75K for a standard garage conversion project of about 400 sqft....$8-10K for plans/design/engineering, $3-5K permits/fees, rest construction costs.

1) Garage conversion cost. Yes, $80K is reasonable for converting a typical 2-car garage (~400sqft), inclusive of construction, design, plans and permitting. This of course assumes nothing funky is going on with the structure, e.g. falling apart and needs significant structural reinforcement.

2) Financing ideas. You might want to look into purchase+renovation loans, which allow you to finance a renovation project (including ADUs) into the mortgage. The renovation funds are released to the contractor during the renovation/construction of the ADU. There are two types of renovation loans that can be used for ADUs… FHA 203K allows for attached ADUs or conversions. Fannie Mae Homestyle allows for detached ADUs. Both loans have a limit of $701,500 and may be based on the "future value" of the property after adding the ADU… up to 95% financing of a primary residence or 85% of an investment property. You can choose to refinance it after construction completion to get a better rate or different loan amount… rates for the Homestyle are about .5% higher now than a conventional loan would be.

If you can use a pre-approved plan exactly as-is, you may not need to pay for architectural plans. However, in addition to the architectural plans, your project will still require a site plan (also called a plot plan). The site plan must show the property layout with the footprints of all existing and proposed structures, electrical services, fences/walls/gates, setbacks, parcel area, easements, driveways and slopes, drainage for storm water. When applicable, grading plans, septic design and other plans/calculations must be created and also submitted with the pre-approved plans.

The vast majority of plans require at least some amendments… e.g. a door or window needs to be moved due to site layout or constraints. ANY change means you’ll still need to pay for plans to be drawn up (unfortunately it’s not as simple as just “editing” the county plan… a new set would need to be drawn up entirely). Also, the standard plans were not designed with a strong eye toward value (e.g. making smart decisions about construction cost), which is why we prefer to offer our own pre-designed plans which we can readily customize to a given property...typically $5000-8000 all-in for the design work, construction drawings, title 24 energy report & electrical layout, & permit processing... not permits themselves, those usually run another $3-5K)

As far as approval speed... pre-approved plans from the city/county are expedited, though in some instances the pre-approval queue is just as long as the standard queue. Also, if for any reason the pre-approved plan has a deviation, the plan will end up in the standard queue. Hope this helps!

Hi James! Not sure about specifics on recourse. In my experience as a borrower using Patch of Land for 6 fix and flip loans, their responsiveness varies wildly by department (perhaps understandably). The sales / loan origination folks are fantastic. Loan servicing sometimes goes radio silent and I end up recruiting my originator to work behind the scenes to get the other department to respond. My suggestion would be to try and find a phone number of someone on the "sales" side, perhaps from when you were deciding to invest, call/email them incessantly. Good luck!

Hi! Just hopping in to add that you are allowed one tiny home OR a detached ADU, plus a Junior ADU. Not permissible to have a tiny home + ADU... the tiny home counts as the ADU:

"Only one companion unit [=ADU] or movable tiny house, and one junior unit are permitted on premises. Guest quarters and non-habitable structures shall be permitted in addition to the companion unit or movable tiny house, and junior unit."

Guest quarters = Living quarters attached to a primary dwelling unit without interior access or within a detached accessory building, which are for the sole use of persons employed on the premises or for temporary use by guests of the occupants of premises.

Full regulation... page 14 has the part I mentioned on only one ADU or tiny home: https://www.tinyhomeindustryassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/San-Diego-Draft-.pdf