My ultimate goal is to continue buying with the VA loan with a couple refis (take a VA and make it a 20% conventional loan after building equity) and conventional purchases (to reset my baseline for square footage and price to free up eligibility).

The answer lies in the psychology of real estate buying, a fascinating aspect of the housing market that can shed light on our behaviors as buyers.The Emotional ConnectionWhen it comes to buying a home, emotions often play a significant role.People form emotional connections with properties that go beyond their practicality.It's not just about square footage and the number of bedrooms; it's about envisioning a life in that space.

With that square footage I would say 180k to 230k.

It's also a 2-bed but its a big 2-bed (1100 sqft, which is this area is usually a 3-bed) and I think to get top dollar based on the square footage rather than the number of bedrooms it takes a certain tenant.In any case I have had almost no quality applicants and plenty of people show up and don't apply (I think my qualifications list on the application scares a lot of people away but its pretty standard). 

SQ footage will go from 910 to about 1300sq ft.

Economy, Standard, or Lux3) Labor to do the work.Now lets pick a kitchen backsplash.One look at a kitchen wall and you can easily estimate the square footage.

I have looked into individual storage unit cost per square footage, and cold storage was around $.25 / SqFt.

I've had A/C people not put enough chemicals in the unit, roofers who failed to put in a necessary ridge vent, contractors who charge you for a permit but never pull one, another roofer used red chalk on a metal roof (permanent stains) and a tile guy who told me my square footage estimate was wrong, had me order 300 more SF of tile, only to find that I was right and I had to return 300 SF of tile. 

I’ve read that you can either go by the amount of rooms rented vs rooms you occupy or by square footage of the home vs square footage of the space you occupy.

If you go with the ADU in the current sq footage: it will be much cheaper as the structure is already there and you may only have to put in a wall dividing it and a new kitchen in that space.