A-du Insights
Guides, updates, comparisons, and opinions on building, renting, and managing accessory dwelling units across the markets we serve.
Seattle Rewrote Its ADU Code. The Free DADU Plans Are Catching Up.
Seattle's free pre-approved DADU plans still get you a permit in about six weeks, but the catalog was drawn under a zoning code the city rewrote in 2025. Here is how to use it without inheriting the old rules.
July 28, 2026
California's First Fire-Resistant 3D-Printed ADU Uses No Wood
In a Walnut backyard, a robotic arm printed the concrete walls of what its builders call California's first fire-resistant ADU: 1,200 square feet, two bedrooms, and not one stick of wood in the main structure.
July 27, 2026
One Affordable ADU Buys a Market-Rate One in San Diego. For a Fee.
San Diego still trades one affordable ADU for a market-rate bonus unit, no cap near transit. The 2025 reforms now in effect added a Community Enhancement Fee and parking to the smallest units, and the coast is frozen.
July 26, 2026
The Wedge: A Portland ADU Designed Around the Winter Sun
In Portland's Foster-Powell neighborhood, a 530-square-foot backyard ADU by Propel Studio uses one angled overhang to shade summer and catch winter sun, on a lot Oregon freed from owner-occupancy and parking rules.
July 25, 2026
Washington Cities Must Allow Two ADUs Per Lot, No Owner Required
HB 1337 forces Washington cities in growth areas to allow two ADUs on a single-family lot, bans owner-occupancy rules, and caps ADU impact fees at half what the main house pays. Seattle already rewrote its code.
July 24, 2026
Four Zones Where San Francisco Won't Hand You a Free ADU Plan
San Francisco gives away ADU plans for free, but its own program bars them on slope, liquefaction, Maher, and flood lots, often the cheaper parcels a first-time owner can afford. Read your dirt first.
July 23, 2026
Renting a California ADU? 12 Things to Check Before You Sign
The listing looks charming and the rent runs a little low. Before you sign a lease on a California backyard ADU, twelve checks decide whether you get a legal home or a legal headache, and it starts with one document.
July 22, 2026
Your SF Apartment Building Can Add ADUs. Up to 25%, by Right.
California law makes San Francisco approve at least one ADU inside an existing apartment building, and up to 25 percent of its units. The catch: on the Waiver track, that new unit is rent controlled for good.
July 21, 2026
LA Has Two Free ADU Plan Catalogs. Your Address Picks One.
LA City and unincorporated LA County each run a free pre-approved ADU plan catalog from a different permit counter. Your address decides which one you get, and the city's free menu is now a single 455-square-foot plan.
July 20, 2026
The $349,000 ADU Value Gap Is Real. It Is Not Your Payout.
California homes with an ADU appraised at a median $1,064,000 in 2023, versus $715,000 without one. Before you count that $349,000 as your payout, read what the FHFA data actually measured, and what it did not.
July 19, 2026
NYC Will Permit a New Cellar ADU. Legalizing an Old One Waits.
New York quietly opened filings on April 9 to build a new cellar apartment in a one-family home, under Local Law 80. The pilot to legalize an existing basement unit is still frozen, waiting on the city's rules.
July 18, 2026
How a Small ADU Lives Like It Has 200 More Square Feet
A wall bed hands back the 33 square feet a queen mattress holds hostage all day. Add a fold-down table and convertible seating, and a 400-square-foot California ADU starts living like one half again its size.
July 17, 2026
LA's Free YOU-ADU Plan: 455 Square Feet, Four Ways to Build It
Los Angeles is the only California city that will hand you a permit-ready ADU design for free. The YOU-ADU is 455 square feet with four garden configurations, but the download is where the easy part ends.
July 16, 2026
SB 1090 Pauses Altadena Lot Splits Through 2030. Not ADUs.
A bill to keep predatory developers out of fire-scarred Altadena would pause SB 9 lot splits in ZIP 91001 through 2030. It spares your backyard ADU but closes a tool some cash-short survivors were counting on.
July 16, 2026
SF's Waiver ADU Is Easier to Build, and Rent-Controlled for Life.
San Francisco lets you build a bigger ADU on a tight lot, but only if you accept permanent rent control. The Waiver track trades floor area for a capped rent; the No-Waiver track keeps your unit at market.
July 15, 2026
Your NYC Basement ADU Doesn't Have to Feel Like a Basement
New York's basement and cellar ADUs are finally legal, but a below-grade unit lives or dies on light, ceiling height, and egress. The design moves that make a dark, low room feel like a home, not a hole.
July 14, 2026
A $437K Live-Work ADU, Designed by the Couple Who Live in It
Mai Tran and Le Pham lived in a 300-square-foot basement for years to fund the home they wanted in the backyard. Evelyn ADU cost $437,000 for 630 square feet, and the math only closes if you plan to stay.
July 13, 2026
700 Dark Square Feet: How an Outer Sunset Garage Got Bright
A 1928 Outer Sunset row house had 700 square feet of dark garage under it. Architect Jack Hotho and Innen Studio made it bright, and the fix was the floor plan, not the windows. Here is the fog-belt daylighting playbook.
July 12, 2026
LA County Has $3.8M for Eaton Fire ADUs. Demand Already Outran It.
Los Angeles County set aside $3.8 million to help Eaton Fire survivors build backyard ADUs, enough for 35 to 50 households. The build partner stopped taking new projects before applications even opened.
July 11, 2026
In LA, a Power Line Can Cost Your ADU Five Feet
Overhead power lines are quietly reshaping Los Angeles ADUs. One Westwood architect waited four months for a utility permit, then had to move her 715-square-foot unit rather than lose five feet of height.
July 10, 2026
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