A-du Insights
Guides, updates, comparisons, and opinions on building, renting, and managing accessory dwelling units across the markets we serve.
Looking for something older? Browse the full archive, or meet the yard, the cast of our Los Angeles posts.
A Seattle Architect's Own ADU Cost $606,000. Half Is a Garage.
Seattle architect Ivan Kostic spent three years and $606,000 replacing a caving-in garage with an 800-square-foot, two-level ADU. Dwell calls it joyful. For your own lot, the price tag teaches more than the paint.
October 16, 2026
Ocean Beach Listing Shows 12 ADUs. San Diego's Cap Isn't Coastal Yet.
A $3 million Ocean Beach listing pictures 12 ADUs behind one house, and neighbors are lawyering up. San Diego's 2025 cap on bonus ADUs still isn't in force on the coast, and the City can't say when it will be.
October 14, 2026
NYC's $395,000 ADU Deal: Repay the Loan or Cap the Rent
New York's Plus One ADU program pairs a $175,000 state grant with a $220,000 city loan. Repay it at 5 percent, or have it forgiven and cap the rent for 15 years. Intake closed June 12.
October 12, 2026
An Empty SF Lot by BART Gets Three Homes. The Third Is an ADU.
Plans for a vacant 0.06-acre Outer Mission lot by the BART tracks stack two three-bedroom apartments over a ground-floor two-bedroom ADU. San Francisco's own state ADU menu explains why it lands there.
October 9, 2026
California Caps Prefab ADU Fees. The Inspection Fix Waits for 2029.
California's AB 2058 caps what cities may charge to permit and inspect factory-built ADUs, likely at half the site-built fee, from 2027. The option of a state-supervised inspector waits for HCD rules due in 2029.
October 7, 2026
Your Hillside LA ADU Needs a 42-Inch Railing. Furnish Around It.
On a sloped Los Angeles lot, California code sets your ADU railing at 42 inches before you pick a sofa, and a fire-zone hillside lot also needs sprinklers and a 20-foot street. Here is how to plan and furnish for both.
October 5, 2026
Meet Pip, the LA ADU That Stops at 750 Square Feet
Meet Pip, the ADU in our Los Angeles yard. It stops at 750 square feet on purpose: at 750 or less, California charges no impact fees. Here is what the line covers, what it does not, and how LA already builds.
October 5, 2026
California Puts ADU Utility Hookups on a Clock. The Big Ones Wait.
Builders say a finished ADU can wait a year for power. SB 1196 orders the CPUC to set hookup deadlines and penalties by September 2027, but ADUs that need grid upgrades are left out of the new clock.
October 2, 2026
Selling a San Diego County ADU Condo? Your Tenant Gets First Dibs
San Diego County now makes ADU condo sellers list for 30 days to owner-occupants, then give a tenant or neighboring owner 30 days to match. Here is the full path, step by step, and what it costs you in time.
September 30, 2026
LA Said No to ADU Condos. Its New Draft Says Yes.
LA's draft ADU ordinance would let owners sell a backyard unit as a condo and add up to six ADUs near transit, but only with a lender's consent. The public hearing is October 1, and none of it is law yet.
September 28, 2026
Seattle Picked 15 Pre-Approved ADU Plans. One Is a Sixplex.
Seattle chose 15 designs from 110 entries to rebuild its pre-approved ADU catalog, from a backyard cottage to a stacked sixplex. Permits should take 2 to 8 weeks once the plans go live in January 2027.
September 25, 2026
Six Inches Kept This SF In-Law Illegal. The Fix: Over $1 Million.
San Francisco demands 7 feet 6 inches of ceiling in habitable rooms, six inches over state code. A pending ordinance would drop it to 7 feet, and owners facing $1 million fixes to legalize in-laws are watching.
September 23, 2026
This LA ADU Cost $89,430. Being Your Own Architect Is Why.
When a Highland Park architect built a backyard ADU for his in-laws, the line items totaled $89,430. That number is real, but it hides the two salaries he never paid: his own, as both architect and general contractor.
September 16, 2026
Renting a Washington ADU? The Landlord Can Live Anywhere.
Washington bars cities from making ADU owners live on-site, so your backyard-cottage landlord may be miles away. The Landlord-Tenant Act still guarantees repairs, your deposit, and 90 days' notice before a rent hike.
September 14, 2026
Two Homes, One Arch: An LA ADU Stacks Up on 1,500 Feet
A Los Angeles studio stacked two accessory dwelling units in arched steel, fitting two full homes into a 1,500-square-foot footprint on a lot shared with a main house. A sharp answer to a narrow lot, with the price still unpublished.
September 11, 2026
California Will Charge ADU Fees Only on the Space Over 750 Feet
California already waives impact fees on ADUs of 750 square feet or less. SB 1117, which Governor Newsom signed on September 29, 2026, charges the fees on a larger unit only for the square footage above 750, not the whole thing, on lots with up to two ADUs, starting January 1, 2027.
September 9, 2026
Washington Lets You Sell the Backyard Cottage. The Land Stays Put.
Washington's HB 1337 forces most cities to let a homeowner sell a backyard cottage as a condominium, separate from the house in front. The land stays with the original owner, and the open question is who lends on it.
September 7, 2026
California Will Allow 2 Detached ADUs in 2027. HOAs Lose Ground.
Governor Newsom signed AB 956 on September 29, 2026. Starting January 1, 2027, it doubles the detached ADUs a city must approve to two, and widens the rule that voids HOA bans on compliant units.
September 4, 2026
A $210K Highland Park ADU Chose Light. Inland LA Charges for It.
A Highland Park couple added a $210,000 glass-walled Cover ADU for all-day light. In an inland California climate zone, that same glass drives the summer cooling bill, unless the design fights back first.
September 2, 2026
Oregon Cities Give Away ADU Plans. Portland Borrowed Eugene's.
Portland, Eugene, Ashland, Bend, and Salem now hand homeowners free pre-approved ADU plans, and Portland's four came straight from Eugene. The blueprint is the cheap part. The site work and the fees it skips are not.
August 30, 2026
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