Diagram titled From plans to rent check, showing the steps: choose a plan, test your lot, hire licensed pros, list, rent

How A-du Works

Choose a plan, test it on your lot, hire licensed pros directly, then list and rent it on A-du, with screening, leases, and rent collection built in. Here is the whole journey, step by step.

A-du is a marketplace for Accessory Dwelling Units: choose a plan, test it on your lot, hire licensed professionals directly to permit and build it, then list it, screen tenants, sign a lease, and collect rent.

Other tools begin at the listing. A-du begins a year earlier, when you first decide to build, and stays with you after the keys change hands.

The A-du journey, step by step

Your plan, permit-fee estimates, listing, screening, lease, and rent payments stay in one A-du account instead of scattering across half a dozen tools. The professionals who permit and build your unit work under their own contracts with you.

  1. 1

    Choose a plan

    Start in the build marketplace, where you can browse vendor-created and municipality pre-approved ADU designs, including LADBS Standard Plan units that cut plan-check time. New to ADUs? Start with what an ADU is.

  2. 2

    Estimate permit fees and check your lot

    Use the free LA County permit-fee calculator, the San Francisco permit-fee calculator, or the NYC permit-fee calculator to budget before you commit, with GIS lot lookup to confirm what your parcel allows.

  3. 3

    Hire licensed pros directly

    Most projects need licensed professionals to permit and build the unit, such as an architect or engineer and a general contractor, plus consultants such as a Title 24 energy consultant. You choose them, sign with them and pay them directly. A-du does not collect, compare or rank bids, and it does not schedule construction. In California, check a contractor’s license on the CSLB website before you sign.

  4. 4

    List the finished ADU

    Once your unit is permitted and finaled, create a listing on the A-du rental marketplace, in front of renters looking specifically for ADUs. A-du even suggests a market rent for the unit you describe.

  5. 5

    Screen tenants

    Order an FCRA-compliant background and credit check that returns a clear pass/fail against your minimum score. You pay $40 per report, and applicants pay nothing. Landlords verify their identity with Stripe before taking rent through A-du.

  6. 6

    Sign the lease

    Generate a lease with any supplemental documents, with terms aware of your market’s rules, and sign it electronically. In Los Angeles and San Diego counties it is A-du’s own California lease (form CA-1), which carries the state disclosures and attaches or links the local tenant notices that apply to the address. Once everyone signs, A-du bills rent from the signed lease’s own terms, and the executed lease is saved to your dashboard.

  7. 7

    Collect rent

    Collect rent online. A stay of more than 30 nights is billed monthly: the deposit and the first month’s rent, prorated from move-in, when the booking is confirmed, then rent on the 1st of each month, with the last month prorated to move-out. Paying through A-du is optional for the tenant: bank transfers through A-du are free, and credit cards, when offered, carry a 2.99%surcharge on the rent only. Tenants can always pay the landlord by check or money order at no charge. See pricing for what the landlord pays.

  8. 8

    Manage it, or hand it off

    Handle maintenance requests yourself, or hand the unit to a local property manager through the manager marketplace and find help through the services marketplace.

Simple, transparent pricing

Listing a unit is free, with no subscription and no setup fee. The first 15 published listings pay 0% landlord service fee, locked permanently. After that, landlords pay a 3% platform service fee on rent collected through A-du, taken from the payout, never on deposits and never on rent the tenant pays outside A-du. For tenants, paying through A-du is optional: bank transfers through A-du are free, and credit cards, when offered, carry a 2.99% surcharge on the rent only. Deposits are paid by bank transfer, never by card, and never carry a fee. Tenants can always pay the landlord by check or money order at no charge. The landlord pays $40 per tenant screening report, applicants pay nothing, and ADU design purchases and permitting services are priced only when you use them. Permitting is provided by licensed professionals under their own written agreements with you, not by A-du. See pricing for current rates and worked examples.

Why owners choose A-du

  • It starts before the listing. Pre-approved plans, permit-fee tools, and GIS lot lookup that general tools do not offer.
  • Identity comes first. Renters verify their identity with Stripe before booking, which cuts out the scams common on open listing sites.
  • Screening you control. You order and pay for each FCRA-compliant report, and the pass/fail result is measured against your own minimum score.
  • Local depth, and built by an architect. A-du knows the ADU rules of the markets it serves, and its guides link to the statutes and agency sources behind them.

Ready to start? Explore ADU plans, browse rentals, or review pricing. Comparing A-du with another tool? See the full comparison hub.

Frequently asked questions

What does A-du cost?
Listing is free. The first 15 published listings pay 0% landlord service fee, locked permanently. After that, landlords pay a 3% platform service fee on rent collected through A-du, taken from the payout, never on deposits. Paying rent through A-du is optional for tenants: bank transfers through A-du are free, and credit cards, when offered, carry a 2.99% surcharge on the rent only. Tenants can always pay the landlord by check or money order at no charge. The landlord pays $40 per tenant screening report, applicants pay nothing, and ADU design purchases and permitting services are priced separately when you use them. Permitting is provided by licensed professionals under their own written agreements with you, not by A-du. See the pricing page for current rates.
Do I have to build an ADU to use A-du?
No. If you already own a finished ADU, you can jump straight to listing, screening, leasing, and rent collection. The plan, permit-fee and hiring steps are there for owners who are still creating their unit.
Where is A-du available?
A-du serves Los Angeles County, San Francisco, San Diego County and New York City. Los Angeles County is its home market, with every feature live. Rentals are live in all four, the build marketplace carries the pre-approved plan catalogs for Los Angeles, San Diego County and New York City, and the free permit-fee calculators cover Los Angeles County, San Francisco and New York City.
How is A-du different from general property management software?
Most property management tools begin at the listing and treat every rental the same. A-du is built specifically for Accessory Dwelling Units and covers the steps before the listing (choosing a plan, testing it on your lot and estimating permit fees) in addition to screening, leasing, and rent collection. You hire and pay the licensed professionals who permit and build the unit directly. See the full software roundup and head-to-head comparisons for details.