At Todd Jersey Architecture, we have a passion for helping families develop their properties to add more residential units is a cost-efficient way to build generational wealth for their families. In the state of California, legislation has been passed to promote housing development which give residential property owners additional ways to develop their properties. In certain cities, like Berkeley, ordinances are being passed to further the development of more housing, giving residential property owners more latitude on how they can develop their property.

ADU Jurisdiction Requirements

Creating an ADU is an important decision for any homeowner. ADUs have incredible utility for families and allow for unprecedented intergenerational wealth building.  While the state of California legislated the right for homeowners to build ADUs as well as the core guidelines, jurisdictions often have their own additional guidelines.

Your Site’s Opportunities and Constraints

Creating an ADU is an important decision for any homeowner. Before starting the design process, doing a deep dive into the unique aspects of your site and what size it  can support as well as the subsequent ADU size and program requirements, will ensure that you have an understanding of what is possible as well as allow for the next step which is budgeting.

Budgeting for Your ADU

As small homes, ADUs are a significant investment for the typical homeowner and must be designed to work within an owner’s ability to pay or finance the project. To get an ADU project to provide a maximum value to a family it must be the right size. Not too large or costly and not too small which would reduce its utility and value.

Designing Your ADU

To get an ADU project to provide a maximum value to a family it must be the right size. To get to “a right size” is one of the most important goals of the design phase for an ADU project.

We receive a lot of questions about planning, designing and building ADUs since we started ToddTalks to educate property owners about ADUs. If you are in the starting phase of considering building an ADU, here are some helpful resources.

How do you navigate whether or not your garage meets the conditions to convert it into an accessory dwelling unit? What are the next steps after that box has been checked? This ToddTalk addresses these questions and many more, preparing you to start planning your project.

Learn everything you need to know about attached, conversion and junior ADUs. Plus bonus content on multi-family ADUs.

Now is the time to start designing your ADU. We are open and working and ready to help you take that next step.

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California has increased the height limit for ADUs to 18ft, enabling the design and building of 2-story ADUs. Check out the latest Todd Talk video...

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