Anybody here actually happy they went with a 2-story ADU?
We had a client recently that originally wanted a normal one-story ADU in the back of their property. Pretty straightforward at first.
Then after looking at the lot a little more, they realized the footprint was going to take up way more backyard space than they expected. They still wanted room for their kids to be outside, so they started asking about going vertical instead.
What they ended up doing was kinda interesting. They used one of our one-story ADU layouts for the upstairs, then made the entire bottom floor a garage/storage area.
Sounded like an easy adjustment, kinda just putting our typical floor plan on top of a garage. But it definitely became a different project once engineering got involved. Suddenly we were talking about stair placement, ceiling heights, structural loads, city height limits, all that stuff.
Honestly though, once it was done, it fit the property way better than the original plan. They kept most of the yard and still got a full living space upstairs.
Made me curious how many people would actually choose a 2-story ADU if they had the option. Seems like more people are doing it lately, especially on tighter lots.