r/AccessoryDwellings

Have you added an ADU to your property? I’m interested in your experiences. Who built it for you, how long did it take, would you recommend your builder? Also interested in your experience if you’ve done it yourself. Looking to add ADU on five acres in unincorporated Snohomish County. Thank you.

Had a conversation with a homeowner this week who was debating between a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom ADU.

Their thinking was simple: if they're already spending the money, maybe it makes sense to go a little bigger. But they were also wondering if the extra cost would actually translate into higher rent.

Honestly, it's one of those questions where the answer seems to vary depending on the area.

For anyone who's rented out an ADU, did the extra square footage end up being worth it?

I have a 3 bedrooms, 2 spa like bathrooms, top of the line laundry room in Sunland, CA how profitable will be to rent it to traveling professionals? Or it is better to just do a regular 1 year lease. The initial investment will be around $16k. The house has a nice front and back yard with a separated entrance to the ADU. 1,400 sq f. Quiet neighborhood.

I am considering converting my 2 car garage to an ADU or JADU for rental income as the cost of living in Bay Area keeps going up. I am curious to learn about experiences, pros and cons, and any recommendations or tips.

I will be financing portion of the build. I will probably need to hire a GC who can do everything from start to finish including pulling permits. The more I read about permit process the more I realize it maybe worth having a professional do it.

My 2 biggest fears are overpaying and GC incompetency as I can’t find much sample work specific to garage conversions in the area- they are mostly remodeling images.
Appreciate any and all feedbacks.

Aloha! We are located in Kaneohe, HI and have engaged an architect to design a second-story 800 sq. ft. ADU (over the carport and kitchen, to take advantage of views), and redesign the footprint of our existing kitchen. Our home was built in 1956 and is single wall construction. We received our first cost estimate from a reputable GC this morning, and the quote is over DOUBLE what we had communicated to our architect (for context, we discussed construction costs over a year ago, and was told $500/sq. ft. at that time). And this is with lower-end finishes. I understand costs have increased over the last year, but over double? We cannot afford, nor would ever entertain, spending this amount of money for what we are trying to do. I’m trying to understand where we went wrong here. For those in the trades, is this an architect problem, a contractor problem, or a combination of both?

Hi! We bought our property in Ventura CA 25 years ago with a permitted detached accessory unit. My Mom lived in it until she got too sick. After that we have been using it as a successful short term vacation rental. It’s well laid out and has a kitchenette complete with tiled counters, a bar sink and roomy kitchen cabinets. It does not have a stove or a full size refrigerator. Our city is making it lots harder to be permitted and though I passed muster this permit cycle, it is making less money overall with 15.5% hosting fees and 10% TOT tax to the city and the work involved in running. It may be best for us to rent it month to month down the road. Currently by CA law we cannot rent it as a monthly or leased rental because no kitchen. The foundation for a kitchen is there so I am looking for suggestions from someone who has remodeled an existing structure. Maybe adding a second story but at the very least cooking facilities. Suggestions appreciated.

Not sure about all of the terminology. For context, I’m referring to Orange, CA. My in-laws own a good sized piece of property with a back garage that was built by my father-in-law who owns a masonry company. The back garage is definitely structurally sound and has never had any issues. It’s been there for a couple decades. Basically, my husband and I are wanting to discuss building on top of a permitted garage in the front of their property to live in. When we’ve talked to them in the past about building an ADU on any part of the property, they’ve just been anxious about people being on the property having a problem with the back garage. When I’ve asked ChatGPT, it says it wouldn’t be an issue because it’s not the garage we want to build on. Any advice? Is this even the correct sub to post this on?

I've been talking with my wife a lot about moving her parents to LA with us and we're thinking of the best way to do this. We can't afford the property of our dreams at the moment but building an ADU out of our detached garage is a real option.

Pros and Cons please.

First, the distinction that matters most: Not all unpermitted work is treated the same, and this trips everybody upon Los Angeles county, CA!

If it’s an ADU or a JADU (a separate living space with its own kitchen and bath, or a converted garage that functions as one), there’s now an amnesty path. If it’s a general addition to the main house, an extra bedroom, an enclosed patio, a bathroom added off the hallway, that’s the old fashioned retroactive permit route with no special protection. Different animal.

The ADU amnesty part:AB 2533 took effect January 2025. If your unpermitted ADU or JADU was built before January 1, 2020, the city generally cannot deny you a legalization permit. And the review is based on health and safety standards, not full current code compliance. So you’re not being asked to demolish and rebuild to 2026 code, you’re being asked to make it safe.

That’s a genuine shift. It used to be that raising your hand meant an order to tear it out. Now voluntarily coming forward is the protected move. Impact fees and connection fees often get waived too.

There’s also a separate provision that lets owners request a five year delay of code enforcement on pre-2020 ADUs unless there’s an actual health and safety threat. Estimates put 50,000 to 100,000 unpermitted ADUs across the state, so if this is you, you have a lot of company.
Caveat on this one: The two relevant statutes don’t perfectly line up and the City of LA actually had to ask the state for clarification, which HCD responded to last August. There’s real ambiguity about how far the protections go after permitting. So this isn’t as clean as the marketing from permit expediters makes it sound. Get actual advice before you file.

What leaving it unpermitted actually costs you?!

People underestimate this: The square footage generally doesn’t count in an appraisal. So that converted garage you spent $60k on may add nothing to your appraised value. Your buyer’s lender is valuing a smaller house than you think you’re selling. Insurance may not cover damage in unpermitted space. Fire starts in the converted garage, you may find out the hard way.
You can’t legally rent an unpermitted ADU. Which matters a lot if you’re counting on that income to qualify for a loan or to justify the price. FHA and VA buyers are stricter about it than conventional, so it narrows your buyer pool. And you have to disclose it. Known unpermitted work goes on the transfer disclosure. Sellers who stay quiet about it get sued after closing, and that’s a real and regular occurrence.

If you’re buying a house with unpermitted work, pull the permit history from LADBS and compare it to what you’re standing in. Free to do. If there’s a bedroom and bath that don’t appear anywhere in the records, that’s not a dealbreaker but it is a price conversation and a “what would it cost to legalize” conversation before you’re emotionally attached.

So, if you have a pre-2020 unpermitted ADU and you’re thinking about selling in the next few years, legalizing is probably worth pricing out now. A legal permitted unit with a certificate of occupancy is a genuinely different asset than a bootleg one, it appraises, it rents, it finances. If it’s a general addition rather than an ADU, the math is harder and worth actually running before you open that door.

Anyone gone through the legalization process in LA recently? Curious what it actually cost and how long LADBS took, because the estimates I hear are all over the place.

I've been building a weekly ADU permit feed combining LA County unincorporated areas and City of LA data. It pulls new builds, garage conversions, and JADUs, filters out the junk and ranks on different metrics.

Each row includes the address, permit type, description of the work, current status, and a direct lookup link for potential owner contact info.

Currently sending it to a few contractors and looking to expand to a few more. Happy to send a free sample if you want to see what it looks like before committing to anything.

DM me if interested.