Backyard House: ADU in California

An accessory dwelling unit is a full-fledged living space created on the same land as your main house. It’s a tiny home featuring the same amenities as your main house but on a smaller scale. An ADU can be a quiet place for a retreat, a guest house, or a backyard cottage with the potential to generate rental income. It can serve as a pool house, a home office, a hobby room, or accommodation for your adult children if they can’t afford their own house so far.

In this article, we’re introducing accessory dwelling units, their features, and their versatile functions. If you’re a homeowner in search of creative ideas for ADU utilization, this information may be for you!

Backyard ADU: Big Impact of a Small Space

ADU essentially is a functional house in your yard but in smaller dimensions. The design of a particular ADU depends on your personal preferences and the intended use. However, ADUs are homes equipped with independent living facilities, allowing for self-contained living. So, in order to qualify for ADU, they must feature at least one bedroom (or a sleeping space integrated into the open floor plan design), a kitchen area, and a bathroom.

Many homeowners build ADUs for the following reasons:

1. Affordable living space for relatives 

Whether your kids have grown up and need their own private area or your elderly parents can or want to no longer live in a big house that requires maintenance, an accessory dwelling unit on your site contributes to solving the problem with costly housing. Attached, detached, or converted ADUs enable your loved ones to enjoy separate living while staying within your property for convenience and reduced expenses.

• A private home for guests

Not many homeowners motivate the ADU construction by this reason only, but if you already have an ADU for other purposes, an accessory dwelling unit for guests is a great side benefit. The same as with adult children or extended family members, a backyard cottage fosters hassle-free accommodation for property visitors who stay overnight or for the holidays.

• A unit for rent

Whether you have a single-family home or a multi-family dwelling, you can typically use an ADU for rental income. Short-term rentals, long-term rentals, or Airbnb—isn’t it an ideal plan to live in the main home and rent out a unit in your backyard to cover your monthly expenses?

• An assent that increases property value

If your goal is to resale your property for more than you bought it for, consider the fact that an ADU can potentially raise the price of your assets by 20-30%. And before the sale takes place, you can use it for other listed purposes.

So, with that in mind, let’s discuss what additional uses an ADU can offer.

Separate Productive Workspace

Seek a quiet environment for work? Working from home is a recent trend that gains more and more popularity. And ADUs are an ideal reflection of this tendency, incorporating home office features and amenities that ensure productive working hours at a comfortable distance from the fuss of the main home. Dedicated Space for Creative Endeavors

Besides bedrooms and a bathroom, ADU homes may feature rooms for painting, sculpture, pottery, musical activities, candle craft rooms, and other noisy or messy activities. The versatility of ADU design brings more room for your creative hobbies, enriching your daily routines.

Units for Health and Well-Being Improvement

A backyard house may have a dedicated area for meditation, a home gym, a fitness studio, or a wellness room with spa procedures and a jacuzzi bath. These luxury amenities create a sense of relaxation, offering a room for self-care without needing to leave the comfort of your property.

Units for Relaxation and Escape

Want to create quality experiences within the small dimensions of your backyard garden? Home theaters, gaming rooms, small libraries, or educational workshop spaces are all elements you can set up for your backyard homes. Moreover, an ADU may become a hub for social gatherings and tea parties with neighbors, providing you with extra leisure opportunities.

Maker Spaces

If you dream of your own studio where you can engage in woodworking, crafts, provide pop-up restaurant services, consulting, and other activities that can become your life’s work and potentially bring income, a tiny home in your backyard fits just right.

Greenhouses and Sunrooms

Maybe you wanted to learn gardening, or you ever had a plan to cultivate plants or vegetables all year round? In this case, you can place your greenery in your tiny home built in the backyard. A greenhouse, or a sunroom, is an ADU designed to maximize natural lighting by incorporating large windows and glass walls. Grow veggies in one room and prepare them in the same ADU kitchen! Also, you can use this area for sunbathing, midday relaxation, or even as an observatory, as it provides an excellent vantage point for stargazing or observing the sunset.

Pool House Spaces

A poolside backyard tiny home goes far beyond its original purpose: storing pool equipment and providing room for changing. Equipped with bedrooms and bathrooms, these backyard ADUs combine the convenience of the living space with the value of such an entertainment area as a pool. They’re a practical addition to your property, expanding your opportunities for housing guests for pool parties or family reunions.

All in all, the versatility of a backyard tiny home lays the strong foundation for reimagining living spaces, cultivating multi-functionality and creative aspirations, as well as meeting a diverse range of modern lifestyle needs.

ADU Construction: To Buy Or To Build

Besides building an ADU completely DIY, there are two main ways to obtain a nice accessory dwelling unit for your backyard.

You can build and design your secondary backyard home in the following ways:

• Custom ADUs

The first one is to create it from scratch (a detached unit and an attached unit) or convert an existing structure in your backyard. You can choose the setting, build the foundation and do the framing, install the roof, set up doors, windows, add a porch, or other outdoor facilities in a custom mode. This provides you with rich versatility of style and layout solutions, diverse choice of materials, but goes at a higher price.

• Prefabricated (or pre-designed) ADUs

The other way to acquire a quality ADU is by buying a prefab one. It’s the same ADU but built off-site, on the factory, and transported to get installed on your lot. They are pre-designed homes that have a limited style and layout choice, but they serve their function just as well. Thus, if you don’t care as much about every detail of your backyard cottage, it may be more beneficial for you to pay less for a prefab option.

In any case, all ADUs require strict ad

herence to building codes, local regulations, and ordinances in order to obtain building permits. Since the permitting process may pose a certain challenge to many homeowners, we recommend contacting experienced ADU contractors to bring your perfect ADU to life as fast as possible!

Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ

Can I build an ADU in California to accommodate nannies for my kids?

Backyard ADUs can harbor not only nannies but also cooks, garden workers, a caregiver or care worker, or any other person who needs to stay within your property for a while. If you plan to hire people to help with the household or assist your loved ones in their daily lives, you can build an ADU with one bedroom for yourself or your family member and one bedroom for a hired individual.

Can I use an ADU to learn remotely?

Sure, if you set up a small home designed for independent living, you might as well use it as dedicated space for studying, work, or scientific research. In this case, you don’t even have to interrupt your important tasks for a while to have a meal or take a few minutes nap. A two-story or sectional floor plan may be best fitting for separating your studying and work from daily routines.

How many bedrooms and bathrooms fit into a backyard at ADU, Sacramento?

It depends on the overall square footage of your backyard house, your budget, and available space on your property. While one-floor plan may realistically contain two bedrooms and two bathrooms, another one may barely incorporate one bedroom and one bathroom. That’s why, before construction, we make all necessary estimates and create an elaborate floor plan that takes into account every detail.

What can go wrong with the ADU construction in California?

In the same row with issues that arise during construction itself (like poor foundation quality or improperly installed insulation that fails to serve its purpose), you can face such problems as unclear building rules or complex building permit acquisition. That’s why it’s advisable to contact a trustworthy ADU builder so that your ADU house in the backyard comes out without a hitch.