Build Small, Live Large- Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour- Sunday, June 1st, 2014

Update 5/28/14: There's been a huge amount of interest in attending this tour, which is fantastic. Over 800 people have registered to attend. 

To allow for ample access to the ADUs for attendees, we have decided to cap the ticket sales.  Tickets sales have now ended. We really wanted to sell more, but feel that this cap is in the best interest of the tour registrants and the ADU hosts. 

This blog focuses on the design/build process for my ADU. Occasionally, however, I make other ADU related announcements that will be of interest to readers. In this case, I'm very excited to announce Build Small, Live Large- Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour. This will be the first tour of its kind, and promises to be a fantastic event.

This ADU, ten other finished ADUs, and one under construction, will be featured on the tour. Homeowner, architects, and builders for the ADUs will be available to answer questions. There will also be a series of expert presentations held throughout the day. Additionally, attendees will be able to see eight tiny houses on wheels.

The day will jam packed with small and tiny houses, networking opportunities, and access to ADU professionals and experts. If you're planning to build an ADU, this tour (and the ongoing ADU classes I offer) are the best ways to learn from others about the ADU designing, permitting, and building process.

Here's the press release from Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel, about the tour.

Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the City of Portland, and Metro, is hosting Portland’s first citywide tour of Accessory Dwelling Units on Sunday, June 1st, 2014 from 10am-6pm. ADUs are secondary living units on single-family lots.  Modeled after the City of Portland’s Build It Green Tour, Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour offers attendees the rare opportunity to see the interiors of eleven ADUs in a variety of locations across the eastside of Portland. The self-guided tour gives attendees access to the homeowners, builders and designers of the ADUs, and to comprehensive, educational case studies about the building process of each ADU. There will also be workshops throughout the day presented by local and national experts about a range of topics related to ADUs, from permitting and financing, to designing and building.

Portland has seen a six-fold rise in the number of ADUs built since 2010.  This dramatic increase is the result of a 2010 City of Portland waiver of System Development Charges, which reduced the cost of building permits for an ADU by up to $11,000.  Before the 2010 waiver, approximately 30 ADUs were built in Portland annually, but in 2013 alone, there were almost 200 ADU permits applications.  The waiver’s popularity caused the Portland City Council to extend the waiver until July, 2016, spurring local ADU leaders to develop Portland’s first ADU tour.

Throughout the day, attendees will also have the opportunity to tour four custom-built tiny houses on wheels at Caravan- The Tiny House Hotel. Caravan has received national media attention for being the first tiny house hotel in the United States. Caravan will host a late afternoon networking event from 4-6pm where attendees can meet local advocates, designers, builders and leaders of both the ADU and the tiny house movement. Real estate professionals can earn up to 6 CE credits. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn a special $25 discount to stay at Caravan, as well as enter a raffle for a free stay at Caravan.

Early bird registration is only $25. Learn more and register at http://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/

...or 

The Permit and the ADU Design Build, Time and Cost Breakdown

Six and a half weeks after submitting the permit application to the City of Portland, we have gotten the permit! Needless to say, I am thrilled to move forward with the construction phase. 

We're going to be moving really fast now, so I'll be posting frequent updates of the construction process. In the next two days, I'll post pictures and videos of the groundbreaking, excavation, and foundation wall forms.

This post however, is about the costs and time of this initial phase of the project, as well as the cost of the ADU project overall. I know that cost is the most major factor for everyone who is considering such a project. So, I'll be transparently reporting on the costs of this project so that others have a good sense of the costs involved.

To start, it is very noteworthy that Portland has temporarily waived all System Development Charges for ADUs. System Development Charges, which are the city's administrative fees for transportation, water, and waste management for all new construction projects, typically ran $10,000 for ADUs. This policy has obviously been a major recent incentive for many residents to consider building new ADUs (or legalize their existing ADUs).

Portland took this measure to actively promote ADUs to add density to the urban core. This is one the many laudable urban planning policies that consistently keeps Portland near the top of the list for being on the nation's most livable, walkable, and bike-able cities.

System Development Charges for ADUs through June, 2013.

ADU Costs

One of the goals for this project is to build high-quality custom construction at a relatively low cost; partially by making better design decisions, and partially by sourcing materials and labor astutely.

Here is a time and cost breakdown of the design phase that I just completed, which amounted to $8,196.

Design Phase Cost Time Breakdown

Generally speaking, custom high quality construction costs $150-200 sq. ft. My original goal was to get the whole project done for $100 sq ft, but it's looks like I won't be able to get the project costs that low.

Here are my current cost projections. If I am able to stick to this budget of $88,196, the project will cost ~$110 sq ft.

Of course, there's a well-known rule of thumb that says that you should always expect to pay 20% more than what you estimated, and that the project will take twice as long as you had hoped.

Building To Code

Many people are interested in building ADU's and the daunting capital expense is their only deterrent. I know that some have converted garages into livable spaces for as little as $20K without a permit, and that others spend up to $200K to build an ADU from scratch with a permit. Since this post comes in conjunction with the permit, I've attached the line item Portland BDS permit fees below for reference, which, for this project, amounted to $4,205.38.

Building legally requires more work that building illegally and it comes at a cost. However, it gives more peace of mind, legal assurance, and better financial payback to the homeowner for rental and resale. Building legally or not is a big decision that the homeowner must carefully consider.

If you're considering whether and how to build a new structure in accordance with the city's rules , I've found that the City of Portland BDS is great about answering questions about new construction by phone or in person. So, don't hesitate to sit down with them and talk frankly about your ideas--you don't even have to give them your address if you're still trying to decide how to proceed.

The City Of Portland permit costs amounted to $4,205.38 for this project.

I'm curious to understand how this permit fee compares other permit fees around the country, and whether the fees are structured on a per sq ft basis.

To me, this permit fee seems reasonable. If the $10K system development charges were in effect, I would have balked at funding this project. So, again, I applaud Portland's active promotion of ADUs.

Quality, Cost, and Time

There's a huge range of tactics that effect project cost. But, my Sustainable Home Professional instructor introduced me to a great rule of thumb, called the Project Management Triangle:

'There are three relational pillars in every design/build project: Quality, Cost, and Time- and it's hard to optimize all three pillars.'

In other words, you can build a high quality project at low cost, if you have lots of time. You can build a high quality project in little time if you have lots of money. And you can build quickly and cheaply if you don't care about quality.

Finding that sweet spot in the middle is really tough. But, that doesn't mean we can't try!

Design #12

The design process is taking much longer than I had anticipated. I thought that with my SketchUp model complete, it would just be a matter of translating that model's dimensions into CAD.

It's a good thing that I have a good architect. It's been frustrating for me, but he has altered and refined the floor plan again and again. We're now on the twelfth iteration of the floor plan, and he considered this to be the preliminary set of designs.

Shortly, he'll put these into SketchUp, where I'll give him more feedback, and then we'll hand over the plans to an engineer, who will do the post and beam gravity sizing. Then, once the engineer has signed off, my architect will create drawings for the city that we can get stamped and approved.

Hopefully.

Hiring an Architect to Get the Stamp

Next, I sent out this model to three architects with CAD design skills who could put these plans into CAD in a format that would pass muster with Portland Bureau of Development Services. I chose the architect who came in with a reasonably priced bid ($2k) for this design work. 

Despite my attempts to make a solid design, my architect made some significant changes to the floor plan in order to simplify the plan and minimize the overall square footage. 

Here's his first cut at designing the first floor in CAD.

 And here's the 2nd floor.

There are some more design changes underway. I've decided to put the bathroom on the 2nd floor instead of the first floor. But, this is more or less the general design of the property.

SketchUp Model

Before I'd even closed on the property, I wanted to get a base model of the property done in SketchUp, a 3D modeling tool, to help me get a sense of where an ADU would best be situated on the property.

I am pretty good with SketchUp, but I hired a pro to do a base model for me. After about five hours of work, my hired gun built a very slick 3D model for me, including the landscape, the existing house, and the surrounding neighbors.