ADU BUILD IN WA STATE

[John Clarken]

Hi all,

working on building an ADU in our backyard. This will be for in-laws and have all the information collected for potential future builds. I wanted to know if anyone has had experience in the WA state and some items to watch out for. I also wanted to pick everyone's brain if they think multigenerational living will become the new normal driving up the need for attached and detached secondarily living quarters. I think there is an untapped market for adding ADUs to investment properties to drive up cash flow. I also think cottage developments have a future for detached density builds.

[Steve Vaughan]

Quote from @John Clarken:

Hi all,

working on building an ADU in our backyard. This will be for in-laws and have all the information collected for potential future builds. I wanted to know if anyone has had experience in the WA state and some items to watch out for. I also wanted to pick everyone's brain if they think multigenerational living will become the new normal driving up the need for attached and detached secondarily living quarters. I think there is an untapped market for adding ADUs to investment properties to drive up cash flow. I also think cottage developments have a future for detached density builds.

 Definitely agree ADUs for multi-gen and co-living are the wave of the future.   Other cultures have done it for generations. 

What you're asking is more of a regional municipality city, county specific zoning and planning ssue most likely.    I think a lot of cities are seeing the benefits of allowing ADUs more than ever now. 

[Sidnee Wolfley]

Hi John, we are currently building an ADU in our yard as well. We are waiting on permits right now. I see you posted this a couple months ago so I would love to see what kind of progress you have made and it would be nice to talk with you about the whole process.

[Bryan S.]

Hey John - I'm going thru ADU permitting process in FL and went down a bunch of rabbit holes in articles/Reddit/meetups/YouTube etc.

high level findings - highly localized for the township. I’d become best friends with the local ordnance office and speak with your code enforcement officer. 

A note from my GC - do inspections on Fridays when folks are in a good mode right next to the weekend

Surprisingly, more municipalities are becoming favorable towards ADU [even CA is adding tax credits] as there are housing shortages since the ‘08 crash slowed new builds to keep up with demand and accelerated recently with the shuffle of folks since Covid

[John Clarken]

Quote from @Steve Vaughan:

Quote from @John Clarken:

Hi all,

working on building an ADU in our backyard. This will be for in-laws and have all the information collected for potential future builds. I wanted to know if anyone has had experience in the WA state and some items to watch out for. I also wanted to pick everyone's brain if they think multigenerational living will become the new normal driving up the need for attached and detached secondarily living quarters. I think there is an untapped market for adding ADUs to investment properties to drive up cash flow. I also think cottage developments have a future for detached density builds.

 Definitely agree ADUs for multi-gen and co-living are the wave of the future.   Other cultures have done it for generations. 

What you're asking is more of a regional municipality city, county specific zoning and planning ssue most likely.    I think a lot of cities are seeing the benefits of allowing ADUs more than ever now. 

Yeah, I think both the construction and rental market will see growth in this area. Pending city regulations, it could be a great way for investors to reallocate money especially if the owned land is in a desirable area. In Portland up to four units are allowed on a single-family lot.

[John Clarken]

Quote from @Sidnee Wolfley:

Hi John, we are currently building an ADU in our yard as well. We are waiting on permits right now. I see you posted this a couple months ago so I would love to see what kind of progress you have made and it would be nice to talk with you about the whole process.

Hi Sidnee, the process has been a little slow as I wanted to get the budget as dialed in as possible. I'm currently in the permitting step with the city as well. I wanted to see how low I could get every part of the build for. I used a draftsperson on fiverr and I was very specific with the geo tech to not go overboard which saved $5-$10k. I also will be taking on some of the finish scopes (cabinets, paint, flooring etc). If you need help getting quotes or have general build questions, I have a residential construction background and license so I could pass off some contacts or advice. Best of luck!!

[John Clarken]

Quote from @Bryan S.:

Hey John - I'm going thru ADU permitting process in FL and went down a bunch of rabbit holes in articles/Reddit/meetups/YouTube etc.

high level findings - highly localized for the township. I’d become best friends with the local ordnance office and speak with your code enforcement officer. 

A note from my GC - do inspections on Fridays when folks are in a good mode right next to the weekend

Surprisingly, more municipalities are becoming favorable towards ADU [even CA is adding tax credits] as there are housing shortages since the ‘08 crash slowed new builds to keep up with demand and accelerated recently with the shuffle of folks since Covid

Thanks Bryan! That is funny about the Friday inspections. If the inspector has weekend plans they will hurry it up to get out of there! Another trick for passing framing at least is using spray paint to mark out items confirmed prior. The inspectors like to see the door/window openings have been checked, beams and hardware acct for, and a good practice is to double check cabinet locations for conflicts with plumbing and appliances. Keep me posted on the build and good luck!

[Tysson Dykes]

I have two SF in Longview Wa and I have been considering the viability of this too!

[Albert Bui]

Quote from @John Clarken:

Quote from @Bryan S.:

Hey John - I'm going thru ADU permitting process in FL and went down a bunch of rabbit holes in articles/Reddit/meetups/YouTube etc.

high level findings - highly localized for the township. I’d become best friends with the local ordnance office and speak with your code enforcement officer. 

A note from my GC - do inspections on Fridays when folks are in a good mode right next to the weekend

Surprisingly, more municipalities are becoming favorable towards ADU [even CA is adding tax credits] as there are housing shortages since the ‘08 crash slowed new builds to keep up with demand and accelerated recently with the shuffle of folks since Covid

Thanks Bryan! That is funny about the Friday inspections. If the inspector has weekend plans they will hurry it up to get out of there! Another trick for passing framing at least is using spray paint to mark out items confirmed prior. The inspectors like to see the door/window openings have been checked, beams and hardware acct for, and a good practice is to double check cabinet locations for conflicts with plumbing and appliances. Keep me posted on the build and good luck!

 I like those construction tips on passing framing it sounds like you've been at a few city inspections for framing prior.

The idea about spray painting where things will go ahead of time with respect to electrical (color coding it), plumbing, and kitchen is pretty forward thinking vs making the inspector try to visualize where everything will eventually go and whether you pass or not.

@Matthew Kwan

@Carlos Valencia

[Joshua Bennett]

I agree with ADU being a way to build property value and help with cash flow and density.
How did your ADU go? Where at in WA? If in Kitsap county message me and I may be able to help.
I am launching an ADU learning course to help people navigate code and ideally create a great permit application for them. I will be posting more about it soon, ADU Wizard and will be hosted on teachable.com. I am looking for ADU building opportunities as well to offer with the course.

[Gabriel Graumann]

@John Clarken ADU's and DADU's will continue to grow in necessity and popularity in the more densely populated areas. This is especially true where the cost to purchase a house is high and the need for affordable housing is abundant. Look to what cities, counties and states are doing in terms of lot requirements and approvals for these, and that will give you an indication of where the best places for them are long-term. For instance, Seattle has been allowing these for years, but this past year the state passed legislation that requires all cities in WA to allow for the addition of ADU's and DADU's to be build on lots of a certain size. In addition, part of the legislation allows for the separating of the lot for the ADU like a condominium lot.

And it's not just large tracts of land, the value is in all of the 5,000-8,000 sf lots that make up the bulk of city lots throughout the state. If the main house is positioned on the lot well, and you can meet the new smaller setbacks, you could add multiple ADU lots on a traditional single-family city lot, then separate them for either raaw land sale, or build the ADU or DADU and sell off that unit as a standalone. I have a local realtor that specializes in helping clients do this primarily in King and Snohomish Counties, and a builder who has been doing this at scale for several years. Hope this helps show where some of the major metros are going with it as well as WA state as a whole.

[Julien Jeannot]

@John Clarken

I would agree, the ADU/DADU strategy is a great one in WA state and will continue to be a major investor play as the new middle market laws are implemented by cities by 2025.

[John Clarken]

Quote from @Gabriel Graumann:

@John Clarken ADU's and DADU's will continue to grow in necessity and popularity in the more densely populated areas. This is especially true where the cost to purchase a house is high and the need for affordable housing is abundant. Look to what cities, counties and states are doing in terms of lot requirements and approvals for these, and that will give you an indication of where the best places for them are long-term. For instance, Seattle has been allowing these for years, but this past year the state passed legislation that requires all cities in WA to allow for the addition of ADU's and DADU's to be build on lots of a certain size. In addition, part of the legislation allows for the separating of the lot for the ADU like a condominium lot.

And it's not just large tracts of land, the value is in all of the 5,000-8,000 sf lots that make up the bulk of city lots throughout the state. If the main house is positioned on the lot well, and you can meet the new smaller setbacks, you could add multiple ADU lots on a traditional single-family city lot, then separate them for either raaw land sale, or build the ADU or DADU and sell off that unit as a standalone. I have a local realtor that specializes in helping clients do this primarily in King and Snohomish Counties, and a builder who has been doing this at scale for several years. Hope this helps show where some of the major metros are going with it as well as WA state as a whole.

Yeah I see this strategy working. I'm currently finishing and ADU in a popular area in Vancouver WA and am excited for the potential. There are a couple builders in Portland who are adding 4 units on a single family lot getting the most value out of the land. No garages and only street parking available. I see a potential for flippers to fix the existing/add to main house and then build and ADU in addition to secure the right ROI.

[Sidnee Wolfley]

My ADU is finished and we have been running it as an Airbnb for a little over 2 months now. I am very pleased with the amount of activity we are having. I really like the returns and would like to do this again with a couple other rentals I own in the future.

John Clarken, I would love to chat with you about your ADU and how you feel about it.

[John Clarken]

Quote from @Sidnee Wolfley:

My ADU is finished and we have been running it as an Airbnb for a little over 2 months now. I am very pleased with the amount of activity we are having. I really like the returns and would like to do this again with a couple other rentals I own in the future.

John Clarken, I would love to chat with you about your ADU and how you feel about it.

Hi Sidnee,

The ADU is set to wrap up this week with hopefully Certificate of Occupancy before Thanksgiving. We are going to be using it for the in-laws but it has great potential for rental income down the road. This was a trial run for us to figure out the process with the city, budget, schedule, contractors, etc.

I would love to chat more and find out how the process went for you. Specifically any challenges you faced, build time, if you used a construction/DCR loan, and if it appraised out in the end!

I think these ADUs have great potential for adds to existing properties as a lower cost way (instead of buying more single family) to increase value. Especially if you flip the main property and add and ADU or two for max returns. This adds another strategy potentially turning single family homes into multis.