Build an ADU to Keep Your Loved Ones Close, Yet Independent
Spring is the season of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, and weddings: a time to celebrate our loved ones. And with plants blooming and wildlife reproducing all around us, it is easy to think about the precious nature of life.
Yet because the season is short-lived, it also shows just how fleeting life can be. As parents age and children go off to college, graduate from college, or start their own lives with a spouse or partner, it is easy to get nostalgic about wanting to still have them close to you, at least for a few more years.
Well, you can do something about that by building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to keep an aging or widowed parent, college-bound child, or one returning from college, close to home. An ADU could also be the perfect “starter” dwelling for a young couple just beginning their life journey together. And because an ADU is self-contained and accessible separately from your main property, your loved one’s independence is guaranteed.
If you have a large enough property to accommodate the right living space for a loved one you want close by, let an experienced, skilled contractor like Randal Winter help by building an ADU for your family.
An ADU is basically an additional living quarter, a secondary house or apartment that is located on the same lot as a larger, primary single-family home. It is an independent living space that has its own entrance, living area, bathroom, and kitchen. It can be attached to or detached from the primary residence, and differing examples include a guest house or a garage with an apartment above, or the conversion of a garage into self-contained living quarters.
Homeowners build ADUs to earn extra income through rent, to accommodate elderly parents, a caregiver, a child starting college who needs a more private space to study, or who is returning home from college after graduation, or other relatives or family friends.
According to a recent (2/25/22) Los Angeles Times article titled “So you want to build an ADU in California? Here’s what you need to know,” by L.A. Times Utility Journalism Team Senior Editor Jon Healey, changes in California state law since 2017, in part to help deal with our state’s housing shortage, have made it easier and less costly to obtain permits to build an ADU—and actually up to two ADUs on a property in some cases! In fact, a local builder quoted in the story says that “the easiest building project to get approved these days is an ADU.”
Once approved, the entire project, from sampling the soil, to breaking ground, to preparing the foundation, to building the structure and making it ready for your loved one to move in, could take as little as three months to half a year.
While construction is happening, a dedicated project manager will be assigned to you as your go-to person during the entire job, answering questions by phone, e-mail, text, or in person, as needed, thus saving you precious time and providing peace of mind. You could even get your loved one(s) who will be living in the ADU involved in the planning of the living space they will be moving into.
Randal G. Winter knows that a lot of what goes into a building happens behind the scenes: in the laying of the foundation, the installation of the electrical wiring, plumbing, drywall, etc. There are no “jack of all trades, master of none” among our staff: For each separate job, we assign a team of professionals, each of whom is an expert in their trade, thus ensuring the best job quality and client satisfaction possible.
