ADU Floor Plans 500 sq ft can become a living place for older parents, a pad for an adult kid, a combo of a guest house and home office. It can be built wheelchair accessible. With the height limit of an ADU, we can easily provide a loft for storage space.
Starting from $265,000 or $1800+/mo
500 sq ft
1Bed / 1Bath
*30 year, 4.7% APR, 680+ credit score for primary residence cash-out refinance. Your Loan Estimate terms may differ.
There is a number of pre-designed floor plans in our library – we have I shaped ADU, L shaped ADU and more.
Most ADUs under 500 sf boast one bedroom and one bathroom, but we can adapt floor plans to your requirements if you need a bigger studio-like living space.
Every thousand dollars matters when you look at an ADU as an investment into your property. This is why we try to save you money with pre-designed plans.
The price tag for a new accessory dwelling unit often seems high. ADUs under 800 sf are allowed in the state of California by right – with a few exceptions like high fire hazard zones. Plus, ADUs under 750 sf are not subject to impact fees saving you thousand of dollars. When it comes to ADUs less than 500 square feet, they are not subject to school impact fees.
The pandemic has brought in a sense of insecurity in the minds of all. This is more so in the minds of the aged people. You may accommodate your aged parents or in-laws who want to have you near them in the 500 sq ft ADU floor plan.
The recipe to get an ADU built is quite simple – be specific about your goals, get the design and permits done by someone who knows ADU laws, get the bids from contractors who had built homes before, watch the budget like a hawk as every line matters, get the materials in before the construction crew arrives and stay on top of it in case of any unforeseen changes.
Legally permitted ADU, built well and on a reasonable budget, is a good investment.
Legally permitted means you have applied for a building permit and, after the construction, had it finaled by the building inspector. Built well – means built with materials of good quality and by an experienced crew. Reasonable budget means that whatever you have spent on the ADU has a chance to get reflected in the property value.
The legislation passed by California in January 2020 made it possible to add more livable space to a current single family home. You might be surprised by the number of options this law has opened for an average homeowner, who has become a real estate developer overnight.
These options include newly constructed detached or attached ADU and conversion of existing space (garage or basement). You are allowed to build up to 1200sf. This is your living space #2. As an additional option, you may convert existing square feet into a Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit. This makes it your living space #3. Spread your family out or rent out.
The challenge with some new financing solutions is that the homeowner misses out on the lion share of the income and/or property appreciation. Your financing partner might be offering you $300/mo income on the ADU, while if you were able to finance it yourself, your net income could be $850/mo.
Accessory Dwelling Unit is a small house. It needs utilities and foundation as much as your main house, but has less footprint to spread the costs over. Hence we always encourage you to build max possible.
Trenching for utilties costs the same whether it is for a 200sq ft ADU, 500sq ft ADU or 1200 sq ft ADU. This is the type of fixed cost that makes per square foot costs ridiculously high for smaller ADUs.