The Easier Way to Add an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)

Have you thought about building an addition to your home for one or more of your parents? With them conveniently at hand you could keep an eye on their condition and help with their care. Meanwhile you and possibly your children would get to enjoy more of their company.

While their are many advantages to these apartments, they come with some challenges. For one; they take time,money, and effort to design and build. For another, they tend to be tightly regulated by local zoning officials. Mike Kephart, founder of Sidekick Homes, has a better idea for these buildings,   a new solution that can help you get the benefits without the hassles.

Often called mother-in-law apartments, granny flats, carriage houses, pool houses, party pavilions, caregiver cottages, casitas – these are all names for an affordable housing choice some communities are making possible for their citizens. Accessory Dwelling Units, or (ADUs) is the term used to encompass these various local and regional names. ADUs are small independent homes placed in the backyard of a larger home. They provide room for an expanding family, an aging parent or parents, or a young married couple needing help in their first years together. Or, an ADU can just be a fun complement to an existing home as a guest suite or office. Some cities also allow ADUs to be rented providing additional monthly income for a family.

Sidekick Homes’ solution to ADU’s is to provide high quality, pre-designed buildings that are easy and relatively inexpensive to build – and that meet local regulations for these types of buildings.   Their beautiful homes are sustainable, accessible and safe to use for older Americans. Sidekick Homes does not do the building or send you a kit. Instead, they work with quality local builders to provide them with well-designed plans that result in practical buildings constructed at a reasonable price.

Mike has been kind enough to provide Topretirements with a primer on regulations concering ADU’s. His recap can be found, along with more photos and descriptions of his very cool product in action, in our Tips & Picks section. Check it out!  And be sure to tell us what you think in the Comments section at the bottom of this post. Would you, for example, be interested in one of these accessory buildings for yourself?

For further reference:

Sidekick Homes and ADU’s
“How to Design a Home for the Multi_Generational Family”

Kephartliving.com