This page contains various additional information regarding our detached ADU build in the city of Portland, Oregon.
Why We Decided to Build an ADU
Back in 2019, Bud, my sister Dawn, and I moved Mom out of Florida for health and safety reasons. We weighed the pros and the cons of what would be better for her: Joining Dawn in Massachusetts, or joining me and Bud in Oregon. As a family, we all ultimately chose Oregon.
Mutigenerational living was never on our radar when we bought our bungalow. We never thought anyone in our family would want to join us here in Oregon. (“It rains too much! Meh.”)
After a few months of living with Mom in the guest room of our house, it quickly became apparent that we would all benefit from her having her own space. That space needed to be close by. Buying another home in our neighborhood was not in the cards, and let’s face it, we can’t get much closer than our own backyard.
Our Wants/Needs in our ADU Build
While we needed an apartment for Mom right away, we also realized that we needed more flexible space for us. Remember this was 2020. Most of us were home. A lot. Working at home from the dining room table was taking a toll on backs, knees, necks, etc. And eating dinner each night among work piles and laptops gets old. Fast. If we were going to do this, now was the time to go big and gain additional space for ourselves as well.
We ultimately chose to build a structure that is a stacked ADU/PDU. Huh? This means that the first floor is mom’s ADU apartment. There is a separate entrance that leads to an upstairs space, which is considered additional square footage for the Primary Dwelling Unit (the PDU). At the time we were going through permitting, having two ADU units on a single lot was not allowed. Those laws have since changed. And while we certainly designed the space with an eye to the future (knowing the laws would change imminently), we have no plans at the moment to do anything but use the space as it has been designed by our architect. We do not need a kitchen sink upstairs at this time – the bathroom sink is more than sufficient for our needs as the main house and Mom’s apartment are both easily accessible to us when we are using the upstairs PDU space.
ADU Build Timeline
- I reached out to my college network inquiring about architect recommendations, and in January 2020, we met with an architect that we ultimately chose to work with, Lyons Hunter Williams.
- Hunter began and in-depth interview process (wants/needs/goals/etc.), site analysis, and started working on our drawings in February of 2020.
- The world shut down in March 2020.
- We submitted our plans to the City of Portland June 2020. We had some initially stressful back and forth with the city about whether or not this building was going to sit on a street or an alley. That may sound like a simple enough question to the uninitiated. But our plans hinged on the city agreeing with the title company’s plat map and the Portland Bureau of Transportation employee who confirmed for us long before Hunter created his first drawing that it was an alley. Our plans were finally approved in December 2020.
The general contractor for this project was Corey Wall of Wall Design Build. We met Corey in 2017 while attending Portland’s Annual ADU Tour put on by ADU guru Kol Peterson (Accessorydwellings.org). After that 2017 tour, Corey built an ADU for our neighbors around the corner, and we courtside seats to that build from beginning to end. Because of the pandemic and the rapidly increasing cost of supplies, Corey had a build slot available for us. What? Someone dropped out of building because costs were escalating with no cap in sight? Sign. Us. Up. Please. Sir.
- Existing garage demo, April 2021. Buh bye garage with your blue tarp roof. You managed to stay standing years longer than we thought you would. You were tougher than you looked.
- The foundation walls poured, May 2021.
- The foundation slab insulated and poured, June 2021.
- Framing occurred throughout much of June 2021, with the Big Day being June 25, 2021. This was the day when our massive roof beam was delivered and with the help of approximately 15 – 20 people, it was hoisted up into place with the partial help of a forklift, a lot of physical strength and teamwork, and some jacks. For unknown reasons I was expecting a crane, but Corey explained that a crane is rarely an option for him when building these backyard structures within the city limits. Too many trees, power lines, etc.
- Roofing happened some time around July 2021.
- Windows went in approximately August 2021, and siding happened shortly thereafter.
- The build was turned over to us in October 2021, built to drywall, and ready for us to finish it (window and door trim, flooring, tiling, cabinet installation, etc.). We worked on the interior as we could when we were not working in our real estate business from October 2021 until June 2022.
- Final interior paint, June 2022. Thank you to the amazing team from NV Construction.
- Drywell was completed July 2022.
- Final plumbing and occupancy was approximately August 2022.
Photos and Video
As I collect photos of the project, I will update this portion of the page. We have a time lapse of much of the build process (through windows, I believe). Plus a couple of walk-through videos of the downstairs and the upstairs. Enjoy!
Informational Signs from ADU Tour June 25, 2022
These are the various informational signs that I posted around the home during the 2022 ADU Tour on June 25, 2022 that we promised to make available to folks. Full transparency of methods, pricing, brands, etc. is essential – these builds are a much bigger undertaking than you will ever realize, even if you think you know what you are getting yourself into. Bud and I are both in real estate, and even we weren’t ready for some of the sticker shock and some of the wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-heart-pounding moments. But you get through it. Hopefully with a successful build behind you!