Real Estate Experts, What's the 411 on ADUs? (Raleigh, Durham: apartments, lawyers)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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WUNC is reporting that the city of Raleigh's website has for purchase 11 pre-approved plans for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) between $400 and $1,200. The article (see link below) says that ADUs are usually small, free-standing structures built alongside existing homes and are also known as granny flats or garage apartments. Raleigh is the first city in North Carolina to offer this gallery of pre-approved plans, which still requires a site assessment but otherwise has all other building codes met.
Does anyone here have anything to add about ADUs? What's involved with building them alongside existing homes? And is this the wave of the future for more affordable single-family housing units in Wake County (and maybe Durham, Orange, Johnston, Chatham and other counties in the area?)
Your starting point, of course, is to read the restrictive covenants that may have been attached to your property when you bought it. The City cannot trump any restrictive covenants.
Your starting point, of course, is to read the restrictive covenants that may have been attached to your property when you bought it. The City cannot trump any restrictive covenants.
Raleigh's zoning ordinances also apply. If it is a single family zone, normally only relatives are permitted to occupy an ADU, though the article says Raleigh has eased the requirements. It might help an adult child who could otherwise not afford an apartment.
Raleigh's zoning ordinances also apply. If it is a single family zone, normally only relatives are permitted to occupy an ADU, though the article says Raleigh has eased the requirements. It might help an adult child who could otherwise not afford an apartment.
I believe Raleigh did away with most single family zoning this year (only exception I see is R-1 that protects watershed areas). They refer to it as "Missing Middle Housing" which would allow higher density in what was once single family zoned areas.
^ Correct, ADUs are now broadly allowed throughout Raleigh and Durham. Cary (which has allowed ADUs in some form since 1990 or so) may consider doing so in 2023.
AARP has written a lot of articles about them, since they're a great option for seniors who may want to move down without changing location: https://www.aarp.org/search/?q=adu&c=everywhere
The cost of building a house is typically divided into three buckets by developers, and roughly it's:
60% "hard costs" - paid to general contractor for sticks, bricks, nails, blue-collar labor
15% "soft costs" - paid to developer, architect, lawyers, bankers, clerks for white-collar labor, permits, etc.
25% land - paid to previous owner of the land
An ADU saves you a lot of money on land. In many cases, the land is basically free, because you already own it; in other cases, it's cheap because it's not being used for much. What Raleigh is doing (making plans available at low cost and expediting permit review times) also can save you a lot of money on "soft costs."
But an ADU saves only a little bit of money on "hard costs." Right now most are all-custom construction, which comes at a substantial premium over production-line houses -- though Raleigh's approach will reduce this, since builders will likely become familiar with the pre-approved designs (and some may even be available partially prefab). A lot of the one-time costs involved with construction also will look high for a single unit -- like getting utilities to a backyard, since most utilities are in the front. And because they're necessarily small units, the cost per square foot looks very high.
The net of it is that the construction costs for an ADU look quite high, but overall they're one of the lowest-cost ways to add housing. Yet new buildings are generally more expensive than older ones, just like new cars are generally more expensive than used cars -- so a new ADU can certainly be more expensive (esp. per sq. ft.) than an old house.
^ Correct, ADUs are now broadly allowed throughout Raleigh and Durham. Cary (which has allowed ADUs in some form since 1990 or so) may consider doing so in 2023.
AARP has written a lot of articles about them, since they're a great option for seniors who may want to move down without changing location: https://www.aarp.org/search/?q=adu&c=everywhere
The cost of building a house is typically divided into three buckets by developers, and roughly it's:
60% "hard costs" - paid to general contractor for sticks, bricks, nails, blue-collar labor
15% "soft costs" - paid to developer, architect, lawyers, bankers, clerks for white-collar labor, permits, etc.
25% land - paid to previous owner of the land
An ADU saves you a lot of money on land. In many cases, the land is basically free, because you already own it; in other cases, it's cheap because it's not being used for much. What Raleigh is doing (making plans available at low cost and expediting permit review times) also can save you a lot of money on "soft costs."
But an ADU saves only a little bit of money on "hard costs." Right now most are all-custom construction, which comes at a substantial premium over production-line houses -- though Raleigh's approach will reduce this, since builders will likely become familiar with the pre-approved designs (and some may even be available partially prefab). A lot of the one-time costs involved with construction also will look high for a single unit -- like getting utilities to a backyard, since most utilities are in the front. And because they're necessarily small units, the cost per square foot looks very high.
The net of it is that the construction costs for an ADU look quite high, but overall they're one of the lowest-cost ways to add housing. Yet new buildings are generally more expensive than older ones, just like new cars are generally more expensive than used cars -- so a new ADU can certainly be more expensive (esp. per sq. ft.) than an old house.
Thank you for this excellent and informative summation. Much appreciated.
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