SEATTLE DADU WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30TH 7:00 PM

Thinking about the long-term use of a home and designing for flexibility is an important part of preparing for an uncertain future. DADUs allow people more flexibility to accommodate a growing family, changing work requirements, and to provide supplemental rental income. DADUs also provide valuable small housing stock in desirable neighborhoods.

Do you want to learn more about DADUs and meet others (virtually) thinking about building a DADU? Join Bruce Parker from Microhouse and Stefan Hansmire from Hansmire Builders to learn about what is possible in this unique webinar sponsored by Sustainable Ballard. In this workshop we will answer questions for people planning to build a backyard cottage, including explanations of what is possible given the new zoning rules. We will also discuss budget ranges for recently completed backyard cottages and financing options along with case studies.

Donations for Sustainable Ballard will be accepted.

Date: Wednesday September 30th

Time: 7:00 pm

Cost: Suggested Donation

Location: Online

Register:

what is a DADU worth? more than you might think

Choosing to build a backyard cottage is an important long term decision. A good first question to ask when making that decision is how will I establish a budget for the cottage? While it may be hard to put a value on how a well designed home makes you feel or the value of having a family member living nearby, some qualities are easier to asses. If that family member is an aging parent who would otherwise be living in an assisted living facility, it is relatively easy to look at the costs of local facilities. For others building a new cottage may be less expensive than remodeling their existing house to more closely meet their needs. For example, new cottages can incorporate universal design components to assist those with mobility impairments.

Many people plan to use their cottages to generate rental income. In this case, a careful consideration of the rents in your area and anticipated costs can help you establish a budget range. And increasingly people are using condominium agreements to sell DADUs separately from the primary residence. These are five recent condominium sales of DADUs in Seattle.
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/11040-1st-Ave-NW-98177/unit-B/home/168914668
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/4536-Eastern-Ave-N-98103/unit-B/home/160472609
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/8511-2nd-Ave-NE-98115/unit-B/home/168660388
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/3202-NW-70th-St-98117/unit-2/home/168674693 (The primary residence sold as well)
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/538-B-NE-92nd-St-98115/home/169451063

In the past real estate appraisers have struggled with how to value backyard cottages and other ADU's primarily because there were simply not enough comparable sales to serve as a guide. With the sales of DADUs as condominiums and the sale of houses with houses becoming more common that task is getting easier.

dadu permit times and pre-approved plans

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Seattle Adu Fair last Saturday. It was great to meet so many of you in person.

We've fielded a lot of questions about Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI)'s permitting times and how pre-approved plans for DADUs may affect them. To answer these questions, we have been crunching the numbers. The good news - there's been significant improvement since DADUs were given a high priority this fall, reducing the amount of review and processing time to get a construction permit by 50% from this time last year.

What about pre-approved plans?

The Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD)'s Pre-Approved Plans for Accessory Dwelling Units fact sheet states that pre-approved plans can receive a building permit in 2-6 weeks (pre-approved or standard plans have already been reviewed for ordinance, structural (O/S) and energy). The city's hope is that by having these reviews completed beforehand, permit review times will go down - which seems logical but unfortunately doesn't align with our experience which indicates the O/S and Energy reviews are not driving overall permit approval times.

To analyze this, we reviewed permit histories from similar DADUs both recently permitted (indicated in gray) and those from this time last year (indicated in yellow) to see what was driving permit timelines. In the nine projects we examined, the O/S and Energy reviews only increased permitting time twice. And in those instances the delay was minor averaging only 3 days.

Removing the delays caused by O/S and energy reviews, the average review and processing time for a DADU permit is 46 days (excluding time from submittal to intake). The review and and processing time including O/S and energy reviews is 49 days. Unfortunately, means that pre-approved plans do not significantly affect the time-frame. A realistic time-frame for pre approved plans being 7-10 weeks, significantly longer than the 2-6 weeks stated by OPCD.

There is good work being done to tighten permit timelines

The OPCD's Pre-Approved Plans for Accessory Dwelling Units fact sheet states that the typical DADU permit takes 4-8 months. This includes the 4 months required to secure a permit intake date. To improve this, SDCI recently announced the intake express which promises all intakes will take place within 2-3 weeks. Using the intake express time-frame, and the data on permit processing time shows us that there is no significant difference in review and processing time for pre-approved or custom designs. A realistic time-frame for review and processing of custom designs being 7-10 weeks - significantly less than the stated 4-8 months.

Understanding Seattle's Proposed Land-Use Code Changes

City council has proposed significant changes to the Seattle Land-Use Code with the aim of increasing the construction of backyard cottages (DADUs) and attached accessory dwelling units (ADUs). These changes, in the making for years now, have been delayed by a lawsuit and appeal brought about under SEPA regulations. Seattle City Council held a public hearing to discuss the proposed code changes Tuesday, June 11th at 5:30pm in council chambers. Discussion and possible vote on amendments and the proposed legislation will be held on June 28th at 2:00pm.

What do these changes really mean for Seattle and for ADUs?

The proposed code changes include many items that are minor and could have been completed years ago. These include modest increases in size and height of allowed cottages, details about dormers, and the location of entries. The more significant changes proposed are as follows:

• Allowing two ADUs on one lot

• Removing the off-street parking requirement

• Removing the owner-occupancy requirement

• Increasing the household size limit for a lot with two ADUs

• Establishing a new limit on the maximum size of single-family dwellings equal to one half of the lot size (FAR = 0.5)

This DADU was built for a grandparent in the Bryant neighborhood

Owner Occupancy

Of these we believe the owner-occupancy requirement is most important. Currently the owner is required to live on the property for a minimum of six months of the year.

The impact to removing the occupancy requirement is unknown. The environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared as part of the lawsuit doesn't appear to adequately predict the impact from removing this requirement. Detractors believe that it will lead to the destruction of large numbers of existing homes and their replacement with duplexes and triplexes. They also note an increasing trend to sell ADUs and their primary residence separately using a condominium or land-lease agreement.

Our Recommendations:

• The original proposal to sunset owner occupancy after a period of time (3 years) is good and should minimize the destruction of naturally occurring affordable housing by speculative developers.

• Owner occupancy should be required for all properties used as short-term rentals.  

• SDCI should closely monitor ADU construction and report annually to City Council.

The builder plans to maintain ownership of this DADU and sell the primary residence using a condominium agreement

Floor Area Ratio Limits

The EIS finds that the most significant way to reduce tear-downs (i.e the removal of naturally occurring affordable housing) will occur by introducing a floor area ratio (FAR) limit. Currently the size of new houses is limited by setbacks and height limits. The trend in new construction is for very large houses (with correspondingly large price tags), which are typically beyond the means of median income earners. The FAR limit would reduce the size of what can be built but exclude ADUs and DADUs from the restriction. The goal being to prevent tear-downs and to encourage rather the construction of ADUs and DADUs.

Our Recommendations:

• Approve a FAR limit of 0.5 for new construction.

• Exemption of ADUs and DADUs from the FAR limit.

The City Council held a public hearing to discuss these proposed changes on Tuesday, June 11th at 5:30pm in council chambers. Discussion and potential vote on the amendments and proposed legislation will be held on June 28th at 2:00pm.

We encourage you to voice your opinion with your council members and look forward to moving ahead with sensible legislation.

backyard cottage open house Friday September 21st

Learn more about backyard cottages and meet others who have built or are thinking about building a backyard cottage! 

Colette and Chris built this backyard cottage as a short term rental. Their cottage cottage takes advantage of the sloping site to create a unique three level design.  It features a generous master suite, a living room with vaulted ceilings and an 2nd bedroom/office on the top floor.  2 Bedroom, 2  Bathrooms. The cottage will be open Friday September 21st from 4:30 to 7:00 pm. Email info@microhousenw.com for more information.

backyard cottage - would you move into your own backyard?

The owner built this backyard cottage as a rental but fell in love (with the cottage) during the design process and decided to rent out his house instead.  
 

This backyard cottage features an open floor plan on the ground floor with a kitchen, living and powder rooms that open with accordion doors onto a patio with a gas fireplace.  Upstairs is a master bedroom complete with a kitchenette, and a bath with laundry room.  The overall strategy with this backyard cottage, as it is with most of our designs, is to keep the structure simple allowing a larger percentage of the budget to be spent on finishes. The height and size of DADUs is limited based on the size of the lot. This lot was particularly small limiting the allowable footprint to 294 sq. ft

Ceramic tile accentuates the entry area.  The view from the entry towards the kitchen and patio beyond.

The kitchen is located along one wall is both compact and simple.

Accordion doors open up the cottage to the new patio with gas fireplace.

A movable kitchen island is the perfect accessory to the compact kitchen.  Exposed wood joists add warmth and texture in contrast with the concrete floors.  The joists were spaced to accommodate the owner's weight lifting rack.

Where some houses may come with a man cave this DADU features a "man wall" with big screen tv, electric fireplace, weight rack and the ultimate amenity, beer taps.  A keg fridge is located behind the wall in the under stair space.  

A pocket door located at the bottom of the stairs allows for the two floors to be used independently.

The city of Seattle limits both the eave and ridge height of cottages allowing greater height for a gable roof which we took advantage of to good effect. 

The master suite features vaulted ceilings and abundant light. A kitchenette allows this room to be used separately from the first floor.

The shower is tucked into an under eave space. 

The master bath features vaulted ceilings and skylight.  A laundry room is tucked off to one side under the eaves.
 

The owner built a new patio with a gas fire place.  The stairs from the house were rebuilt align with the cottage.

backyard cottage blog read more

backyard cottage blog read more

What follows is a condensed version of our blog. To learn more about backyard cottages and to sign up for our backyard cottage open house invitation list please visit our seattle backyard cottage blog.