Gordon Stott, one of our founders, weighs in on which Accessory Dwelling Unit is right for your lot and your needs.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are a hot topic in cities and counties across America. Short-term rental platforms like Airbnb have shown homeowners how to monetize additional units (tiny home/ADU). But the pandemic changed how we live and work, and people now look to their yards not only as a source of extra rental income, but also as places to house extended family members, set up remote offices, and even conduct school.
Connect Homes offers six different ADU’s to fulfill your needs, but which one is right for you?
If you’re looking for the most compact, simplest ADU solution Connect Homes currently offers, check out the Connect One prefab modern home. The Connect One is a great 460sf one bedroom house that’s delivered in a single piece. It uses a slightly larger module – nearly 12’ wide and 40’ long, and there’s practically no installation required after the home is craned onto its foundation. Like with all Connect Homes, floor-to-ceiling glass can be deployed on nearly any exterior wall, making the bedroom, living room, or kitchen feel much larger.
The Connect Two is a 640sf one bedroom house built out of two 8’x40’ modules. At 16’x40’, it’s a slightly wider version of a Connect One, giving you space for a dining table in front of the kitchen. This is our most popular ADU.
At 960sf, the two bedroom, one bathroom Connect Three starts to feel and function like a significantly larger house. It’s 24’x40’ and is the same basic layout as the bottom floor of a Connect Six T. (Both the Connect Six T and the Connect Three have the same identical kitchen). The generous great room can be opened on three sides – and multi-slide door panels can go on two of these sides – connecting to site decks and creating a very spacious feeling. The efficient floor plan has nearly no hallway space, with 2/3’s of the floorplan given over to the great room.
If you want the functionality of a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, we offer a 1200sf version of our Connect Four. By including an integrated covered deck, we shave 80sf off the standard Connect Four floor plan – with the footprint remaining 32’x40’. With a second bathroom, the Connect Four is great for small families and for maximizing rental potential.
For those who are allowed to build up to a 1200sf ADU but who have limited backyard space, we can do a 1200sf version of our two story two bedroom, three bathroom Connect Four T. The footprint of this house ends up being about 16’x37.5’, and its small footprint squeezes into tight spaces. By being slightly under 40’, it can often fit on typical 50’ wide lots, even with the larger sideyard setbacks sometimes required on two story homes. This model has the public spaces on the first floor and the bedrooms on the second.
We also offer a combo carport (or garage) and ADU that’s a clever way to solve for both parking and accessory dwelling unit needs. This 21’x40’ structure is equally at home in front of or behind the main house. If added in front, the carport can double as an architecturally interesting shaded entryway/threshold to the main house beyond, as seen in our model home in Mar Vista. The 400sf studio/ADU makes a great, flexible space that works well as living or live/work space.
These smaller Connect Homes are just as gorgeous and functional as their larger counterparts and bring real value to your site. We’d love to discuss whether a Connect Homes ADU makes sense for you. Let’s Connect!
