When You Have a $300,000 ADU Budget But Want $500,000 in Work

Often, a family that is adding an ADU to their property will also want additional work. That might be a kitchen update, a new storage shed, or a whole-house remodel of the main home to fit their lifestyle. One family came to New Avenue wanting a 650-square-foot accessory dwelling, a kitchen remodel, and a 250-square-foot storage building. New Avenue can do all of that, and we can do it very well.

The homeowners met with a New Avenue designer and asked for ballpark costs. Before committing to the full project, they wanted to know how much they could expect to pay for design, survey, permits, structural engineering, demolition, site drainage, and construction. Here are the typical costs our designer gave them, based on our previous projects in the area:

650-square-foot ADU: approximately $350,000

250-square-foot storage shed: approximately $50,000

Kitchen remodel: starting at $75,000

The homeowners quickly saw that the total for this project would go beyond their initial budget of $300,000. Fortunately, their New Avenue designer had some ideas.

What do you do when you want $500,000 worth of work but only have $300,000 to spend?

You have to make some concessions. You can still get a lot of great work done for that budget; you just have to make a few changes to your plans. You can do this by reducing the size of your structures.

For example, we regularly complete studio ADUs (around 350 square feet) for about $200,000 in construction costs. This family could reduce the size of their ADU to reduce their expenses. Storage can also cost less. We’ve built some sheds that will last a lifetime for under $25,000. It’s just a matter of choosing the right materials, construction methods, and size.

It’s more difficult to reduce costs for a kitchen remodel. Kitchens tend to cost $75,000 or more, so this family’s best bet would be to change their plans for the ADU and/or the storage building.

There are ways to have it all.

If you don’t want to compromise on ADU size or the amount of work you want, you can still get everything. It will just take more time. This family might go ahead and build the 650-square-foot ADU first. They could then wait until they have enough savings to complete the kitchen remodel and the storage building. While they save, they could use part of the ADU for storage if necessary, or use the rental income the ADU generates to fund the other projects sooner. The rental income from an ADU would add up quickly, freeing up funds to make the other improvements.

Our advice for any budget

If you have a lot of work that you want done, the first step is to meet with our team. You can look at actual project costs and get a ballpark figure, but you won’t know exactly what your project will cost until you meet with a designer and builder and get a full proposal for your ADU project. That full design proposal will allow you to better plan your project. Once you have precise costs, you can decide whether to go ahead with the whole thing or modify your plan. Your designer will help you explore your options. That’s a natural part of the design process.