The City of Concord has officially introduced its pre-approved Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) program to help people save time and money during the design, planning, and permitting process of building an ADU.
Thanks to a grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Concord was able to create six building code-compliant, construction-level drawings, which are now available to the public at no cost.
Sometimes called “granny units” or “in-law units,” ADUs are residential units located on the same lot as an existing or proposed single- or multi-family principal dwelling and provide complete independent living facilities for one or more people.
Concord’s six designs include studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms, ranging in size from approximately 200 square feet to 900 square feet, and each floor plan can accommodate different layouts. The designs also have multiple architectural styles commonly found in Concord, such as Bungalow/Craftsman, Spanish-inspired, Post-war suburban rancher, and modern.
“This is a huge benefit to our community,” said Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister. “Providing these free ADU plans will assist the City in meeting the identified goals and policies contained within our adopted Housing Element by making it easier, quicker, and less expensive for our residents to add these units to their property.”
People who utilize the pre-approved plans will not incur the cost of hiring a design professional to prepare drawings, and will significantly reduce the plan check fees associated with reviewing the plans prior to obtaining a building permit.
It also significantly reduces the time it takes to get a building permit. Applications for custom ADUs typically require multiple rounds of plan review and it can take weeks before a permit is issued. With the new pre-approved plans, complete applications can be approved within as few as five days.
More information and links to floor plans/elevations, site plan templates and full drawing sets are available at this link.
Questions can be directed to the Planner on Duty, zoning@cityofconcord.org, (925) 671-3152.
39 comments
I live in Concord. My home is 1,100 square feet. 3 bedrooms, 1 very small bath. I want so badly to add a bathroom and extra living space, but the contractors have quoted around $100k . I don’t know why I thought ADU would be somehow more affordable, but even to add a studio ADU, it’s $300k. Who can afford that?
@ MIke, Where did you get the figure of $300K for a studio ADU?
I was hearing $50k in fees (water and other permits) before a shovel touches the ground. $300k sounds right. Now you just need a tenant to pay $2500/month to pay it off in 10 years. I would look for better investments
Rich- you forget to factor in the immediate value added to the property due to the ADU. It’s not a straight line ROI calculation. You invest $300k and the value of the property increases something close to that upon completion. Then you get the rent every month on top.
It’s a very wise investment if you can stomach being a landlord in CA.
This simplistic thinking is why my old neighbors out there are still poor. The payback period alone ignores the time value of money.
First of all, $2,300/mo in rent seems wicked high for concord; 2 BR units in Lafayette and Moraga start around that price. But let’s say you get it. Hooray! That’s $27,600 annually, or a 9.2% return on investment on your $300k outlay . . . on day one!
Further, rents tend to keep pace with inflation over time, so there’s a high probability that the 9.2% ROI will rise in the long run. What other investment offers the potential for near double-digit cash flow yield with an embedded inflation hedge.
All this is BEFORE tax benefits, including deductions for depreciation (yup, you can write off the $300k over a 27-year period), financing expenses, future maintenance and renovations on ADU and the property tax assessed for the ADU.
You’re welcome!
We basically doubled the size of our house from 969 sq.ft. to 1830 sq.ft (we’re on a 10,000 sq.ft. lot). That included a full kitchen remodel (plus expanding it) with custom cabinets and remodeling the original bathroom the house had. We ended up spending over $500,000 on the remodel. We also had all of the electrical, plumbing and HVAC redone in the house as well. The original estimates from contractors we talked to at the time said to plan on at least $400 a sq.ft. when adding on to a home like we did. That amount also includes re-doing driveway, front walk-way and side of house in pavers, which was well over $30,000.
Major remodels are not cheap and be ready to deal with a lot of BS. We had to pay over $4,000 to the school district because we were making the house larger. There are worse things money could go towards, but it kind of pissed off my wife and I as we don’t have kids and never will. It just felt like another money grab. We also came very close to having to install fire sprinklers (in the new part of the remodel only, WTF???) which would have been another $75,000 or so we didn’t budget for. After talks with the Fire Marshall and city lawyers they found a loophole for us so that didn’t need to happen. Back to the permit thing, we spent between $20,000-$30,000 on them.
For what it’s worth, I’m not in the Claycord area but do live in the East Bay.
I am a General contractor. JWD Builders Inc. if you ever need me to take a look ide be glad to.
Jwdbuilders.com
This is a crying shame. The houses in Concord were not meant to have additional living units in their backyards. We bought our houses years ago as established neighborhoods with appropriate spaces between the houses. Now they can build a dwelling right next to the fences. This is so wrong!!!!!
You can always file lawsuits over environmental stuff to delay, delay, delay. It is California after all
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FLAT OUT WRONG.
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ADUs are exempt from environmental review.
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All that is needed isnissuance of a building permit.
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Period.
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It’s another “one-size fits all” legislation from Sacramento. Meaning, what is OK in San Francisco is right to Concord… and Blackhawk, Diablo, Alamo, Clayton, Lafayette, etc.
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Just think of how many residential units would be freed up if the +/-2.5 million illegals in CA were deported. Lots!
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…Wait til the property owner adds up all the impact fees and hook-up fees assessed by the water district EBMUD/CCWD, PGE, Central Sanitary, and the respective school district.
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Surprise!
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No thanks, cheaper and smarter to move out of this State…
But you won’t, so here we are
Where are all the cars going to park?
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Sen. Wiener and your Governor made sure no parking additional parking is required.
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So Newsom wants to cram more people together by having the locals pay for the newcomers to overpopulate their region of homes that they originally worked for. It just doesn’t seem like a good plan. Or for that matter, fair to them. Please vote responsibly…
Concord will require you to add more parking , another big $$$ cost.
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Better read up.
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State law prohibits all cities/counties from requiring additional parking.
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About 20 years ago we seriously were looking into ADU since we have a 1/3-acre pie shape lot.
Just to have a water line with permits was going to be $20,000.
Add the price of other permits and do electrical, sewer, and building supplies/labor.
Then found out our property taxes would double. Scratched the whole idea.
Thinking about putting up a small Art Studio in back and add a second bathroom to our house still.
That is a bit more doable.
although these are nice designs, they have limited use for ADUs. Often, the space available for an ADU is adjacent to the existing residence, requiring a narrow and deep floorplan. All of these offer a wider and shallow design, much like the existing residence. Not many lots can accommodate 2 structures of the same orientation, the ADU will usually be alongside in an oversized sideyard or along the back property line. Nobody in an existing home wants to step out into their backyard to then be in the front yard of the ADU with a porch and front door looking at them. Great idea by the City, but these designs don’t address the needs of the people entertaining an ADU.
I’m one of them, none of these work for me.
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Waaaah. Yeah, cuz it’s all about YOU.
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Then draw up your own plans because you’re “special”.
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You sound like a fun person.
This company is based in Chico and might be a more reasonable ADU solution money-wise https://www.theqcabin.com/
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I want to corroborate what another reviewer has posted earlier. Do NOT fall for the Q Cabin Kits. The owner has a demonstrated history of misrepresenting the total cost of the kits and also tends to misrepresent his construction abilities. He has duped numerous people in our community into buying his construction plans. Then the buyer invariably finds out that the original cost estimate is wildly underestimated. When you push back or ask him to stop the project, he will double down by attempting to charge you rent on property of yours that he will hold hostage in his shop (he will insist that as much of the work be done in his shop as possible so he always has the ability to lock you out.)
I hired this person to perform work and subsequently costs began skyrocketing and the entire story played out as described above. He has had multiple complaints filed against him by members of our small community. He initially seems like a harmless person, and he may even believe that he is the victim in some way. His history of failed projects and angry customers should speak for itself. Do not get fooled by this con-artist.
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My friend warned me “Don’t give him any money up front!” But it was too late. I asked him why? He replied “I think Sneed is super dishonest”. They worked together on construction projects in the Bay Area. I researched his records and found six lawsuits and a bankruptcy in his home state of Kansas. Beware, he set up a fancy website and moved to Mt. Shasta. I now have an attorney and am forced to sue him because his product I have found falls far short of what is promised. Moreover, he has lied to me about his Q Cabin kit. It was never completely done and he starts charging a storage fee for the walls, roof panels… the stuff his helper slaps together. He starts charging even though the kit is not complete. $1500 a month, which is what he pays for about 15,000 sq foot space in an old lumber mill in McCloud.
Sneed will make verbal cost promises to lure you in. Then, ask for more money. When you start to question why he needs more money, he will send you a very hard to decipher estimate which exceeds his verbal agreement tenfold. He will take your hard earned money and give you an impossible plan with no recourse other than filing a lawsuit.
Enforce limits on the number of people allowed to live in a given home and maybe we can talk. Nothing is more California than a run down 2 million dollar suburban house being rented by 4 families and their 16 cars.
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Your argument wont hold water up against the Fair Housing Act and CA building code (for occupancy).
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And of course what constitutes a “family” will also be subject to legal challenge.
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Exactly. So change the law
This is an accessory building. No kitchens no bedrooms. After the last inspection the bedrooms and kitchens go in in what was supposed to be an art room and another a dance studio. Then after it has been lived in for a few years the owner applies for it to be a residence. This is a slippery slope. A two story accessory building blocked my view of the hills behind my house. County never even required a report. Just signed it away.
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Your view of the hills was speculative.
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Unless you had a legal instrument (easement/deed restriction) preserving your view, the other property owner was just exercising their property rights as entitled by local govt. code.
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Juris dicta.
Didn’t say my view was protected. You missed the point on how my view went away. They lied about having an accessory building that they intended to live in all of the time. They were not allowed to build a home.
Shenanigans! How would their use of the building have any effect whatsoever on how it affects your view???
One more time. They couldn’t get an OK to build a home so the called it an accessory building. They got a permit for that and built a two story accessory building. After the last building inspection they put in a kitchen and bedrooms and moved in. Several years later after they had already been living in the building they applied to the county for the right to put in a kitchen and live in it. My view was just a side issue. I am talking about how devious people act and the problems that will evolve with an accessory building. They are going to cause other people problems. More than a view.
@ RICARDOH – Got it. Thank you for clarifying. I nonetheless remain perplexed why you care whether they used the structure for an accessory building or a residence.
If you were so concerned with how the land would be used, why didn’t you just buy it from your neighbors?
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Ya missed the nuance.. I said “Unless …”
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Meaning, you had no legally protected privilege of the view to the hills from your home..
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We are currently in the permit stage of our ADU, survey design, electrical design etc
Our home lot is a little over 10,000 square. City and state has eased up on many requirements, size, setbacks etc
We are doing a 799sqft 2 bed 2 bath
9’ ceilings, all utilities , foundation poured, if they have to trench across your driveway they’ll repair it. Only thing you can’t have is natural gas for the ADU(new calif law) granite counter and island, 252k out the door and I mean everything other then permits
They held an open house on one they just completed and it was beautiful!
Hit me up if you want their contact info
So you already have a contractor? I am trying to get in to the adu builds. Consider myself very fair. JWD Builders Inc. lic. #1072855. Just in case anyone is looking. My contact can be done at jwdbuilders.com. Hope your build goes well.
Just put in a tuff shed with a few extras.
I’m curious ! What are the extras? I’ve been considering this.
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