Your Backyard.
Your Potential.
Your ADU.

An ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) is a second, self-contained home on the same lot as your main house. We check the two most common types: a detached ADU, which is a standalone unit like a backyard cottage, and an attached ADU, which is an addition built onto your main house. California law makes most single-family and multi-family lots eligible, but whether yours works comes down to your lot size, setbacks, and local zoning. Type in your address and we’ll tell you where you stand.

Your lot boundaries come straight from official government parcel records, and building footprints come from dedicated external mapping providers. We run that data against California HCD code to calculate your buildable area and max ADU size, so the verdict is as accurate as the records behind it. That is reliable enough to know whether an ADU makes sense before you spend money on a designer. Just keep in mind the final call always comes from your local jurisdiction, so think of it as a solid pre-check rather than a permit, and confirm the details on site and with your city before you commit to a build.

We work across California. State ADU law sets the baseline everywhere, and we add local zoning and setback data wherever we have it. The quickest way to know exactly what applies to you is to punch in your address and look at the results for your parcel.

You get a live construction cost estimate based on your ADU’s size and type. Toggle the things that make a build harder, like a sloped lot, electric panel upgrades, or demolition work, and the number moves in real time. It’s an easy way to see what actually drives your budget before you commit to anything.

It knows the ADU you designed. When you place an ADU on your lot, the Advisor sees its size, its shape, the yard zone it sits in, and its clearances from your home and other structures. So when you ask a permit or zoning question, the answer is grounded in the latest HCD ADU Handbook and/or live web search, applied to your specific placement, so you get the most relevant and up-to-date guidance.

No, we’re a planning and feasibility tool, not a contractor or permit expediter. What we do is help you figure out what’s possible, estimate the cost, and put together a report with a summary, zoning analysis, and the numbers. Think of it as the kickstart to your ADU journey, so you walk into conversations with designers, builders, and your permit office already knowing where you stand.

Yes. We only use your address to run your feasibility analysis and build your report. Your projects stay tied to your account, and we don’t sell your data. You can read the details anytime in our Privacy Policy.