The Down-Low on a Special Kind of ADU: Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs)
Originally appearing on MaxableSpace.com, this post takes readers through the ins-and-outs of JADUs, or Junior Accessory Dwelling Units.
Welcome to the Napa Sonoma ADU Center! Learn more about us →
The mission of the Napa Sonoma ADU Center is to help homeowners build ADUs.
We began our work to launch the ADU Center by conducting a series of surveys, data gathering, and focus groups with city and county staff, builders and architects, as well as homeowners who have built ADUs or are interested in building one in the future.
Watch our Calistoga ADU Webinar!
Well, we are making it possible for homeowners across Napa and Sonoma counties to connect directly with local Planning & Building Department, with our brand new ADU webinar series which just launched with an engaging live webinar in collaboration with the terrific folks at the City of Calistoga’s Planning & Building Division.
Sign up for an ADU Feasibility Consult!
Figuring out where to even begin with a major construction project like an accessory dwelling unit can be a little overwhelming — and that’s why we launched our new ADU Feasibility Consults program.
Napa Sonoma ADU in the News: New director leads center to promote Napa accessory dwelling units
Check out this article about the Napa Sonoma ADU Center in the Napa Valley Register, where I share about my vision for the Napa Sonoma ADU Center and the surprising impact of COVID-19 on homeowners’ ADU plans.
New state laws make it even easier to build an ADU!
Great news: As of January 1, 2020, California passed new state laws that make it easier than ever for homeowners to build ADUs.
Let’s build a bright future for our community
Getting started on your Accessory Dwelling Unit can be a daunting undertaking, and studies show that the average homeowner can spend a couple of years just thinking about their ADU before even beginning the planning process. That’s why when it comes to ADUs, I like to say “There’s no time like the present!”
February News from The Napa Sonoma ADU Center
With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I’ve been doing some thinking about love. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how we can foster a sense of community, mutual aid, and love during a time when our neighbors, families, and friends here in Napa and Sonoma Counties are struggling with the double-punch of a global pandemic and the subsequent economic implications.
December News from the Napa Sonoma ADU Center
2021 brought its share of tribulations to our community, and yet each day we hear from new homeowners like you who are ready to invest in building an accessory dwelling unit that will provide a roof over the head of a friend, family member, or neighbor in need of a home.
But really, have you checked out the ADU Workbook?
The ADU Workbook is tailored specifically for homeowners in Napa and Sonoma Counties. The ADU Workbook contains creative and practical activity pages to walk you through an engaging, step-by-step process along your entire ADU journey.
Bay Area backyard cottages boom as elderly parents and college students flee coronavirus
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has caused families across the world to re-think the ways that we live and work. This SF Chronicle article examines how families have responded to the crisis through increased interest in Accessory Dwelling Units, as a means of bringing family closer together.
Ask us anything about ADUs (en inglés y también en español)!
Have a question about where to get started on your Accessory Dwelling Unit journey? The Napa Sonoma ADU Center is here to help you along the way. Just reach out to us via email at info@napasonomaadu.org or phone at 707.804.8575.
Announcing: The Napa Sonoma ADU Workbook!
From providing housing for relatives to helping pay the mortgage, many Napa and Sonoma County homeowners are interested in adding ADUs to their homes. The workbook was created as a resource to help residents of Napa and Sonoma Counties build an ADU!
Five Stages of the ADU Journey
When homeowners first embark on their accessory dwelling unit journey they often ask us for an overview of the process and rightly explain, “I simply don’t know what I don’t know!”
So Many Types of ADUs, So Many Varying Costs
Accessory dwelling units are known by many different names — granny flat, second unit, backyard cottage, in-law apartment, garage conversion, carriage house — that it can get pretty confusing what is what. This post gives a run-down of the five different types of ADUs available to homeowners, and their different features.
Webinar: How to Build an ADU in the City of Napa
Have you ever wished you could connect directly with your local Planning & Building Department in a low-pressure, friendly environment just to ask some of your most burning accessory dwelling unit questions?
Webinar: How to Build an ADU in the City of Santa Rosa
Homeowners in Santa Rosa learned all about the planning, permitting, and building process for accessory dwelling units during our ADU Webinar on September 23rd. Santa Rosa’s Chief Building Official Jesse Oswald joined us, and he shares that “Accessory dwelling units are an important way that we can increase much-needed housing for our community. City staff are here to provide ADU guidance and information to homeowners and property owners in the City of Santa Rosa.”
Are you a Housing Professional Interested in Inclusion on our Vendor Registry?
Our nonprofit, the Napa Sonoma ADU Center, is focused on helping homeowners in Napa and Sonoma Counties build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) by providing education, information, and resources along the course of their ADU journey.
Building a Fire-Safe(r) ADU
With wildfires more and more prevalent in Napa and Sonoma counties, homeowners are inevitably doing a lot of thinking about what we can do to protect what for many of us is our single greatest investment – our home. And for the folks we serve at the Napa Sonoma ADU Center, our home includes our accessory dwelling unit, as well!
Top 6 ADU Tips from a Local Expert
Scott Johnson, ADU Expert @ Napa Sonoma ADU Center & Founder, Pocket Housing LLC highlights key tips that homeowners in Napa and Sonoma Counties should keep in mind when they’re ready to kickstart their accessory dwelling unit project.
Napa Sonoma ADU featured in North Bay Business Journal: “Nonprofit helps with the housing shortage”
The Napa Sonoma ADU Center is grateful to the North Bay Business Journal for helping spread the word to local homeowners and housing professionals about our nonprofit and the work we do to support folks in building accessory dwelling units! Check out the full article at this link or below! From the North […]
ADUs 101 Webinar for Napa & Sonoma County Homeowners
With nearly 800 homes destroyed or damaged, and more than 1,000 commercial and other structures burned (at time of publication) across Napa and Sonoma counties due to the Glass Fire, compounding the hundreds of homes lost in the LNU Complex fire just recently extinguished, the already existing need for housing in our communities has only deepened.
Webinar: How to Build an ADU in Sonoma County
For this webinar, homeowners and housing professionals alike joined the Napa Sonoma ADU Center and staff at Permit Sonoma, who walked viewers through the planning, permitting, and building process in unincorporated Sonoma County and answered homeowners’ questions live.
Tons of ADU Philosophy & Resources from Build it Green
As the California ADU laws implemented in January 2020 continue to make it even easier for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, the nonprofit, government, and industry sectors are thinking innovatively about how we can maximize the impact of those laws to even better serve our communities.
December News from The Napa Sonoma ADU Center
As we enter the holiday season and look ahead to the New Year, my most enduring sentiment is one of gratitude and awe at the generosity, resilience, and grace of our communities over the past year here in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
Building ADUs in Napa & Sonoma Counties Webinar
For those of you who missed our webinar, “Building ADUs in Napa & Sonoma Counties Webinar” — we’ve got the whole thing recorded and available right here for you on-demand! This accessory dwelling unit webinar is relevant to building ADUs in all 16 jurisdictions (aka all cities and the two unincorporated county regions) across both Napa & Sonoma counties.
January News from The Napa Sonoma ADU Center
It’s been a whirlwind of a New Year, and here at the nonprofit Napa Sonoma ADU Center our 2021 survival tactic is to focus on the concrete action steps that we can take to move forward, one step at a time, to increase housing in our community and make smart decisions for ourselves and our families.
