Feasibility Studies and Research
Why is it so important to invest in a feasibility report prior to starting a residential project such as an addition or adding a new accessory dwelling structure on your property? It’s imperative you understand the limitations and guidelines imposed by the governing jurisdiction over your property. Not doing so could potentially cost you thousands of dollars in wasted money towards a project that may never be developed.
Do you know where or how to look for your property information?
Do you know what questions to ask when inquiring about your property?
Did you know that you can exempt your ADU from lot coverage as long as it’s under a maximum square footage.
Do you know if your property sits on a special zoning area such as hillside, historical, redevelopment, high fire zone, flood zone, etc…?
Every local government has a municipal code for their city that is basically for the purpose of this conversation a rulebook for their building standards. Within the municipal code you will find information on, but not limited to setbacks, height allowances, lot coverage, floor area maximum, zoning classifications, development allowances, ordinances for design, parking and safety. It’s essential to know what zone your parcel sits in and any classifications that will allow or impede your potential projects.
So where do you get this information and how does it apply to your property?
Generally when you hire an architect or designer, they will conduct thorough in depth research of the property to be worked on to confirm that the proposed scope of work can be done and what conditions may apply prior to the start of the design process. Unfortunately, I’ve come across clients whose designers did not conduct the necessary research prior to starting the design process and soon find out that their project is not possible without either modifying their layout or paying unexpected fees.
Based off an actual client that came to me when they no longer trusted their designer and wanted a second opinion on completing their project. Mr. Smith has a property with a detached garage at the rear sitting on a slope. He wants to convert the existing garage, add to it to create a new accessory dwelling unit at the rear of the property detached from the main house. Well the design company that took his project originally offered a build design agreement and gave him a fee to provide design drawings and hooked him with a preliminary construction bid of less than $200K. He paid $12K for a full set of construction documents that included the permit processing (excluding permit fees). The company designed a 1,200 sf accessory dwelling unit without properly researching the property and once the plans came back from the 1st plan check review, it had major corrections and requirements. The proposed ADU had been placed right under overhead power lines and would need a clearance approval from the utility company. The existing main house had previously gone under a renovation with an addition and now the new ADU had triggered the lot coverage and residential floor area to be over the maximum allowance and there was no public transit within the half mile radius the city required in order to exempt the ADU project from adding required parking spaces. The biggest unexpected fees were the structural and grading that came about because the company never discussed the work needed in order to build on a sloped parcel.
The company would have to re-design the project to accommodate the required parking spaces, which meant leaving the garage in tact, moving the proposed ADU away from the overhead power lines and having to reduce the proposed ADU square footage in order to comply with the set guidelines. Because the new ADU was sitting on the slope, when the ADU was shifted to meet the minimum power line clearance setback it caused the grading plan to change as well. New retaining walls were added not only under the new ADU but along the property line in order to grade around the new construction. WELL as you can imagine all these changes cost money to fix. He now had to pay extra fees to the civil engineer to redesign the structural and grading plan. The construction cost of the new ADU was no longer under $200K, but now close to $380K with all the unexpected grading and structural fees originally not considered at the beginning. Had the company conducted proper research the client would’ve had a more accurate idea of what to expect for their project. Mr. Smith ended up changing the scope of work and lowering his original budget to $150K without first losing close to $20K in design costs for a design that couldn’t be used.
A feasibility report not only covers the setbacks and allowable buildable area, but also foreseeing what type of construction may be required such as the retaining walls and grading as discussed in the story. By understanding these costs prior to designing blindly, the client could’ve saved a lot of time and money.