ADUs & Backyard Homes in Portland

In Portland, more often than you'd think — the city has one of the most ADU-friendly programs in the country, and many lots that don't look like obvious candidates actually work beautifully. Whether yours does depends on things like your lot size, setbacks, existing structures, and the type of ADU you want (a new backyard building, a garage conversion, or a basement or attic unit), and figuring that out is exactly what our early lot check is for. Before you get too deep, we look at your specific property against the current rules and tell you honestly what's possible and what it would take. Many homeowners are pleasantly surprised. If you're curious whether your backyard could become a little home, that quick feasibility check is the perfect, low-commitment place to start.

Yes — and it's one of the biggest reasons people work with us instead of going it alone. Portland's ADU program is wonderful but the zoning, permitting, and process can be genuinely confusing, and small mistakes can cost real time and money. We know the rules cold because we've navigated them 600+ times, and we handle the whole thing: confirming what your lot allows, designing to what will get approved, preparing and submitting the permit documents, and shepherding the project through the city. For you, that means the most intimidating and tedious part of building an ADU is simply taken care of, and your project keeps moving. It's a core part of what we do, not an add-on, and it's a big part of why our clients say the whole process felt easy.

This is the heart of what we do, and it's genuinely a craft. A small home feels cramped when it's designed like a shrunken big house; it feels spacious and joyful when it's designed as a small home from the ground up. That means using light generously — big windows, good orientation, high ceilings where we can get them; borrowing space from a garden, a porch, or a lofted area so the home lives beyond its walls; designing clever, built-in storage that disappears so nothing feels cluttered; and laying out the plan so every space does double duty and flows into the next. Done well, a few hundred square feet can feel bright, open, and complete — even generous. After 600+ small homes, making tiny feel big is the skill we're proudest of, and it's the difference between an ADU you tolerate and one you love.

For most of our clients, emphatically yes, because an ADU is one of the most flexible and financially smart things you can do with a property. It can generate rental income that helps carry your mortgage or supplement your retirement. It can house aging parents, adult kids, or guests — close but independent — which is priceless for a lot of families. It can serve as a home office or studio. And it adds real, lasting value to your property in a market that increasingly prizes this kind of flexible space, often returning far more than the cost to build. The key is that all of those benefits depend on the ADU being designed and built well; a great one is an asset you'll be glad you built for decades, while a poor one is a missed opportunity. Helping you make it a great one — and a genuinely smart move — is exactly our job.

It varies with the type and size — a garage conversion, a basement unit, and a new detached ADU are quite different projects — as well as your finishes and site conditions, so we give you honest, specific numbers early rather than a vague range that helps no one. What we can tell you is that we design to your budget from the start, make cost-conscious decisions throughout, and are transparent about the full picture, including permits and site work, so there are no ugly surprises. We also help you think about the return: for many homeowners, the rental income or the value an ADU adds makes the math genuinely compelling. After an initial chat and a look at your lot, we'll give you a clear, realistic sense of the investment and what it can deliver. Straightforward numbers and no surprises are part of how we make the whole thing feel easy.

Our studio is on SE Division in Portland, and we work throughout Portland and the surrounding metro — Southeast Portland, Alberta, Sellwood, Hawthorne, St. Johns, and out to Beaverton and the nearby suburbs. This is our home turf, and knowing Portland's specific ADU program, zoning, and permitting process intimately is a huge part of the value we bring — the rules really are local, and local expertise matters. If you're just outside the metro and thinking about a backyard home, we're glad to talk and point you in the right direction. If you've got a Portland lot and a dream of a little home in the backyard, we'd love to help you figure out what's possible.