Site work
Slope, access, soil and demolition change from lot to lot and can swing the cost of the same floor plan.
ADU estimating
Know your margin before you sell it.
Know what to charge. Know what it will cost. Know whether you're keeping your margin while you build it.
The short answer
Price an ADU from its cost drivers, not from a price per square foot. Build the number from site work, utilities, foundation, structure, finishes, design, permits and fees using your local costs, then add your margin. A per-square-foot price hides the lot-by-lot costs that decide whether an ADU makes money.
Why ADU estimates go wrong
Most builders lose ADU margin before the job starts. The estimate looked fine because it came from a square-foot number or last job's total. Then the lot needed a long sewer run, the city charged more in fees than expected and the panel needed an upgrade. Small buildings have big fixed costs, so these misses hit hard.
What moves the number
Six costs a square-foot price hides
Utilities
Sewer, water and electrical runs, meters and panel upgrades depend on where the ADU sits on the parcel.
Fees and permits
Plan review, impact fees and utility connection fees vary widely by jurisdiction.
Design and engineering
Stock plan, modified plan or custom design, plus structural and energy work.
Local labor and materials
National averages hide what crews and materials really cost in your market.
Time
Permit delays and schedule slips cost carrying time and crew productivity.
How Build•Print operators estimate
Fast numbers. Fixed-price confidence. Known margin.
- Convert your local costs
Local Cost Conversion turns your labor and material prices into ADU pricing for your market.
- Start from proven products
Standard floor plans and finish packages mean you aren't estimating from a blank page.
- Preliminary number in about 15 minutes
Give the homeowner a real range on the first call, then refine it after site review.
- Track margin during the build
See whether you're keeping the margin you sold, while there's still time to act.
Questions
ADU pricing questions
How should a builder price an ADU?
Price an ADU from its cost drivers, not from a price per square foot. Build the number from site work, utilities, foundation, the structure itself, finishes, design, permits and fees, using your local labor and material costs, then add your margin on top. That way the price changes when the lot changes.
Why is price per square foot risky for ADUs?
ADUs are small, so fixed costs like utility connections, permits, fees and site work make up a large share of the total. Two ADUs with the same floor plan can differ by tens of thousands of dollars because of the lot, which a per-square-foot price hides.
How fast can a builder give an ADU estimate?
With a cost book built for your market and standard ADU products, a preliminary estimate can be produced in about 10 to 15 minutes, then refined after site review and design.
How does Build•Print help with estimating?
Build•Print gives operators a Local Cost Conversion tool, standard ADU products and an estimating method developed at Tiny Homes of Tucson, so they know their price and their margin before they sell, and can track whether they keep it during the build.
See how your pricing stacks up. Take the Readiness Assessment.
12 questions. An honest score. A clear next step, whatever the answer.
Take the Readiness Assessment