Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) in Poway
All right. So if you’re looking to build an accessory dwelling unit, ADU in Poway, California, what size of a detached ADU can you actually build? So we’re gonna cover that. We’re also gonna cover the actual size of the detached or the attached garage that you could have on your detached accessory dwelling unit.
ADU Sizing Approved by Poway
So Poway bases everything off of the primary dwelling size. So look at the actual living square footage of your primary dwelling that you’re living in now. Say it’s 3000 square feet. So if we use a 3000 square foot number, they’re gonna allow you to go up to 50% of the size of that home. So 50% obviously is 1500 square feet. 1500 is actually the maximum size you can go. So if you have a home that’s 4000 square feet, that detached ADU is gonna only be allowed to be 1500 square feet.
Accessory Dwelling Unit Square Footage Exception in Poway
So what they do allow though is if you have a smaller home say it’s 2000 square feet. They’re gonna allow you to actually build a 1200 square foot ADU. So no matter what size home you have, you can have a 1200 square foot detached ADU. So kind of cool, a lot of the areas in the county only allow you to go 1200 square feet no matter what the primary dwelling is. So Poway actually allows you to get that extra 300 feet in size which makes a nice size house that you can live in.
What Size Garage Does Poway Allow You to Attach to an ADU?
So the trick to the garage size is that’s all based off of the primary dwelling square footage again. So you can have an attached garage on the ADU that is up to 50% of the primary dwelling again. So if we have a 3000 square foot home, we can put a 1500 square foot attached garage which is a really big garage on that ADU. So that’ll obviously adjust based on the primary dwelling size.
Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit in Poway
So Poway’s got some great options as far as the size of those ADUs. There is some tricks to the actual setbacks and the fire sprinklers. We’ll talk about those on another video but for now, hopefully that will help you out as far as figuring out what size detached ADU you can build and what size garage you can put on it. All right. Hope that helps. Have an excellent rest of your day and we’ll talk again soon.
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Do you know if Poway makes exceptions to the allowed sf for ADU
We have 2147 sf primary home but we want a 1690 sf adu
In Poway, California, the maximum allowable size for an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is determined by the size of the primary residence and specific city regulations. For a detached ADU, the unit must not exceed 50% of the floor area of the primary dwelling or 1,500 square feet, whichever is less. Given your primary home is 2,147 square feet, 50% equates to approximately 1,073.5 square feet. Therefore, the maximum permissible size for your detached ADU would be 1,073.5 square feet.
Poway does not typically grant exceptions to these size limitations. However, you may consider alternative approaches:
Attached ADU: If you attach the ADU to your primary residence, the same size restrictions apply—50% of the primary dwelling’s floor area or 1,500 square feet, whichever is less. This still limits you to approximately 1,073.5 square feet
Junior ADU (JADU): You might explore adding a Junior ADU, which is a unit no more than 500 square feet and contained entirely within the existing primary residence. This could provide additional living space without exceeding size limitations for detached units.
Conversion of Existing Space: Converting existing non-livable space, such as a garage, into an ADU may offer more flexibility. These conversions are subject to specific regulations but might allow for additional square footage within the existing structure.