It’s no secret that Kirkland is a wonderful place to live: The need for affordable housing outpaces the demand in our bustling region. To address this problem while also promoting a diverse, inclusive community, the City of Kirkland supports a mix of housing types, sizes, and price points. Among them are accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — small, self-contained homes that can offer personal, financial, and community benefits.
In 2023, the City invited architects, designers, and builders to submit detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU) designs. The goal was to create a gallery of pre-approved plans that would give homeowners a faster, more predictable, and cheaper path to building ADUs. Currently, there are four distinct designs that can fit different lots, lifestyles, and budgets: “The Schooner,” “The Family,” “The Cedar Cottage,” and “The Sedge Cottage.”
If you’re considering building an ADU, it’s worth exploring whether any of the designs align with your needs. Architects, designers, and builders were encouraged to submit options that fit into several different categories, including being low-cost, accessible, sustainable, small-footprint, family-friendly, and more. The pre-approved ADU designs vary in style and size, ranging from 476 to 1,132 square feet.
Each ADU plan can also be tailored to your vision, whether that be to add a separate space to support your family or to generate additional income through rental or sale of the residence. Some of the customization options include selecting from different materials, choosing between mirrored versions of the same floor plan, and adding solar panels. The City hopes to see ADUs serve diverse family and household types.
If you choose a design from the gallery of pre-approved ADU plans, you can license it for no more than $1,000, and then work with the designer to adapt it to your property at their specified hourly rate. Pre-approved plans lead to savings in time and money, and they also simplify the permit process to turn your ADU from an idea into a reality faster.
