In the Wizard of Oz Dorthy, the tin man, and the scarecrow are walking through a dark forest in a mystical land. She’s afraid that lions, tigers, and bears might come out of the trees and attack which get them all to say . . .
Well, that's how I feel about building an ADU in my backyard. The lions are the City of San Jose, the tigers are the architects/contractors and the bears are the banks. They are all to be feared in an "Oh my!" sort of way.
And when I say, "Oh my!' I mean in the unexpected delays and costs that make building an ADU in San Jose so ridiculously expensive with a time frame that typically takes over a year from the start (the design) to finish (permit of occupancy).
So the city roars with this requirement and that requirement, the architects and contractors dig in their claws to say do it this way or that which add costs and the bankers growl to give you a loan to pay for your ADU. You're like Dorthy wondering what's going to happen on your trek to building an ADU in the land of permits, contracts, and finance fees. Oh my!
So how do you mitigate these worries?
First, the City's permit process. The reason I'm taking a look at a prefab ADU is the prefab company is going to get the permits, not me. If they can't pull permits for the prefab model I've selected then were done, no ADU. But I don't expect this to happen given Habitat ADU uses Champion Home Builders, one of the nation's largest builders of mobile and modular manufactured homes. And as a startup no doubt they'll try their best to get the permits.
Second, going the prefab route removes the need for an architect and reduces the number of subcontractors you need. You still need to pour a foundation and hook up the plumbing and electrical to the ADU but you won't be starting from scratch since the building is built in a factory and where a certain number of permits are signed off.
Third, financing is tough with a prefab. Most prefab companies want the total quoted cost of the ADU placed in escrow. This I find somewhat unacceptable.
Although Habitat ADU typically asks for the project to be paid in full upon permits being approved and pulled, clients who do not have the ability to pay in full upon permit approval have the option to put down 35% of the full purchase price upon permits being pulled. This is the down payment their factory requires from them to initiate the home build. The remainder of the purchase price is collected upon the completed installation.
As best can be said, "Toto, I got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!"
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