Have you been thinking about building an accessory apartment in your home or backyard? If so, take the next step and talk to a professional who knows a lot about how these projects are designed and built. Fill out this form to connect you with an experienced architect, Ileana Schinder, to discuss an accessory dwelling project for your property in a 15-30 minute phone call at no-cost.

Yes! Sign me up to talk to an architect about my ADU idea for my property!

You don’t need to have all the details worked out, Ileana can help you refine the how and why. If you are a DC homeowner, just fill out the form to schedule a meeting, and talk through your idea and see if you might be ready to start.

In other DC ADU news: 

We’re making a few updates to the DC ADU manual because some details about the zoning rules have changed. Specifically, those rules are: 

• Accessory building (like a backyard cottage) height is now permitted to be 22 feet rather than 20 feet.
• Accessory buildings must be set back 7.5 feet from the alley centerline, rather than 12 feet.
• Clarifies an accessory building, which is allowed in the backyard, cannot be located in the required rear yard without a special exception.

You can view these changes on the ADU manual webpage here. Keep watch for additional possible changes — we are pushing to make it easier to build an ADU!

In addition, be on the lookout for an announcement from the District government, which is launching an ADU assistance program, details TBA. We are excited to keep the momentum going to help homeowners build accessory apartments!

This education effort is co-sponsored by United Planning Organization and Coalition for Smarter Growth.