Detached ADUs

Independent living.A considered connection.

For a separate dwelling planned alongside a major renovation, custom home or coordinated residential site.

A detached ADU should have a clear identity without feeling disconnected from the property. We coordinate its construction around the main home, the landscape and your design team’s plans, where it forms part of an appropriate larger project.

Discuss your project

Give each home a clear arrival.

The route to a detached dwelling shapes privacy for both households. Gates, paths, windows and outdoor rooms should be considered together, including how visitors and deliveries reach the new space.

We bring practical construction questions into that design discussion: access for equipment, routes for materials, and protection of the main home while work takes place.

Arrival and outdoor-space relationships
Window and door coordination
Temporary access during construction

Understand what crosses the site.

A separate building still depends on site infrastructure. Service routes, drainage, changes in level and existing landscape can influence the work between the new dwelling and the street or main residence.

The relevant consultants establish the required systems and site design. We coordinate the construction interfaces and identify work that needs to happen before foundations, paving or planting close off access.

Survey and site information
Utility and drainage coordination
Work concealed beneath finished surfaces

Resolve the interior at a useful scale.

A smaller home can ask a great deal of each wall and corner. Storage, circulation, daylight and the positions of equipment need deliberate coordination.

We work from the approved design to coordinate field dimensions, cabinetry, fixtures and material transitions. The aim is a complete interior whose details have been planned together, rather than added around installed equipment.

Cabinetry and appliance interfaces
Door openings and circulation
Finish junctions and maintenance access

Keep the rest of the property in view.

The building sequence must account for the main residence and any other work underway. Deliveries, temporary protection and shared service work need named responsibilities.

Where the project has separate completion stages, we record what each stage includes and which inspections or approvals are still required. A finished-looking building is not, by itself, confirmation that it is ready for occupancy.

Construction zones and retained access
Shared work and handover boundaries
Inspection and completion records

The work.
In sequence.

Each stage brings a different set of questions into focus. The programme develops around your scope, the available information and the decisions still ahead.

Place the building

Review the site, privacy, access and architectural relationship with the primary home.

Coordinate the ground work

Connect consultant information with utility routes, drainage and the construction sequence.

Build the dwelling

Coordinate the structure, building systems and closely detailed interior.

Complete the property

Finish the agreed external interfaces and assemble the dwelling’s completion and operating information.

Before we begin

Your questions.
A clearer start.

Can a detached ADU match the main home?

Its architecture and materials can be coordinated by your design team. Matching appearances alone is not enough: levels, paths, landscape and service connections also need to work together.

Will it need separate utility connections?

Connection and metering arrangements depend on the project, the utilities and the applicable requirements. Those decisions should be confirmed before the ground-work scope is settled.

Is detached construction always simpler than a conversion?

No. New construction avoids some existing-building constraints but introduces its own foundations, site access and infrastructure work. Compare the actual scopes rather than assuming one category is easier.

What do you need to review the project?

The property location, site plan, intended use, current design information and scope of the wider work are a useful start. Tell us whether the main home will be occupied during construction.

Can we start with a standard plan?

Bring the plan and any proposed changes to your architect. The team needs to review how it fits the property, including the surveyed site, access, utilities and the wider project. A ready-made drawing set does not answer those site-specific construction questions.

Technical references

General information supports the discussion. The requirements for your property come from its jurisdiction, approved documents and appointed professionals.

Bring the plans.
And the questions.

Tell us about the property, your design team and the work you have in mind. We can begin while some of that is still taking shape.

Discuss your project

Useful for the first conversation

Project location and intended scope
Current drawings and available site information
Your architect or interior designer
Construction budget range and desired timing

Introducing your practice? Meet the construction partner.