Academy track
ADU Feasibility Basics
Learn how to organize parcel facts before design, pricing, or permit conversations.
Designed for
Homeowners, agents, designers, and contractors who need a practical first-pass review process.
Lesson 1
Confirm jurisdiction and APN
Jurisdiction identifies which planning and building departments control the parcel. The APN connects assessor, GIS, zoning, utility, and department records to the same property.
Practice: Record an APN, open the assessor and GIS sources, and document whether city or unincorporated county rules appear to apply.
Lesson 2
Identify ADU type and likely review path
A reliable feasibility workflow separates known facts, user assumptions, official sources, unanswered questions, and the professional work that may be required next.
Practice: Create a one-page record of facts, sources, open questions, responsible departments, and next actions for a sample property.
Lesson 3
Check setbacks, lot coverage, access, and utilities
The base zone is only the beginning. Use tables, definitions, development standards, overlays, and local interpretation together before relying on a use.
Practice: Save the use-table and development-standard links and list the setbacks, height, coverage, parking, and overlay questions still open.
Lesson 4
Know when a professional review is appropriate
Early conversations are more useful when opportunity, uncertainty, scope, and official verification are kept separate. Avoid promising approval or buildability.
Practice: Create an intake note with property facts, missing facts, source links, assumptions, and a clearly stated next action.
Build a usable project record
Create a two-page feasibility brief containing the APN, jurisdiction, project type, zoning source, approximate placement area, utility assumptions, known constraints, official contacts, and unresolved questions. Label every item as confirmed, inferred, or unknown so a designer or planner can quickly see where further research is needed.
Completion check: A designer, agent, contractor, or owner can review the file and identify the next three actions without reconstructing the research.
Use sources with discipline
Start with assessor, GIS, planning, building, utility, Environmental Health, fire, and recorded-document sources that can be tied to the property. Record the page title, URL, date accessed, parcel identifier used, and what the source actually establishes. Keep screenshots or downloaded records when information may change. Search results, listing remarks, maps from commercial portals, contractor opinions, and neighbor experiences can suggest questions, but they should not be presented as official confirmation.
Finish each research session by separating confirmed facts from working assumptions and unanswered questions. Assign each open item to a department, provider, owner, or qualified professional and identify the decision that depends on it. That habit makes the work easier to update and reduces the chance that an attractive property or design moves forward on an untested assumption.
Use the supporting tools
TinyHomeNavigator provides educational information only. Rules vary by parcel, zoning district, city, county, overlay, utility provider, fire authority, and environmental health department. Always confirm directly with the local planning department, building department, environmental health department, fire authority, and utility providers before buying land, designing, permitting, placing, or building any structure.