Quick Facts

• Setting: urban
• Neighborhood: Roseway, Portland, OR
• Type: stand-alone detached unit
• Use: furnished rental
• Square Footage: 642
• Year Built: 2011
• Owner: Martha Metzger
• Designer: Beverly Scott, Karen Bilsing & Martha Metzger
• Builder: Multiple
• Total Cost: $200,000

Martha Metzger lives in one half of a duplex and her sister lives in the other half, so she’s especially fond of living arrangements that provide flexibility and the opportunity to have family close by. Her rental properties include two other duplexes, a single family home, and a home with an ADU in the backyard.

Martha became interested in ADUs when her daughter Karen Bilsing, a real estate broker and property manager, discovered that Portland, OR, unlike many other cities, does not have an owner-occupancy requirement for ADUs. This means that, in Portland, a homeowner can rent out both the primary dwelling and the ADU. When Martha and Karen had the opportunity to see an ADU first-hand on the Build It Green (BIG) Tour in 2010, they decided it could be a good option for Martha to create an ADU on one of her rental properties.

Martha purchased a piece of property with a fixer-upper bungalow and decided that she would build an ADU in the backyard while remodeling the primary dwelling.  There were several factors driving her decision. First, the ADU could generate additional rental income. It could also provide another family with flexible housing options. She was also motivated to build sooner rather than later because Portland’s waiver of System Development Charges (SDCs) for ADUs was set to expire. (Fortunately, the SDC waiver has been extended though July 2016.) Martha used savings as well as proceeds from refinancing other properties to fund her ADU. Although both Martha and Karen had experience fixing up properties, it would be their first time building a home from the ground-up and they were looking forward to the process.

As Karen and her girlfriend Beverly Scott helped Martha design the ADU, they were inspired by ADUs they’d seen on the BIG Tour, small house websites, and their own imaginations. Beverly developed the initial design and they hired an architect to draft up the actual plans. The interior of the ADU is modern. If Portland did not require detached new-construction ADUs to match the primary dwelling, they probably would have made the ADU more modern, too, with a different roof pitch and a different window style.

Although they initially conceived of the ADU as a rental property, Martha soon decided it was the sort of place she might like to live someday, so they designed the small home accordingly. They were committed to incorporating green building components, including well-insulated walls, Energy Star appliances, on-demand hot water, radiant heat, and plumbing for a grey water option. If they had it to do over again they would have learned more about green building standards, but they feel they did pretty well for their first ground-up project. They also considered aging-in-place as they developed the design.

The biggest challenge they faced in creating the ADU was a breakdown of the relationship with the general contractor. They ended up doing some of the later stage general contracting and enjoyed working with the subcontractors, so they plan to general contract the next project on their own.

Since it was completed in 2011, Martha has used her ADU as a guest house for visiting friends and family and as a furnished rental. Karen believes they included adequate storage within the ADU for everyday belongings, but she notes that storing outdoor equipment such as bicycles and camping gear is more challenging.