Questions, answered straight

Yes, and we do not ask for your name, email or phone number to show you the result. The parcel boundary, the buildable area, the plan fitting and the fit result are all free. We ask for contact details only if you want the written report emailed to you or an introduction to a builder.

No. We do not design, build or quote construction work, and we are not licensed to. We are a planning tool. When you want a real quote we introduce you to one licensed local builder, and we tell you who they are first.

It comes from the Riverside County Assessor's public parcel layer, which is the same data the county uses. Public parcel boundaries typically sit within 3 to 25 feet of the surveyed property line. Since the side and rear setback is only 4 feet, that error can exceed the measurement itself, which is why we never give a plain yes or no.

"Tight" means the plan fits on paper but the margin is inside the data error bar. It is a genuine maybe, and we would rather say so than give you false confidence. Plenty of tight lots work fine once a surveyor confirms the lines. Some do not.

California requires every city to allow an ADU of at least 800 square feet. Your city cannot prohibit that size. Whether it fits on your lot after setbacks and separation from your house is a completely separate question, and that is what we answer.

No. Government Code section 66315 voids HOA covenants that prohibit or unreasonably restrict an ADU on a single-family lot. Your association can still apply reasonable architectural standards. The practical advice is to submit to your architectural committee and your city at the same time rather than waiting for one to finish — running them sequentially can add a month for no reason.

No. AB 976 made the prohibition on owner-occupancy requirements permanent. Neither your city nor the state can require you to occupy either unit.

The new construction is assessed and added to your bill. Your existing Proposition 13 base year value on the main house is not disturbed or recalculated. You are taxed on what you added, not on a fresh valuation of the whole property.

A design your city has already reviewed and approved. Because the review is done, your application is processed ministerially and must be approved within 30 days under AB 1332 — no discretionary review, no hearing, no neighbour objection. It also removes most of the architectural cost. The trade-off is that you build what the city drew.

Parking cannot be required if your property is within half a mile walking distance of public transit, among several other statutory exemptions. Outside those exemptions a city may require one space per unit, and it can usually be satisfied in a tandem or driveway configuration.

This is the single most common and most expensive planning mistake in our area. Several communities carry a city mailing address while sitting in unincorporated Riverside County, which means county permitting under different standards and timelines. Lakeland Village and Mead Valley are the clearest examples. We check this and flag it, because paying for drawings against the wrong jurisdiction is a real way to lose money.

An ADU on septic needs a capacity review through Riverside County Environmental Health, and that can be a project-ending cost. Quail Valley in Menifee is a special case with an active Regional Water Board prohibition that varies by subarea — some subareas have exemptions, subareas 4 and 9 do not. We flag septic risk at the neighborhood level, but it is ultimately parcel-specific.

We work with one builder per city, exclusively, and if you ask for an introduction your details go to that one builder and nobody else. Under California law that handoff counts as a sale of personal information, so you have a standing right to opt out and a permanent link in our footer to do it. We never sell to lead aggregators.

A person from here, before any builder hears about you. Partly so you get straight answers, and partly self-interest — we are paid for qualified introductions, so sending a builder someone whose project was never viable costs us the relationship.

Because we will not ship a licence violation. The free tier of the obvious mapping provider is explicitly non-commercial, and Riverside County's aerial imagery carries a third-party copyright that a public endpoint does not license us to redistribute commercially. We are working through permissions. Your parcel geometry is the actual product and it reads fine without a photo under it.