ADU Construction in Kirkland

Kirkland is one of the easier Eastside cities to add a backyard cottage or an in-law unit. The City allows up to two accessory dwelling units per single-family home, attached, detached or one of each, each up to 1,200 sq ft of gross floor area, and it runs its own pre-approved DADU plan program. What decides whether your lot can take a DADU is not the rule book but the site: setbacks, lot coverage, floor area ratio, slope, trees, and where the water and sewer lines can run. TopVolk takes an ADU from the first lot check through permits, foundation, framing, utilities and finishes under one written agreement, with the completion date in the contract and $100 paid for every day past it.

ADU permits in Kirkland go through the City of Kirkland Planning and Building Department, applied for on MyBuildingPermit, not through King County or Seattle SDCI. A detached ADU has to meet the same development standards as a single-family house in its zone: setbacks, lot coverage, height and floor area ratio. One useful Kirkland rule: part of a DADU's floor area (500-800 sq ft, depending on the case) does not count toward FAR when the unit sits at least 10 feet from and behind the main house (KZC 115.42). That is often what makes a real one-bedroom fit on a standard lot. Waterfront lots are different. In the Residential-L shoreline environment only one ADU is allowed, and on Residential-L and M/H shoreline lots a detached unit must sit landward of the main house. Older neighbourhoods such as Finn Hill, Kingsgate and Totem Lake also raise a utility question early: some lots are served by Kirkland utilities and some by Northshore Utility District, and whether the ADU shares the house's water and sewer or gets its own connection changes both cost and rental billing.