Although we started working on ADUs by doing custom designs for our clients, we are now selling ADU plans much further afield from our Portland roots. Unfortunately, there aren’t any standard ADU regulations that permeate across the country. Instead, each town, city, county, and state has their own rules and regulations. Starting in the greater Portland Metro region we will start adding links and resources for various requirements for ADU projects.

Although there are many similarities with requirements for Accessory Dwelling Units in areas outside of Portland, Oregon (or even the states of Washington and California) there are aspects of the general requirements that we also see vary by town or county jurisdiction. What we've noticed that can change across jurisdictions are:

the size of ADU's (ex. maximum sizes can range from 400-1200sf and codes are often changed over time)
height limitations (we’ve seen rules that dictate ADU heights from 10’ to 20’ and in some places there may not be a height limit at all)
the types of ADU's allowed (ex. Detached, Attached, Basement, Garage, junior, or others)
the number of bedrooms (ex. a limit of 1, 2, 3, or no limit)
are ADUs even allowed (unfortunately many jurisdictions still don’t allow them and within jurisdictions, some neighborhoods or HOAs limit ADUs further.)
Style (some places have rules on what an ADU can look like.)

The common theme is that town planning departments and communities generally accept Accessory Dwelling Units, although they aim to "maintain the character" of the neighborhood, and this sets the setback(s) and/or limits the height so that the primary residence remains the dominant element present to the street.

In order to help clarify all of these differences, we have listed some resources below for the towns and cities around the Portland region. While we're only covering a few of the towns outside Portland to the south and west, we hope to add more to this list over time, so if you would like us to look into and add your town to this list, please get in touch!