Information you’ll need #
- A name for your plan
- The square footage of your plan
- The number of stories, bedrooms, and bathrooms in your plan
- A description of your plan (less than 1,000 characters)
- A list of jurisdictions your plan has been pre-approved in (if applicable)
- Your HCD insignia number or HUD code (if applicable, for prefab ADUs)
- Cost for a homeowner to purchase your plan (if applicable)
- Low range and high range of construction cost for your ADU
- High-resolution images of your ADU (at least one, up to seven)
- A floorplan image
Saving your progress #
At any time while filling out a plan listing, you can finish your current step and click “Next Step” to save your progress. (You will need to complete all required questions on that step to save your progress.) Drafts do not count towards your limit of 10 activated plans, but are also not visible to homeowners or jurisdictions. Draft plans have an “Inactive” label next to their name in your dashboard:

Step 1: Complete basic details #
Attest to having structural drawings: To ensure a high quality of plans on the ADU Plans Gallery, we require all plans listed to have some form of completed structural drawings. Due to the wide range of forms that structural drawings take, this is done on the honor system. We reserve the right to remove plan listings we believe are speculative, unfinished, or potentially dangerous.
Enter a name for your plan, up to 50 characters. Choose something unique and compelling – “The Sunshine House” is better than “2-bedroom ADU.” If you use something overly generic or a name that other listings have used, we may get in touch to request you change the name.
Choose a construction type: site-built or prefabricated. See Construction and Fabrication Types for more information on the difference between site-built and prefabricated and how we define the different types of prefabricated ADUs (modular, manufactured, and partially fabricated). If relevant, choose which kind of prefabricated in the following question.
Indicate past permitting and construction for this plan. Your listing does not have to have been permitted or constructed anywhere, but this is helpful information for us to have. This will not show publicly, but we encourage you to include this detail in your listing description (see Best Practices for Listing Your Plan). You may edit your plan in the future and update this and most other questions.
Add plan size, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Enter your square footage (inside wall to inside wall), the number of stories, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The square footage number will be used to categorize your listing as Small (under 500SF), Medium (500-749SF), Large (750-999SF), or Extra-Large (Over 1000SF). In the future, we may use this number plus your construction cost estimates to calculate a cost per square foot.
Write a good description for your listing, describing it and its notable features. This is in the main description on the listing for your plan, so consider carefully what might be included. See Best Practices for Listing Your Plan for an example of a good plan description. This field has a limit of 1000 characters.
We recommend including the following:
- Description of layout
- Description of architectural style
- A webpage for the design (if available)
- If this plan has been permitted and constructed anywhere
- Possible customization options (keep in mind limitations on customization when a plan is pre-approved)
- What is included in the design
- Whatever else makes it a unique design
Note that if you copy and paste into this field, it may bring along formatting. To maintain consistent styling, we recommend either:
- Ctrl+Shift+V (PC) or Cmd+Shift+V (Mac) to paste without formatting
- Copy and paste into a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit (included in Windows and MacOS, respectively)
- Use an HTML cleaner first or try to strip formatting within the text editor.
To save your plan or continue, click the NEXT STEP button. If you click Return to Portfolio, your listing will not be saved.
Step 2: Fill in pre-approval details (if applicable) #
Site-built plans: Add any local jurisdiction pre-approvals #
Add any locations where this plan has already completed the pre-approval process. Click + ADD LOCATION to open the Add Pre-Approval Location modal.

Under Jurisdiction begin typing in a California city or unincorporated county name and choose the location from the dropdown list. Add a reference number (this is not necessarily cross-checked, but adding a permit number or other reference may help the jurisdiction confirm the pre-approved status) and the approval date for your pre-approval application. Click ADD to add this location.
You should now see the location added below the ADD LOCATION button.

When you activate this plan listing:
- If the jurisdiction has a gallery: The location will be notified that they have a pending pre-approved plan and will see your plan in their portal to confirm or decline pre-approval status.
- If the jurisdiction does not have a gallery: They will not be notified, but if they ever start a Gallery, your plan listing will be waiting for them in their portal to confirm or decline pre-approval status.
See our Guide to Pre-Approval to learn more about the pre-approval process.
To save your plan or continue, click the NEXT STEP button.
Prefabricated Plans: Add any agency pre-approvals #
We require state or federal agency pre-approval for prefabricated ADUs to ensure they are habitable and safe. We currently accept either a California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Insignia Number or a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Code.
Indicate which agency has certified your plan and supply the HUD Code or HCD Insignia Number.
To save your plan or continue, click the NEXT STEP button.
Step 3: Add features & costs #
Select features #
Check the features from the list that apply to your plan. Homeowners can filter galleries for plans based on these features.
- All-electric: Powered solely by electricity with no hookups for natural gas or other fossil fuels. Many locations now do not allow new natural gas connections.
- In-unit washer/dryer: Includes necessary plumbing and hookups for laundry facilities within the ADU. This includes prefabricated ADUs that include the appliances.
- WUI certified: Complies with any local rules about Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) for structures in wildfire-prone areas.
- Net zero certified: Capable of generating as much energy as it consumes, with reduced environmental impact and potential cost savings over time.
- Solar ready: Equipped with the necessary infrastructure (wiring, roof space, etc.) to integrate photovoltaic solar panels.
- Accessibility features: Includes design features, infrastructure, and other details for people with mobility, visual, or other disabilities. ADUs frequently house seniors, individuals with disabilities, and others who might need features like ramps, grab bars, wider doorways, and larger bathrooms.
- Turnkey project: Includes all services from design through construction/installation in a single contract with your company.
Complete cost details #
For additional guidance on cost fields, see Best Practices for Listing Your Plan.
Site-built plans only: Your cost to use this plan is the price homeowners will pay to receive these plans to use, regardless of whether they continue working with you on their project. If construction drawings and other necessary materials are free, enter 0 (this will be typical for plans owned by a nonprofit or jurisdiction). This does not include support services to that homeowner besides sale of the plans. we recommend signing a contract with an agreed-upon amount for any additional support services – outside of the cost to use the plan.
All plans: Add construction cost estimates (low range and high range) for the total construction cost of this plan. We understand this is a complex and variable process, but adding these numbers is a useful point of comparison for homeowners and jurisdictions. Each plan listing highlights that these numbers are estimates and are likely to vary. See Best Practices for Listing Your Plan for guidance on providing a low range and high range construction cost estimate. NOTE: In the future, we will use these numbers to create an average cost/square foot for each listing.
Provide additional cost comments to explain more about your construction cost estimates and any other details about related costs. These notes are a chance to explain what the purchaser can expect from the plans and what the cost covers. This may include:
- What is included in the purchased plans.
- Important things that aren’t included in the purchased plans.
- Important considerations for the plans, such as aspects that might require customization (or might make customization difficult)
- Notable costs or cost savings for this plan (examples: use of pre-made trusses; costly windows because of size; etc.).
- For prefabricated units, include details about the cost of the unit, delivery fees, etc.
- Additional comments about the construction cost estimates listed above.
To save your plan or continue, click the NEXT STEP button. If you click Previous Step or Return to Portfolio, your features and costs edits will not be saved.
Step 4: Add plan images #
To complete a plan listing, the minimum requirement for images is one featured image and one floor plan. You can also add up to 6 gallery images that can be viewed in a full-screen lightbox by homeowners. Images must be at least 1280px wide by 720px tall, and in a .JPG, .PNG, or .GIF file format. We reserve the right to unpublish your listing without a high-quality featured image.
For the featured image, we recommend a photo or rendering of the exterior of the ADU.
For the gallery images, we recommend a variety of renderings or photos that show different views of the interior, exterior, and other key features. To maximize accessibility, we do not recommend including text in the actual images.
For the floorplan, we recommend presenting a simplified floor plan to give homeowners a clear understanding of the layout of your plan, rather than a fully-detailed plan. If your plan is two stories, please upload one floorplan image that includes both stories.
To save your plan or continue, click the NEXT STEP button.
Step 5: Activate your listing #
Once you have filled in all the required fields, you can use the “Activate” button to publish your plan. You’ll need to confirm your choice to activate at the top of the screen.
Activated plans have an “Active” label next to their name in your dashboard:

If you’ve indicated you want to make your plans available for sale/use across California in your profile, activating your plan will make your plan publicly visible to homeowners in our statewide gallery and to jurisdictions who are adding pre-designed plans to their gallery. (See Creating Your Profile for more details.)
If you’ve added jurisdictions in the pre-approval locations section of your listing, pressing “Activate” will notify those jurisdictions that your plan is awaiting confirmation of pre-approval (as long as they have a gallery). If you have not yet received notification of pre-approval, please remove that location before you activate the plan. You can edit your plan to add pre-approval locations back in later.
If you are not able to activate the plan #
If the system is not allowing you to activate your plan, double-check you have all the required fields completed.
Also verify that you are not adding more activated plans than you are allowed – designer accounts are limited to 10 activated plans by default, though you can increase this limit if needed to accommodate locally pre-approved plans by emailing designer@aduaccelerator.org. You can have an unlimited number of draft plans, but please try to clear out outdated or incomplete plans by deleting them (see Deactivating and Deleting Your Plans).
If you are not ready to activate the plan #
You can save your progress at any time by finishing the current screen/step of the listing form and clicking “Next Step” to save your progress. Drafts do not count towards your limit of 10 activated plans, but are also not visible to homeowners or jurisdictions. Draft plans have an “Inactive” label next to their name in your dashboard:

When your listing is complete and ready to be activated, click the “Edit” button on that plan in your dashboard, then clicking the “Activate” button at the upper left of the plan editing interface. See Editing and Reactivating Your Plan Listings for more details.
Step 6: View your plan listing #
To view your plan listing as it will look to the public, click on the listing name from your dashboard. When viewed from a local gallery, plan listings will show additional information about approvals and designer availability depending on the location.
NOTE: You can preview your plan listing whether it’s activated or a draft.