Permitting 5 ADUs in San Diego

The Permit Plan

San Diego's ADU Bonus Program lets you build extra units if you agree to rent one at an affordable price. For our project:

5 ADUs approved under a single building permit
1 unit required to be rented at a below-market rate
PRJ-1103761 -- our project number with the city

What We Paid

Permits are expensive. Here's what they actually cost:

Fee	Amount
Building permit fees	$44,805
School district fee	$14,641
Right-of-way permit	$3,784
Engineering and structural	$4,200
Land survey	$3,931
Hazmat testing	$725
Other	$20
Total	~$72,000

Add the $90,380 we paid the architect. That's $162,000 in costs before we even broke ground.

The Affordable Housing Agreement

The biggest rule was the Affordable Housing Agreement with the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC). Here's how it works:

SDHC records a Deed of Trust on your property
This deed has a $0 balance -- nobody owes any money
It's just a promise that one unit will be rented at an affordable rate
Any new lender needs SDHC to agree to step behind them in line (called subordination)

That last part would cause huge problems later when we tried to get our construction loan.

The Review Process

Getting permits approved meant going through reviews from four different city departments:

Planning -- Does it follow zoning rules?
Building -- Is it structurally safe?
Engineering -- Does drainage and grading work?
Fire -- Can firefighters access it? Are there sprinklers?

Each department sends back comments. You fix the issues and resubmit. With 1070 Architecture handling the responses, we got through it at a reasonable pace.

Key Takeaways

Budget $150K or more for fees on a multi-ADU project in San Diego
The ADU Bonus Program is powerful but it comes with strings attached
Hire an architect who knows the city -- their experience with reviewers saves months
The school fee is required -- over $14,000 just for the school district
Road permits are separate -- if your utilities cross the sidewalk, that's another permit