MNBE designs, permits, and builds ADUs, DADUs, and custom homes across Queen Anne, one licensed team from first site visit to final inspection.
One licensed, bonded team for the whole job, from design and Seattle SDCI permitting to fixed price construction.
Where an Upper Queen Anne or West Queen Anne lot's land value justifies it, we replace an aging home with a ground up custom home, with feasibility run honestly first.
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Detached, attached, and basement ADUs, up to two per lot and 1,000 sq ft each under Seattle's ADU code.
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Drawings built to clear Seattle SDCI the first time, steep slope view lots and Environmentally Critical Areas included.
Explore ServiceWhy MNBE in Queen Anne
We've taken ADU plans through Seattle SDCI, intake, plan check, corrections, and inspections, so we know which comments their reviewers actually send back and design to them before we submit. On Queen Anne, a clean first submittal and the right path, often a pre-approved DADU plan, is what keeps the timeline honest. Every submittal and every response is handled by us, never a third party expediter.
Queen Anne Hill is the steepest of Seattle's landforms, cresting above 450 feet, and the lots with the best Elliott Bay, skyline, and Mount Rainier views are often the most regulated. Many of these sites sit in steep slope Environmentally Critical Areas, so we coordinate the geotechnical report early, design stepped and daylight foundations and retaining walls to the grade, and run the ECA review in parallel with the building permit instead of letting it stall the project.
Our detached ADU one neighborhood over in Magnolia, full framing, roofing, kitchen, siding, and HVAC, finished and passed every inspection. We build the same way across Queen Anne. See the full project, and the homeowner's verified five star review, on the project page.
What We Build in Queen Anne
A freestanding backyard cottage with its own entrance and address, the strongest rental performer. Seattle allows detached ADUs up to 1,000 square feet, and SDCI's pre-approved DADU plans program can cut plan review to roughly one to three weeks. On Queen Anne's sloped lots, a stepped or daylight foundation lets a cottage sit naturally on the grade.
Connected to the main house by a shared wall or addition. Seattle allows up to two ADUs per lot with no owner occupancy requirement and no added off street parking, so both units can be rented. On a tight Upper Queen Anne or Counterbalance lot, an attached unit is often the faster, simpler permit.
The Victorians, Craftsman bungalows, and American Foursquare Seattle Boxes of Upper, West, and East Queen Anne sit on the hill's grade, which means many already have daylight or walkout basements that convert beautifully into legal dwellings with a separate entrance, full kitchen, and code compliant egress.
On many Queen Anne lots, especially the view streets near Kerry Park and the west and southwest slopes above Elliott Bay, land value justifies replacing an aging home outright. We run that feasibility honestly, sometimes the right answer is a ground up custom home, not a remodel, and build it under the same license and fixed price contract.
FAQ
Answering the questions Queen Anne homeowners ask us most about building an ADU.
Yes. Under Seattle's updated ADU code and Washington's HB 1337, you can build up to two ADUs on most residential lots, typically one attached and one detached, with no owner occupancy requirement and no added off street parking. With the main house, that can mean up to three units on a standard Queen Anne lot, subject to the site's steep slope and Environmentally Critical Area review.
A pre-approved DADU standard plan on a clean lot can clear plan review in roughly one to three weeks; a custom design on a Queen Anne steep slope ECA lot runs slower because of geotechnical review and stepped foundation engineering. All permits run through the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, with no faster local track and no guaranteed turnaround.
We don't quote a generic per square foot number, because on Queen Anne lots the real cost drivers are site specific, the slope, the geotechnical and ECA requirements, foundation and retaining design, and how far utilities have to run. We give you a fixed price after a free site visit, once we've actually seen the grade and the access, so the number you get is the number you build to.
Thank you for considering MNBE for your Queen Anne ADU or custom home. We respond within one business day, Monday through Saturday.
We design and build across Queen Anne, from the hilltop streets and Queen Anne Avenue business district of Upper Queen Anne to Lower Queen Anne and Uptown near Seattle Center. The steep west and southwest slopes above Elliott Bay, the Counterbalance corridor, and the view blocks around Kerry Park all carry their own grade, foundation, and Environmentally Critical Area considerations, and we build to each of them.