MNBE designs, permits, and builds ADUs, DADUs, and custom homes across Seattle, 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 the land justifies it, we replace an aging Seattle bungalow or rambler 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 and critical area lots included.
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We've taken ADU plans through Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, intake, plan check, corrections, and inspections, so we know which comments their reviewers actually send back and design to them before we submit. With SDCI's queue, a first submittal that saves even one correction cycle saves weeks. Every submittal and every response is handled by us, never a third party expediter.
The view lots of Queen Anne, Magnolia, and West Seattle are some of the city's best, and some of its most regulated. Seattle's Environmentally Critical Areas code flags steep slopes, landslide and liquefaction soils, and shoreline. We coordinate the geotechnical report early, design foundations and drainage to the slope, and run ECA review in parallel with the building permit instead of letting it stall the project.
Our detached ADU in Magnolia, a Seattle neighborhood, finished with full framing, roofing, kitchen, siding, windows, and HVAC, and passed City of Seattle inspections. See the full project, and the homeowner's verified five star review, on the project page.
What We Build in Seattle
A freestanding backyard cottage with its own entrance and address, the strongest rental performer. Seattle allows DADUs up to 1,000 square feet on most Neighborhood Residential lots, and its pre-approved plan program can speed the permit. Larger lots in Wedgwood, Ravenna, and West Seattle take one comfortably.
Connected to the main house by a shared wall or addition. Seattle allows up to two ADUs per lot, an attached and a detached, with no owner occupancy requirement and no added parking, so both units can be rented. Often the faster permit on a tight lot.
Seattle's Craftsman bungalows and four squares in Ballard, Wallingford, Greenwood, and Beacon Hill sit on full or daylight basements that convert beautifully into legal dwellings with a separate entrance, full kitchen, and code compliant egress.
On many Seattle lots, 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.
Real photos from our two bedroom ADU going up right now in White Center, South Seattle. Follow it stage by stage on the White Center ADU project page.
FAQ
Answering the questions Seattle homeowners ask us most about building an ADU.
Yes. Under Seattle's ADU rules and Washington's HB 1337, a residential lot allows up to two ADUs, typically one attached and one detached, with no owner occupancy requirement and no added off street parking. The practical ceiling is lot coverage and any Environmentally Critical Areas. Many lots fit a basement conversion plus a backyard DADU; we confirm yours during the free site visit.
A custom ADU through full plan review commonly runs several months, and the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections doesn't publish a guaranteed turnaround. The biggest variables are SDCI's review queue and correction cycles: a first submittal that anticipates standard plan check comments can save a full round, and a pre-approved DADU plan moves much faster. Steep slope and ECA lots add review.
Cost is site specific on Seattle lots, so we don't quote a generic per square foot number. Slope and soils, utility tie-in distances, excavation access, and finish level move the total far more than floor area does, and city permit and review fees come on top of construction. After one free site visit you get a written fixed price bid, line by line.
Thank you for considering MNBE for your Seattle ADU or custom home. We respond within one business day, Monday through Saturday.
We design and build across Seattle, from flat infill lots in the north end to the steep, view parcels of Queen Anne, Magnolia, and West Seattle above Puget Sound and Lake Washington, on a build calendar shaped by the Northwest's wet winters and short, busy summer season. Whatever your terrain and whatever your lot can support, our crews and our SDCI permit team already work there.