SLO engineer spent $100,000 to build climate-friendly tiny home on his property. Here’s why
Chloe Rodrigues has always been fascinated with tiny houses — and since moving to San Luis Obispo last year, she’s become a resident of one.
Rodrigues has lived in an accessory dwelling unit — commonly known as an ADU — on the property of local engineer and climate policy analyst Eric Veium since July 2021, after starting a job as a second grade teacher at Sinsheimer Elementary School.
“I just always thought (ADUs) were the coolest,” Rodrigues told The Tribune. “I was just always fascinated with how they look, and a lot of them are really modern or (have) really interesting architecture, and I love a really, really small space with a really small footprint.”
In the city of San Luis Obispo, where available property can be hard to come by, that desire to live on smaller plots of land has made ADUs an attractive option for home buyers and renters alike.
How SLO engineer built environmentally friendly ADU
In addition to saving space, ADUs offer opportunities for creative engineering, especially for those interested in building more sustainable housing.
Veium graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in industrial engineering in 2008 and worked as the university’s energy and sustainability analyst. He’s now the chair of SLO Climate Coalition, a nonprofit organization that champions high-impact regional climate solutions.
According to Veium, his background in climate informed the building process of his ADU. In addition to its small footprint, the house is designed to be as environmentally safe as possible.
Veium’s home and ADU are located in the Old Town Historic District on a property zoned for multiple residential units. Even so, the construction of ADUs in locations like that only became legal last year.
That was when Veium began seriously considering using the property in a new way, he said.
Veium realized his property had what he called an “under-utilization of space” and set about building the new unit.
The engineer said he invested about $100,000 into the project — $15,000 to upgrading infrastructure such as the sewer and water lines and adding amenities including landscaping and about $85,000 for the accessory dwelling unit itself.
The upgraded amenities included an expansion to Veium’s solar array, which ensures that the ADU does not consume any natural gas, as well as an insulated slab floor for the unit.
This helps make the ADU more environmentally friendly, he said.
“One of my values is to have an environmental, climate-friendly building, so we built the building to be energy-efficient, which was required by code,” Veium said. “It has both heating and air conditioning, but it doesn’t need to run that much because it’s an energy-efficient building construction.”
Veium credited a team of builders, including a friend who helped guide the process as a consulting builder, with translating the architectural designs he purchased into a reality.
‘Accessory dwelling units are win, win, win,’ SLO homeowner says
Rodrigues found Veium’s ADU through a listing on Apartments.com.
When she moved in, Rodrigues said she discovered a “built-in community” of people — which she appreciated as someone completely new to the area.
“For me personally, it was perfect timing because it was brand new, just built — it actually wasn’t even finished yet when I was talking to (the owners) and actually signed the lease to move in,” she said. “I feel really lucky with the people that are around because I don’t think everywhere is this open and this community-oriented.”
She pays $1,500 a month in rent, utilities included, for 250 square feet of main floor and 100 square feet of bed loft area.
According to Veium, the ADU provides “ongoing recurring revenue, an income source to support our family, provided additional amenities to the property and provides downtown infill housing to support people who want to live in our community.”
“Accessory dwelling units are win, win, win, all across the board,” he said.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
