ADUs · Des Moines & the metro
Accessory Dwelling Units
in Des Moines, IA
We build ADUs in Des Moines, IA: backyard cottages, garage apartments and in-law suites, a small home on your lot with its own kitchen and bath. Since July 1, 2025, every Iowa city has had to allow one.
What the job covers
ADUs and garage apartments,
start to finish.
- Foundation and footingsFootings below the 42-inch frost depth, with a slab, crawl space or basement to suit the lot.
- Framing and roofWalls, floor and roof framed to the drawings, as its own building or tied into the house without a leak.
- Windows, doors and exteriorSiding, trim and roofing to match the house if you want. Cities can no longer require it.
- Kitchen and bathA kitchen and a full bath, so the unit works as a home of its own.
- Garage apartmentsAn apartment built in or above a detached garage, which counts as an ADU under Iowa law.
- Utilities and drawingsWater, sewer and power run from the main house by the trades; drawings made for the permit.
Worth knowing
Since July 2025, every Iowa city has to allow one ADU.
Iowa's Senate File 592 took effect on July 1, 2025. It requires every Iowa city to allow at least one accessory dwelling unit on a lot with a single-family home. A city cannot require the owner to live on the property, cannot demand extra parking for the unit, and cannot require it to match the house. A city cannot cap an ADU below 1,000 square feet, or half the size of the house if that is larger.
What a city still controls is ordinary zoning: setbacks, height and how much of the lot can be covered. Each metro city writes those rules for itself. Some people call a detached unit an EDU, an exterior dwelling unit; the rules are the same. We check the rules for your address before we draw anything.
An ADU is a small house and is built like one: footings below the 42-inch frost depth, insulation to code, its own kitchen and bath. Water, sewer and power usually come from the main house. An application that meets the rules has to be approved without a hearing, on the same timeline as a house.
Who builds an ADU
Signs it is time to call.
A parent needs to live close, but not in the spare room
A backyard cottage keeps family a few steps away, with their own door and their own kitchen.
An adult child is saving to buy
A small unit out back gives them a place of their own while they save.
You want the lot to earn rent
Cities can no longer require the owner to live on the property, so an ADU can be a rental.
The old garage needs replacing anyway
Build the new garage with an apartment above it: two buildings in one.
Get an estimate
Tell us what you want
to build.
We look at the site, check what the parcel allows, and put the scope and the price in writing. Then you decide.
- Footings below the 42-inch Des Moines frost depth
- Drawings prepared for your city's permit office
- Free estimates in writing, after a site visit
- Five-year warranty on our labor, insured
- Within about 40 miles of Des Moines
- If a repair will not hold, we say so before you sign
Fastest
Call us
Describe the project and book a site visit in the same call. Photos help, and you can text them to the same number.
(515) 414-8477In writing
Send the details
Better for larger buildings, additions, and anything you want on record before a visit.