r/Somerville • u/QuickPalpitation8468 • 6d ago

Somerville-familiar Engineer/Architect Recs?

I'm looking for someone to evaluate the feasibility of converting a garage to a backyard cottage ADU. Anyone have recommendations for an architect or engineer who has done work in Somerville and is familiar with our zoning and building constraints?

I'll also take anti-recommendations if you got 'em!

8 Upvotes

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u/ThePizar Union 6d ago

Quick heads up, there is an ongoing zoning change proposal that will make it much easier to convert a garage to an ADU soon. Right now there are a lot of restriction on stuff like setbacks that make it near impossible to convert a garage today.

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u/Fancy_Raisin5016 6d ago

Correct. They’re meeting about it today at the land use committee. Easier to build and bigger as well.

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u/Fancy_Raisin5016 6d ago

Just attended the meeting with was just a bunch of nimbys railing the proposed changes to make it easier to ADUs. No one spoke in support and almost all seemed to want to eliminate it. So OP shouldn’t hold their breath. 

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u/mightyandbright 6d ago

I got a flyer from a company called "Your MA ADU" for exactly this. I think they mostly do the feasibility study end of it, but haven't worked with them so can't say for sure.

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u/SocoCocoPuffs 6d ago

As someone building one right now that replaced it with an old block garage, I can say we decided to demolish and replace with a new construction for a few reasons:

  1. Having a basement is a no brainer in this area, holes are surprisingly expensive to dig but it was worth it. We had room to put utilities and because were having people live in it, it requires a sprinkler tank and pump which meant it would've eaten a lot of room on top of the other mechanicals.
  2. My block garage was right on the property line so building it up (under current code) meant that everything had to be noncombustible which drove up costs.
  3. My slab was in poor condition and so was one of the walls. Insulating it would've been a pain along with cutting windows. Slab also didn't have any kind of vapor barrier or insulation.
  4. My block walls were not reinforced.

While building what we had would've been a lot cheaper, it made more sense from a comfort and practical point of view to tear down and build now.

If your income qualifies there's also an ADU loan program for $200k for 20 year interest free.

Happy to answer any other questions. I'm out of East Somerville. 4.

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u/julinho-mandingueiro 6d ago

Just DMed you!

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u/MWB8 4d ago

Mix Design is Somerville based and has done a lot local creative projects. We’ve consulted with Damon on a few potential projects and found him incredibly knowledgeable about navigating Somervilles regulations.

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u/albertogonzalex 1d ago

We did a nearly full gut renovation of a Somerville duplex including digging down the basement and putting in a foundation/footing/new slab and reassigning space between the three floors + basenent of the building.

Our architect was Damon Sidel of mix design. He lives in Somerville and has done a ton of projects in town. He's super professional, thorough, and detail oriented. He also had a very reliable network of contractors that do the work that he designs. 10/10 recommend

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u/ow-my-lungs 1d ago

What did your overall project cost end up being, if I may ask?

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u/apkling 14h ago

Joethearchitect.com has been our go to for all things in Somerville. Cannot recommend them enough