A 725 Square Foot Plympton ADU, Built for Sherry and Michael

Why did the Bartletts build an ADU in Plympton?

Sherry and Michael Bartlett had come up from the South and were renting an apartment in Plymouth. Their daughter, Dr. Amber Bartlett, had room on her Plympton property and a good reason to want them on it: she was raising her son, running three businesses, and would be lost, she says, without the help her parents give her. Her father maintains the property. Her mother is the coffee date. The distance between an apartment fifteen minutes away and a house across the yard turned out to be the whole difference.

The family was clear on one thing from the start. The parents would not live attached to Amber's house. Too close. They are self-sufficient, still on their A game, and they wanted their own front door. Sherry calls it their forever home, their last stop, and she meant it to feel like a house of their own that happened to sit on her daughter's land.

How did a shed deposit turn into a BuildX ADU?

Sherry does not sit still, so once the decision was made she started shopping: sheds, modulars, every option. She and Michael put a deposit on a 24 by 24 Amish shed. Amber was against it. Then Sherry met Buz and the team at the first BuildX home tour on Jordan Road in Plymouth, in November, and the shed plan ended at the first meeting after the new year when Buz said, in his words, this is silly, we are scrapping that.

What Sherry remembers about that meeting is that BuildX were the first ones who did not drop the ball. They met right away and moved. She met Justin and Aaron at the open house, Kevin at the first interview, and later Jeff, Stevie and the crew. Buz's one design push was the nine foot ceilings, on the theory that a smaller home needs the height to feel big. Sherry says he was right, and the tall wide windows do the rest.

What was the permitting fight in Plympton?

Amber and Buz both call it a fight with the town, the kind that happens in small towns all the time. The state ADU law was not yet in effect when the family started, which made the path harder. Amber's takeaway was less about the town and more about her mother: Sherry had never been through a build, needs to know what is coming at every step, and found the waiting stressful. Amber says the only stressful parts of the whole project were the ones outside the build, the permitting and the town. Once the shovel went in, that ended.

With the permit in hand and the build clearly a matter of months, Sherry and Michael let their apartment lease go and moved in with Amber until the house was done.

How long did the Plympton ADU take to build?

Eighty-four days. Patrick started digging the long driveway on May 15, the basement was dug on May 19, and Sherry and Michael moved in on August 11. Sherry says it went so fast she could barely track it: the walls were up, then the roof was on. Amber's word for it is kudos. A house can take forever. This one did not.

Does 725 square feet feel small?

Sherry's favorite things are the high ceilings, the big wide windows and the light. Her other favorite is the basement, which holds all the mechanicals and gives a small house a full floor of storage. Michael, a handy person who can build and do anything, held the build to his own standard and Amber says he was impressed. Everything is pretty well done, and the one or two small items left get answered by a text to Buz or Stevie.

What changed once Sherry and Michael moved in?

Amber's son gets to see his Nana and Bubba whenever he wants, and rings the bell until he gets something. Amber drops off groceries on the way past. When she has been gone a while, her father lets the dogs out without being asked, which she says fills her cup. The parents keep their own space and their own schedule. Together, with the appropriate level of separation, is how Amber describes it. You do not have to be together all the time, but they are there when you need them.

Sherry's version is simpler. The BuildX crew were on the property so often and talked to the family so much that they became family, and it is strange not to see them every day.

What does a family need to agree on before building an ADU?

Amber is a business psychologist and did an hour on the BuildX Podcast about exactly this, with her mother in the audience. Her answer: open communication, with your spouse, your siblings and the people building it, because without it you hit roadblocks you cannot see coming. Decide early whether attached or detached, decide who owns what, and make sure the person who needs to know what is coming next always does. Her one lesson learned is that next time her parents would leave the build entirely to the experts. If your family is at the shed-shopping stage, bring the conversation to the first call instead.

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