What Are the Three Most Common ADU Family Scenarios?

By Buz Artiano, BuildX | March 2026

Watch: ADU Loans, HELOC Myths & Financing the Family Home Right w/ Jeff Mancovsky | BuildX Podcast #06

You've been thinking about building an ADU, you have a lot of family concerns. Maybe your parents are getting older and the drive to check on them is getting longer. Maybe your adult child needs a place that gives them independence without losing the safety of having you around to help support them. Maybe someone in your family has a disability and you are tired of worrying about group homes that don't feel right and apartments that are at least 20 minutes away. Whatever it is you're worried about, you're thinking about a solution that is unfamiliar to you, and you are not sure if other families are dealing with the same thing.

My name is Buz Artiano, and I am the founder of BuildX. We've built dozens of ADU projects across Massachusetts, mostly around the South Shore and Plymouth County areas. We are the only team you need, we handle design, permitting, and construction. So we see every phase of a project from the first site visit up until you move in. We deal with septic constraints, zoning issues, and the state's new ADU laws. After having a lot of conversations with families we started to notice a pattern. Almost every family is in one of 3 situations, and knowing which one fits you changes everything about how you plan, finance, and build.

What surprised me most when I started this work was how wrong my assumptions were. I expected most families to call about aging parents who could no longer drive at night. And yes, that's definitely a big part of it, but there's more to it than that and the whole story is actually interesting. The data we've gathered from doing countless consultations tell us that ADUs are more about bringing families back together that have been separated for a long time. What we see is three distinct patterns that you're about to recognize.

What Are the Three Family Scenarios We See Most Often?

After having close to 100 Zoom consultations with families thinking of building an ADU, we noticed a pattern that most families are in one of three scenarios. Roughly 30 percent of our consults are parents who are selling the family home and building an ADU in their child's backyard. Another 30 percent is exactly the opposite, an adult child sells their current home, takes over the family property, and builds the parents an ADU on the same lot. The remaining 15 to 20 percent is a family member with a disability who needs a living arrangement that keeps them close to family but gives them their own independent living space.

These are the actual patterns from real families who called us to talk about what their property could do for their family, they're not hypothetical situations or numbers. If you see your situation in one of the three we just talked about, then you're not alone, and the path to move forward has been done many times.

Scenario One: Your Parents Sell Their Home and Move into Your Backyard. What Does That Look Like?

This is the one we expected to come across the most when we started BuildX, but it only accounts for about 30 percent of our consults. It's a pretty simple pattern actually. Mom and dad are ready to leave the family home. Maybe it's too much house for just the two of them or maybe the maintenance has become too difficult for them to manage, or maybe they just want to be close to family. So they sell the house, and use the money to build an ADU in their child's backyard.

The financial side of it makes perfect sense. The parents are downsizing from a property they own outright or nearly outright, and the equity from that sale goes right to the ADU construction. A lot of time the sale of the house covers the build cost, which means the child's mortgage stays exactly how it is.

What we've learned after building enough of these is that the design is just as important as the financial stuff. We face the ADU entrance away from the main house whenever possible. It gives the parents the feeling that they're just coming home, not going through your backyard. On lots with a lot of tree coverage in the backyard, we put bedroom sliders on the back wall so it's more like a little private retreat. We know to make these design decisions because we've seen how people actually use the space, you can't get that insight from a generic floorplan.

The emotional reality of this scenario is important to understand. Your parents are giving up the house where they raised you. That can be a hard thing to do even when it's the right thing. The ADU really needs to feel like a home, not an apartment in someone's backyard. When we design everything with that in mind, it can all work out to be the best thing your family has ever done.

Scenario Two: You Take Over the Family Home and Build Your Parents an ADU. How Is That Different?

This scenario accounts for another 30 percent of our consultations, and it surprised us when we started seeing those numbers come in. In this particular scenario, the adult child has outgrown their current home. Their family is growing, maybe they need more bedrooms, more space, or even a better school district. Instead of buying a new house, they sell their current home and move into the family property. Then the parents get an ADU on the same lot.

The financial side of things here are different from the first scenario we just described. The child is selling their home, not the parents' home. The parents keep the family property (or transfer it as part of the arrangement), and they use the money from the child's home sale to build the ADU.

This scenario preserves the family's wealth in a way that the usual way of doing things doesn't. Instead of parents eventually selling the family home to pay for assisted living, the property stays in the family. The parents get to stay on the family property as they age and be right near their grandchildren, and the family keeps a major asset. One of our lenders told us that the traditional way of doing this doesn't preserve the asset. This path keeps the wealth in the family.

The planning conversation for Scenario Two tends to be a bit more complicated than the first one because you are dealing with two property transactions and a construction project at the same time. We help families to time the financing so the build can start before the child's home sale closes, which makes sure there's no gaps where people are waiting to move in or out.

Scenario Three: A Family Member Needs Independence and Proximity. What Makes These Projects Different?

This is the scenario that taught us the most about why families build ADUs. It accounts for 15 to 20 percent of our consultations, and the families in this category have the highest intent of any group we talk to. Someone in the family has a physical or mental disability and they don't want to put that person in a group home. But they also don't want them in an apartment that's 15 or 20 minutes away where they can't keep an eye on them. They want their family member to be able to be at home.

We've seen it happen many times, and we love to watch the transformation that happens when a family member who has been living inside the main house moves into their own ADU, even if it is only 30 feet away. It's a completely different experience. They have their own kitchen, their own bathroom, and their own entire living space that they get to be in charge of. They come and go as they please, which puts them on another level than they could ever get with a group home or living in the main house.

The design for these types of projects are often more specific. Accessibility features, door widths, bathroom configurations, flooring choices, and emergency access are things we plan for from day one. We approach these builds with the understanding that the ADU is so much more than just a convenience. It's the difference between a family member having true independence as opposed to them feeling like a burden or like they're being managed.

Is There a Fourth Scenario That Does Not Fit the Three Main Patterns?

There is a small percentage of families who don't fit into these three categories. The most interesting one we've come across is where a younger adult child builds the ADU and lives in it now, with a plan to swap with the parents later. Here's how it works, they have it all planned out ahead of time. Once the child gets married, has children, and needs more space, they take the main house and the parents move into the ADU.

This is the version of the ADU conversation that involved the most planning ahead. These families are planning for two transitions, not just one, and they're building the infrastructure and planning for both at the same time, it's a very smart thing to do. The ADU is designed to work as a young adult's home today and a parent's home in 10 or 15 years, which means we have to consider everything when it comes to planning, from the number of bedrooms to accessibility features.

We've also seen about 5 to 10 percent of families go through the entire consultation process and decide an ADU just isn't the right plan for them. After talking through every option, evaluating the property, and going over finances, they decide it's not the right option for them. That happens and it's perfectly fine, and we'd rather a family figure that out long before they finance a $250,000 ADU.

How Do You Figure Out Which Scenario Fits Your Family?

The scenario that fits your family depends on three things. First, it depends on who's moving. If the parents are relocating, you're likely in those first two scenarios. If a family member with a disability needs their own space, you are in the third scenario. Second thing is which property will the ADU be built on. If the ADU goes on the child's existing property, then you fall under that first category. If the family is consolidating onto the parents' property, then you're in the second scenario. And the third thing to consider is how it will be paid for. Will you be using the parent's home equity, the child's home equity, a home equity line of credit, or a renovation loan? Each option has different benefits depending on the situation.

The financing path is different for everyone, and figuring out where you fit in needs to happen early in the process because it will save you weeks of confusion later. Families in Scenario One typically have the simplest financing option because the parent's home sale gives them the money to build. Scenario Two families need a HELOC or construction loan against the family property while also managing the child's home sale. Scenario Three families could qualify for state programs and grants that can help them pay for an ADU, which changes the whole financial path for them.

What If None of These Scenarios Fit Your Situation?

The three different scenarios we just talked about account for about 80 percent of the ADU conversations we have, but definitely not all of them. Some people are building ADUs to generate rental income. Others are building for other personal reasons that don't fit into any category. And some families decide during the planning process that an ADU is not the right solution for them after all.

We are a design-build company that specializes in ADUs, so of course we love our product. But the truth is, an ADU is a really big investment, and it's not the right answer for everyone. If you don't have a clear and definable need for the ADU, or if the lot, the septic system, or the budget won't support it, the best thing we can do is tell you that early. A 30-minute consultation that saves you from a $300,000 mistake is more valuable than a signed contract.

Your Family's Situation Is Not as Unusual as You Think

If you picked up this article because you were wondering whether other families are doing what you are considering, the answer is yes. Close to 100 families have had Zoom calls with us and described a version of the same three stories. Parents moving closer, kids taking over the family home, families keeping a loved one close instead of placing them somewhere else. The details are always different, but the motivation is always the same. Families pulling back together, and an ADU making it possible.

The next step is figuring out which scenario fits your family and what that means for your property, your financing, and your timeline.