This Tiny Backyard Home Cost $600,000

A Los Angeles couple set out to build a 400-square-foot backyard home for about $300,000, only to watch the final cost climb to $600,000 in a project recently profiled by Lisa Boone in the Los Angeles Times. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with Tamara White of Small Housing and Mary Coddington, founder of 12 Incorporated, about what pushed the cost so high. The couple chose an ambitious design and built on a difficult site, but they also had two major advantages many small housing projects never get: they already owned the land, and they were allowed to build. If the land and permissions were already in place, what made the price skyrocket, and how much of that complexity could actually be removed?

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES

"A compact ADU built on a dramatic ridgeline ‘floats’ over L.A. and its Midcentury neighbor" by Lisa Boone, Latimes.com (August 2026)

Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)

Tamara White (LinkedIn)

Mary Coddington (LinkedIn)

Articles mentioned and Downzone:

'She couldn’t afford L.A. rent after law school. Her parents’ ADU came to the rescue' (Article)

Courtenay Cohousing (Site)

A Voter’s Guide to Asking Candidates about Housing (Site)

Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

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