Hello everyone. Can you hear me from the microphone? >> Hello. >> Does it sound like it's >> It's >> you can hear it. >> I know the last couple times the microphone hasn't worked, but such a small room. I don't group that hopefully
you hear me. Anyways, welcome to Triad. Thanks for coming out in the weather. Um I we have programs coming up in August on August 4th. Jennifer Reid, Dr. Jennifer Reid is coming from Bridgewwater State University. She's
going to talk all about the senior college and different programs that they have. Then September 1st, we have senior Medicare patrol and ambulance billing coming. I'll be away that week, but Darlene said she'll be here, so we'll still have it.
Then October 6, Ruth McD McNotton of ComfortKeepers and Elder Law is coming. And then someone gave us the idea of Mark Valentine. So I'm trying to track him down and hopefully he'll be in November. We have quite a few speakers
that keep wanting to come and talk. So, it's a good problem to have. So, today we have Buzz Artiano here from Buildex and he's going to talk all about alternate housing and he'll explain it a lot and
um so here he is. Thank you, Buzz. >> Thank you. Good morning everyone. Buzz Artiano from Buildex. We have Aaron in the back as well. If you have any questions, you can always stop in and see hello to her. Today, there's no agenda today. I do have some slides I'm going to go through. If you have any
questions, just raise your hand, shout them out, whatever. This is not me just standing up here talking on. There's usually a lot of interaction. Uh feel free to take any of the plans up here on the side table. There's 14 different ADU plans uh that you feel free to take with
you. Uh those are the beginnings of an idea. They can all be customized as well. Um, there's no agenda. Again, if you have any questions, just shout them out. So, before I get started, has everyone heard the term accessory dwelling unit or ADU? >> Yes.
>> And everyone knows what it is. >> All right. Good. You're ahead of the class. >> Tell us what it is. >> Well, we're going to get there. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, an ADU can be in an existing house. So you can take a portion of your existing house and build an ADU in it.
It can be attached to your existing house or you know part in part out as an addition or it can be detached. So all three of those things can be ADUs. They are they are as of right in
Massachusetts as of last year, February 2nd of last year, which means the town has to let you build one assuming you can meet the zoning requirements and you can get the septic and the water to work. But it's not a question of whether
or not you can build one from a zoning standpoint. It's more of a, you know, will you fit all can you click all the boxes? Now, there are about 15% of the properties that we look at, they can't support an ADU for various reasons. There's not enough room for it
physically on the lot. It's not going to fit the setbacks or the septic is not going to work are the two biggest ones are the two biggest reasons. But generally, if you have quarter acre or more or half an acre or more, you generally can fit at least an ADU. It
might have to be attached, but we we build a lot of detached. Okay. So, who's an ADU4? It most of our clients, so 60% or is% of our clients is a parent or
parents that are either going to sell their primary house to one of their children and then build in their own backyard or they're going to sell their primary house and build in their children's backyard. you know, and I say backyard, it can be sideyard, front
yard, depending on the on the lot. Okay. The next group of people is adult children that want to have a first-time home, but they don't want to go spend 6,7 $800,000 on a house. They want to build something brand new. They want to
be near their parents. Uh co taught people a lot of lessons about you need to be close to your family and that's still sticking. I hear that comment quite a bit. And then the last size, a cohort if you will, are people in the family that have some type of disability, you know, that are living in
an apartment or group housing or some other property and the family wants to get them closer. Cuz what we see, and I'm sure you've all experienced this, even if someone's only 10 minutes away, you're not going to see them every day. You're just not not. And you know, we're
all running crazy and trying to do a million things and uh if it's 10 minutes away, sometimes it might as well be two hours away. So when it's in your own yard, it's just much easier to help that person in whatever way they need help. So
um biggest first question everyone says, how much is ADU going to cost? Right? That's the first thing they want to know. Generally the ADUs are running between 320 to 420. Okay? That's all in finished. All of our pricing is on our website. So, you go to the website,
click on ADU plans, it'll show you the price. The price on there does not include the site work because we don't know your site. Some places have sewer, some places have town water, some have big septic, some have long driveway, short driveway, lots of trees, lots of
digging, no digging. So, we don't know your site. That comes in our discovery process. But the pricing for the ADU is on our website on every plan. Any questions on that? You're not going to make me talk the
whole time. Come on. I need a question. Okay. Uh does has everyone heard of the home modification loan program? Anyone heard that term before? Okay. That is a program run by the state of Massachusetts called HMLP. You can look
it up online. That is a loan for up to $50,000. Okay? And uh you there's a bunch of qualifications, but generally anyone over 60 and if you have medical issues or other things, you can qualify. It is
a loan, but there are no payments and no interest on the loan. Okay? You will have to pay it back someday, but you can get and that loan can be used to build the ADU. It could also be used to retrofit your existing house. If you want to stay in your house and you need
a ramp or you need to fix the bathroom or whatever it is, that money is available to you as well. Again, it does go on your deed and someday when the house is either sold or refinanced or whatever, you will have to pay that money back. Okay? But it's no no
interest is occurring, you know, on that process and there are no payments while you have it. So, if you stay in your house for 20 years, you got $50,000 use of $50,000 free for 20 years. Okay? And that and again, that can be used to
build an ADU, can be used to modify an existing house. They're really great people run that program. You can look them up online. Uh, and it's they have a pool of money and they just keep moving it around as people need it. Okay? But it's not a grant. You do have to pay it
back. Okay, any questions on that? HMLP there any fees or band fees or anything? >> I No, I I don't think there are any closing costs of that. It's my we we've done three of them. Aaron, do you There's no closing costs, right? >> I don't think there's any
>> No, we I we only do the builder side of it, but I don't believe there were any fees. Yeah. And it's again, the people that run the program are very friendly. You just call them on the phone, say, "This is what I'm looking to do. Can you help me?" And they'll tell you if they can help you.
>> So, did I answer your question? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Use that. It's not You use that as a down payment. >> You can you can use it as P. The only the only thing with the HMLP on the on the ADU side is they don't they won't give you the money until the ADU is
finished. They'll give you a pre-approval, but they don't give you the actual check until it's done on the three that we've done so far. That's right. Right. Yeah. >> Yeah. We need all the numbers and stuff before. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. But other than that, you get approved ahead of time, but they won't give you the check until they actually have the oxy permit for the ADU. Okay. Again, you can choose between attached or detached layouts. Uh you can all of
our model so we our houses are built on site. They're stick built. These are not modular houses. Again, there's nothing wrong with module houses. They're just not what we built. Okay. So we build stick built on site. These are custom houses for family members. Um so uh
that's and the reason I stick build is because I can build it exactly the way you want it. There are no limitations. Uh again, nothing wrong with modular. That's just not who we are. Okay. And then again, all the exterior decks, porches, etc. And every every home that
we build is 100% future proofed. So what does that mean? It means that if you ever need a ramp, the front deck is already set up close to the bottom, you know, right up tight to the door. So you're not going to have to build another deck to get into your house. Um you know, all interior doorways are 3 ft
wide. There's plenty of room in the bathroom to swing around. It's a late fee. Did you bring donuts? The uh so uh everything's future proofed. Uh we set up the vanity in the
bathroom so that that can come out and the countertop can stay if you need to roll underneath it. Showers will roll in. lots of black blocking in the walls and the ceiling if necessary for grab bars or other lifting devices. So, it there's a a lot of little things that we
do so that the goal is, you know, again, I'm talking to everyone that's in this room. It's maybe not relevant to a first-time home buyer, but you know, the goal is for you to stay in this house as long as you possibly can and not have to move out because it doesn't fit your
needs anymore. So, we try to anticipate in our designs as many things we possibly can because I see a lot of plans that people are selling to people and the bathrooms are it's not even remotely accessible when you have
mobility issues. >> So, pretty much all these bathrooms are accessible. >> They are. Yeah. They're not, you know, ADA compliant, but they're I call them AD ADA friendly, >> right? So when you come in and look at it, you're not going to say, "Oh, this is a handicap bathroom." It's going to
look gorgeous, >> but it's going to have the room so you can move around and do what you need to do, right? >> What's the square footage of these houses? >> Yeah, great. That's a great question. I think that's the next slide,
but I'll jump ahead. So, uh, the the minimum size that the minimum size that I will build is 500 square ft. And and I'll tell you why. It makes no financial sense to go smaller than that. And here's the reason why. No matter what, no matter how big it is,
500 to 900 ft or bigger, I still need to get a survey done. I still need to run the electric. I still need to work out the the uh septic system, the water, clear the trees, dig the hole, put a kitchen in it, put a bathroom in it, put a heating system in it. You know, all
those things, those minimum charges go into that house. whether it's 500 ft² or 900 ft². So when you go sub 500 square f feet, it makes no financial sense. You don't save any money. Okay. The the smallest my standard plan now is 609 ft.
That's a very comfortable house. I've built a couple of them and I've I've built one at 500 and another one at 515. We had to because it wouldn't physically fit on the lot. Again, it's livable, but I didn't love it. And what was the
general price of? >> So again, they range anywhere from 320 to 420, >> right? But if you're trucking 500 69,000 >> square ft. >> Yeah. So again, that's probably going to
run you around 320 to 340 depending on your site. If you have a lot of site work, it could be more. That's that's that's for everything. That's a movein ready house. That's your survey, your septic, everything that needs to be done.
But again, all the pricing is on our website. I think the X2 is I think the base price is 274 for that house. Um, but getting back to the square foot question, the square footage is calculated on how how large your primary
house is. So if you have a 1,200 ft house, now easy. Now, this is trick. I'm going to give you a trick, so be careful, okay? I'm going to see if I can trip you up. So, if you have a,200 foot ranch, okay, the math says that you can
only build a 600 ft ADU, okay? Cuz it's 50% of your primary house, okay? However, if you have a full basement in that house, okay, as long as from the concrete floor to the bottom of the
floor joist is 6'8 or higher, we can count that square footage towards the calculation finished or unfinished in that basement counts towards your gross floor area, which will then allow you to build a bigger ADU. Okay? So, don't just pay
attention to how many square feet your house is. It's a different calculation. It's called grossful area and it includes that basement as long as it's 6'8 or higher. Okay, that's I see a lot of people leaving that behind. The other
thing mistake I see a lot of people making is they think it's a 900 square ft ADU and they're measuring from the outside of the walls. That's not where you measure from on an ADU. You measure from the inside face of the outside
walls. So you pick up 6 ines all the way around the house. So the footprint is about 960 square feet. The inside is 900 square feet and it's GFA. 900 GFA. I just saw a plan yesterday that actually
won on the state website a contest and they listed as 900 ft and it's not. It's 844. So what do I know? But 60 square ft on the inside of an ADU makes a big difference. That's a whole another closet. That's a whole another half
bathroom. Whatever it is you're trying to achieve. So, be careful with that GFA calculation. Okay. Every town, again, they are allowed as of right in Massachusetts, every town has their own little process. Okay.
um that you have to follow. But there are every single town has their own little uh little processes that you have to follow depending on the town and what they've done. But we we've been we so
far we've pulled 36 36 ADU permits and we haven't lost yet. So, uh, uh, there are a lot of ups and downs in the permitting. Uh, and as we do more of
them, we learn the little tricks. Um, but we, again, it's it's just important to make sure the person you're working with really understands, especially that gross floor area calculation. That's a big deal. Uh, and then one of the services that we
offer, if you're ever interested in building an ADU on your property, we offer a free site evaluation where we'll get on a Zoom meeting with you and we can show you how the ADU will fit on your property. We can talk about zoning. We can talk about size, GFA, we
can talk about setbacks and all those things. And I can give you a very high probability index of whether or not an AD will work on your property. And I also can give you a good budget guidance as that on that as well. Okay,
any questions on that? No, another one of the big questions is can I have separate utilities? And the answer is maybe. Okay, so electric, you can definitely have your own electrical meter. Okay,
keep in mind if the ADU is attached or in the house, you can only have one electric service to your property, but you can have two meters. Okay? If the ADU is detached, then it can have its own electric service with its own meter.
Okay? Water is different by every if you have town water, it's different by every town. Some towns will allow a separate water service to the ADU. Some require you to come off the back of the meter that's already in the basement to go to
the ADU. Uh, and I uh I don't remember what Halifax is doing, so don't ask me. Um, and septic, lot of variability in septic. Um, if generally, again, these are global
comments. They're not meant to be specific to anything in this room, right? Because there's a lot of variability. If if your septic system was built before 1995, it's generally an automatic fail in the eyes of the DP,
okay? Was built past 9, so new, you know, 95 or newer and it's in good shape. It can stay and or be expanded to accept the ADU. Okay? Or it can just stay and you can
build a separate system for the ADU. You can have multiple septic systems on your lot. Okay? If you have a well, you still have to meet the setbacks to the well. So, sometimes you can't have more than one system. And that's what I'm saying that the septic can be very, very
tricky. Okay? But there are lots of ways to get it to work. And that's one of the first things we look at is your septic system. How old is it? Where is it? And do you have a well or water? Those are the first questions we need to answer to
give you real answers. Okay? And the goal of that Zoom meeting is for you to leave there with real answers uh without any fairy tales. Okay? Because I I want people understand exactly what they can and can't do. It's fine if you don't
work with us. I wish you would, but if you don't want to work with us, at least you're left with good information that is factual. Okay? Again, we offer free consultation to understand your vision. We handle everything from permits, survey, design,
site work, build, and move in. Uh once we start construction, we give you a 100 day guarantee to finish the structure. If it's going to be more than 100 days, we're going to tell you that before we start, okay? And some lots are more than that because there's a lot of sight work
or that we have to put the house in first and then put the septic because we don't want to drive over it. Sometimes it is going to be more, but generally they're less than 100 days. And the way that we do that is proper planning. Um, couple global statements. If you're
meeting with a contractor and he says these two things, you're sitting with the wrong person. If you hear number one, if you say, "I I need to get paid every two weeks," that's a huge red flag. Okay? And the other red flag is they say, "I need a really big deposit
when they sign the contract." Okay? Do not do either one of those things, okay? That's a contractor that's out of money, okay? And he's taking your money to finish the other jobs he's trying to finish. And at some point, the music stops and you see these people all the
time on the news saying, "I gave this guy 50 grand, 75 grand, and I never saw him again." Okay? So, if you hear those two things, you should have warning lights, big red warning light going off in the right corner of your eyes saying, "Danger, danger. Uh, I'm in trouble. I
need to really think about what I'm doing here. Okay. Uh especially if it's a one-man operation, right? Because that's always the biggest danger. Um why buildex? Again, we use premium materials. Just again, global statement.
We are we will never be the least expensive option. We're probably the top 25% pricing wise. That's not what we build. We're building legacy houses for families that are going to last a long time with premium materials. We don't use cheap materials. We don't build
cheap stuff. That's not what we do. Again, there's a place for that, but that's not who we are. So, I made the decision early on. This is my, you know, just quickly, this is my third company. So, I built and sold two companies. Is my third company. I've been building a long time. I've built over 800 houses
and uh performed work on over $450 million worth of structures. So, um you know, I made the decision when I started this company, specifically the ADU Journey, that that was going to be my target market to build, you know, super high quality stuff at a good price
point, not crazy price point, but a good price point that's going to last you a long time. Because again, the goal is to move in and not have to work on your house, right? Especially with this newer technology such as heat pumps. There are a lot of different brands of heat pumps
and I see builders installing off-brand heat pumps and they're saving a couple thousand dollars on the equipment. The problem is when that breaks and you go to get parts for it, they don't make the parts anymore and now you have to rip out the whole outside part and the whole inside part. And it seemed like a good
deal at the time, but if you can't get parts for it, there's no sense in putting it in your house because, you know, you all know you buy stuff brand new and sometimes it just doesn't work, right? I mean, how many times you plug something in and it's like, right, or or if it works for two weeks
and then it breaks and you're glad you got the extended warranty or whatever it is. So, it's important to use name brand products that have been around a long time. So, you're going to make because again, this is an expensive proposition. You know, it sounds great to save 20 or $25,000 on the build, but then you're
going to pay that back probably three times over on poor construction and poor materials. Okay. Again, fully ADA, you know, optional requirement, very energy efficient. Um, has anyone heard here heard of HERS rating, home energy rating
system? You ever heard that term? Okay. So that's new to Massachusetts since 2024. The lower the number, the more efficient your house is. So 100, all your windows and doors are open and you're blasting all your heat and your AC outside. And zero means, you know, you can't live in
it cuz you can't breathe. Okay. So, uh, the co the code right now for ADUs is between 52 and 55. Our units always come in in the low 40s. We just had one come in at 39. So that means they're super
insulated and weathertight and very low air changes and that saves you a lot of money when you're running your heat or your AC. Okay. Again, feel free any time to reach out if you'd like to have a Zoom meeting. It's no charge. We can go through what
it is you're trying to achieve. We can look at your lot in specific or we can look at your children's lot or wherever where you want to build. Uh we do have a build. Our build envelope is Weimoth to Falmouth and out to Route 24. There's a service map on our website. Um we
generally don't go outside those towns unless it's a customer that we've done business for before. Okay. Uh if you'd ever like to see a an ADU. So the first question is how much is it going to cost? And then number two, can
I live in 900 ft? Right? That's the first thing, first two things you think of. So, in order to solve that, every weekend we have home tours where you can come tour an actual ADU that's under construction. So, if you go to our
website, click on ADU home tour, it'll show you this weekend we're down in South Plymouth. That's a 900 foot ADU on top of a twocar garage. Okay? And that was built for a young man. He's 28 years old and he's built on his parents' property. Okay? And then we're there for
two weekends. And then the next weekend we'll be in Norwell. That's a 900 ft one-bedroom, one and a half bath. Okay. So keep an eye on the website. Uh we have um a couple coming up in Pemroke.
Um I don't think we have any Halifax ones right now. No, we don't. Um and we have Hanover and a bunch. So if if you ever get to the point where you say, "Gee, I wonder what an ADU is like. can I live in it? And you want to see it in in person because it's one thing to
look at a set of plans. It's another thing to go walk the house and generally the homeowners are there as well so you can meet them and talk about your ADU journey and how they got started on theirs. So it's just a great opportunity to see an ADU in person and really
experience it and think about whether or not you can live in an ADU. Okay. So those again those are free of charge to uh attend. uh we have people come you know for months and months and months and months and then they finally decide okay I like this part of this one and
that part of that one and and then you know we start to talk about their ADU okay that's the end of the search show any questions any thoughts or questions at all for >> one in the back
>> oh you made Yeah, but I I actually learned about KU some time ago um probably about a year and a half, maybe two years ago and it really was becoming more popular. So I was trying to get everybody to understand that there's alternative living
arrangements going forward and it was a great option and you know I provided enough documentation I have it in the office um where your other alternative too this was um I actually did see one
um visited and it was beautiful. >> Oh you came to one of my tours. Oh nice. So um that's why um I suggested that we look at this you know option and get it out there so people understand that it's it's an alternative and it does it's a
beautiful option you know um I do so you did say that it does have a seller so every town is different so the town of Halifax will limit you to a 6'7 basement height
but it's still Good for storage. Okay. But you're going to be limited to 6'7. Uh for bonus points, does anyone know why it's limited to 6'7? See if you were paying attention earlier. So if it's 6'8 or higher, it counts
towards the gross floor area. Okay? So if we go 6'7, then it doesn't count towards your gross floor area. Okay? So there are towns that do allow full basement no matter what. Plymouth, Plumpton, uh, Freetown,
Bridgewater, but Halifax is definitely 6'7. But again, still good storage because that's the other thing. People have stuff, right? And you need a place to put your stuff. That's just the right especially if
you're coming from a 1600 ft house or a 2,000t house and now you're going to 900. It's a big adjustment. And that's why I tell people before you even think about building ADU, come to a home tour and see if you can picture yourself living in 900 ft or smaller.
So, >> all right. Any questions? >> This has been really interesting. >> Okay, good. >> No idea. >> All right. Well, again, feel free to take some plans if you're interested. Happy to have a Zoom meeting with you anytime. Hope to see you at a home tour and I appreciate your time.
>> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you, Buzz. >> You're welcome. >> Business and um feel free to have some coffee and donuts. Doesn't matter. >> Yeah, donuts. Oh, man. Got to stay away from the donuts.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Linda.