Building A Separate Mother In Law Dwelling

Accessory dwellings or Mother In Law Quarters are in high demand in the Boise area. They can be used to care for an elderly loved one or to help grown children during different transitional periods in life. They can be used to generate rental income, or for charitable purposes such as a dwelling for missionaries, or just to offer a roof overhead to someone experiencing financial difficulties.

As a custom home builder, Riteway Builders will build dwellings that many other builders in the Boise area don’t offer or won’t consider. These dwellings include custom designed homes of course, but also include barns, additions, and accessory dwellings (ADU’s) also commonly known as “Mother In Law Quarters”.

A mother in law dwelling is second dwelling unit created on a lot with an existing house or attached to an existing house. They are most commonly built as a small separate building, as an apartment in bonus space, or space above garage, and sometimes built as basement apartments.

Although there are some exceptions, and laws are different for each county, legally these accessory dwelling units are part of the same property as the main home. They cannot be bought or sold separately, they are owned by the owner of the main property. Most counties in Idaho will allow such dwellings, but each has their own zoning ordinances and regulations related to size and use.

For example, we just built this “mother in law dwelling” in Gem County. The law in Gem County allows for up to 1100sq ft of livable space. This beautiful dwelling that we recently completed is a fully functioning home with a 2 car garage, full kitchen, laundry, full bath, and master bedroom.