◆ ADU template · Starter and up

ADU and garden suite estimates, from the footing to the faucet.

An accessory dwelling unit is a small house, and small houses are where a renovator's estimate falls apart: forty decisions across six trades, a permit set of a dozen sheets, and a client who wants one number. Estiquik's ADU template lists all forty lines — site and foundation, shell, compact kitchen, bathroom, living area, and the electrical, plumbing and HVAC that make it a dwelling — priced for your province or state, with progress billing built for a job that runs for months.

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✓ No card to start ✓ 40 priced lines, all editable ✓ CAD or USD, tax by region

An Estiquik adu and garden suite estimate open in the app, with priced line items and the totals panel

Sample estimate from the live demo

Forty lines, six sections

What is on the ADU template

Every line below arrives with a starting price scaled to your province or state. Quantities are the template's defaults — you change them to the job. Prices are deliberately not shown here, because yours will differ from ours and the point is that they are editable.

Site Prep & Foundation4 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
Excavation + grading	Labour	1 lot
Concrete slab / footings	Materials	600 sq ft
Foundation labour	Labour	600 sq ft
Building permit & plan review	Permits/Other	1 lot

Structural Shell8 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
Framing lumber	Materials	600 sq ft
Roofing (shingles + underlayment)	Materials	600 sq ft
Exterior siding	Materials	600 sq ft
Windows + exterior doors	Fixtures	1 lot
Insulation (walls + attic)	Materials	600 sq ft
Framing labour	Labour	600 sq ft
Roofing labour	Labour	600 sq ft
Siding installation labour	Labour	600 sq ft

Kitchen (compact)8 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
Cabinets	Materials	1 lot
Countertop	Materials	20 sq ft
Refrigerator	Appliances	1 ea
Range / cooktop	Appliances	1 ea
Microwave / range hood	Appliances	1 ea
Sink + faucet	Fixtures	1 set
Cabinet + countertop install labour	Labour	1 lot
Plumbing hookup labour	Labour	1 lot

Bathroom7 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
Vanity + sink	Fixtures	1 ea
Toilet	Fixtures	1 ea
Shower/tub + surround	Fixtures	1 set
Floor + wall tile	Materials	70 sq ft
Exhaust fan	Fixtures	1 ea
Plumbing rough-in + finish	Labour	1 lot
Tile install labour	Labour	70 sq ft

Living / Sleeping Area6 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
Flooring (LVP or laminate)	Materials	320 sq ft
Drywall + paint	Materials	320 sq ft
Closet shelving	Materials	1 lot
Interior doors + trim	Materials	1 lot
Flooring installation labour	Labour	320 sq ft
Drywall + paint labour	Labour	320 sq ft

Electrical, Plumbing & HVAC7 lines

Line item	Category	Default quantity
New electrical panel / service	Materials	1 lot
Wiring, outlets, switches, fixtures	Materials	600 sq ft
Ductless mini-split HVAC system	Fixtures	1 ea
Tankless water heater	Fixtures	1 ea
Electrical labour	Labour	600 sq ft
Plumbing supply/drain labour	Labour	1 lot
HVAC installation labour	Labour	1 lot

Line items as shipped in Estiquik's ADU — Additional Dwelling Unit template on 7 September 2026. Contingency defaults to 15% on this template; markup and tax are yours. How the whole estimate is built.

How the price is built

Starting prices, your corrections, your markup

The ADU template ships with 40 line items across six sections: site prep and foundation, the structural shell, a compact kitchen, a bathroom, the living and sleeping area, and electrical, plumbing and HVAC. Excavation and concrete by the cubic yard, framing and sheathing by the square foot, windows and doors each, the mechanical systems as lots, and the finishes room by room — each with a quantity, a unit and a researched starting price.

In Ontario the same building is a garden suite; in California it is an ADU; in BC a laneway house. The template does not care what the by-law calls it. Prices are scaled by a regional index for your province or state, contingency defaults to 15%, and the payment schedule on the estimate — deposit, draws at foundation, framing, rough-in and finish, holdback where required — is how a five-month job stays funded.

Contingency is applied to cost first, then your markup, then the tax for your region — GST, HST or PST by province, state tax in the US. The markup calculator shows what any markup really keeps as margin, and contingency vs markup explains why they are separate lines.

If there is a drawing

Take the quantities off the plan

Attach the PDF or a photo, set the scale, and the plan takeoff sends measured quantities to these lines with the prices left for you. For this job type, the measurements that matter:

Foundation

the slab or footing area from the foundation plan, with a pour depth so the estimate line reads in cubic yards.

Exterior walls and roof

wall runs × height on one side for sheathing, siding and insulation; the roof area from the plan with the pitch factor applied.

Interior partitions

traced once, both sides for drywall and paint — the takeoff's sides setting does the doubling.

Windows, doors, fixtures and devices

counted from the schedules and the electrical plan's tags, sheet by sheet on a permit set that will run to a dozen pages.

After the number

From estimate to paid, without retyping

Send

Email it with an Approve button

Or a signing link. The client signs from their phone; name, time and document fingerprint are recorded. Follow-ups go out automatically on Pro.

Contract

Draft the contract from the estimate

Scope, payment schedule with deposit, draws and holdback, change-order clause. E-signed and filed with the job.

Changes

Change orders, priced and signed

The extra pot lights, the upgraded tile. Each one rolls into a revised contract value, so the final invoice is never a surprise.

Paid

Invoice each stage in a click

Deposit, draws and completion from the schedule on the estimate, with a Pay by card button through your own Stripe and e-Transfers recorded.

Before you ask

Questions contractors ask

How much does an ADU or garden suite cost to estimate with this?

No single number, and none will be invented here. The template lists the forty lines a self-contained unit needs at starting prices for your region; your takeoff quantities and corrected rates make the total. Given how much regional cost, site conditions and finish level move an ADU, one real set priced here is worth more than any published range.

Does the template cover a garage conversion as well as a new build?

Yes. Delete or zero the site prep and foundation lines you do not need and keep the shell, interior and mechanical sections. The template is a checklist you edit, not a fixed form.

How do I bill a five-month job?

Put a payment schedule on the estimate — deposit, draws at foundation, framing, rough-in inspection and finish, and the balance on completion, with holdback where your province requires it. Each stage becomes its own invoice when you reach it.

Can it handle a twelve-sheet permit set?

Yes. Attach the PDF (up to 25 MB), scale each sheet on its own, and take off the foundation, shell and interior sheet by sheet. Tagged devices are counted in a click on vector PDFs.

Which plan is the ADU template on?

Starter and up, at $19.99 (CA$24.99). Plan takeoff, contracts and change orders — which an ADU will generate — are on Pro at $29.99.